Ah Girl Triumphs at Singapore International Film Festival’s Silver Screen Awards

Singaporean Debut Feature Takes Top Honor

Singaporean filmmaker Ang Geck Geck Priscilla’s debut feature Ah Girl won best film in the Asian Feature Film Competition at the Singapore International Film Festival’s Silver Screen Awards on Saturday. The film follows a seven-year-old girl navigating life in 1990s Singapore after her parents have separated. Ang workshopped the project at the festival’s Southeast Asian Film Lab back in 2015, demonstrating a decade-long journey from concept to award-winning feature.

The film’s success extends beyond Singapore’s borders, as Ah Girl previously took the Youth Jury Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Ang brings impressive credentials to her directorial debut, having graduated from the Busan Asian Film Academy and earned recognition for her 2012 short film Broken Crayon, which won the Singapore Short Film Awards’ best short film prize. Her victory marks a significant milestone for Singaporean cinema at the nation’s premier film festival.

Afghan Director Honored for Taliban-Era Drama

Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat won best director for No Good Men, a drama that opened the prestigious Berlinale film festival. Set in Kabul just before the Taliban return to power, the film follows a camerawoman whose work, family, and freedom suddenly hang in the balance. Sadat, who has lived in Germany since 2021, brings extensive international festival experience to the project.

The director previously made Wolf and Sheep, which premiered at Cannes in 2016, and followed it with 2019’s The Orphanage. Her latest work captures a critical moment in Afghan history through the lens of a female media professional facing impossible choices. The best director honor recognizes both Sadat’s technical achievement and her courage in documenting a society on the brink of transformation.

Performance Honors Split Between Two Actresses

The jury made the decision to split the best performance prize between two powerful portrayals from different corners of Asia. Pushpa Thing Lama received recognition for her work in Elephants in the Fog, a film about a member of Nepal’s third-gender Kinnar community searching for her missing daughter. The role tackles themes of gender identity and maternal love within South Asian society.

Putri Marino shared the award for her performance in Four Seasons in Java, a magical realist drama following a woman who returns to her hometown after spending two decades behind bars. The film explores themes of redemption, memory, and reintegration through a fantastical lens. Both performances stood out to the jury for their emotional depth and cultural significance, making a shared honor the most fitting recognition.

Japanese Director’s Sundance Feature Earns Special Recognition

The Special Jury Prize went to Japanese director Nagahisa Makoto’s Burn, his second feature film, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Nagahisa has become a fixture at Sundance, having won awards at the same festival for his short And So We Put Goldfish in the Pool in 2017 and his feature We Are Little Zombies in 2019. His consistent presence at major international festivals demonstrates his growing reputation in contemporary Asian cinema.

The Special Jury Prize acknowledges films that exhibit distinctive artistic vision or technical innovation beyond traditional categories. Nagahisa’s work typically blends quirky humor with deeper emotional undercurrents, creating a signature style that resonates with festival audiences worldwide. His recognition at Singapore further cements his status as one of Japan’s most interesting young filmmakers working today.

Southeast Asian Short Film Competition Showcases Regional Talent

In the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition, Yogyakarta-based artist-filmmaker Arief Budiman’s Golden Island claimed the title of best Southeast Asian short. The film, which competed at Rotterdam, follows a videographer from Java and another from Papua as they collaborate to make a film about Papua together. The work explores themes of regional identity and collaborative storytelling within Indonesia’s diverse archipelago.

Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke won best director for The Bovine Comedy, a Locarno premiere set in 2036 where cows have nearly died out. Boonbunchachoke’s feature debut A Useful Ghost, released in 2025, won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at Cannes and received a special mention at SGIFF. His dystopian short demonstrates his range in moving between intimate character studies and speculative fiction.

Additional Short Film Honors Recognize Emerging Voices

German-Indonesian filmmaker Berthold Wahjudi took the shorts Special Jury Prize for Vaterland or A Bule Named Yanto, which premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week. The film explores questions of cultural identity and belonging through a cross-cultural lens. Sarah Lingam won best performance in the shorts category for Flame of the Forest, portraying a young nurse who returns home and faces blame for her grandmother’s death.

The diversity of winners across both feature and short film competitions highlights the Silver Screen Awards’ commitment to showcasing varied voices from across Asia. From Afghan cameraswomen to Nepalese third-gender community members, from Indonesian regional collaboration to Thai speculative fiction, the festival’s selections reflect the continent’s rich storytelling traditions. These awards serve not only to recognize excellence but also to amplify stories that might otherwise struggle to find international audiences in an increasingly competitive global film market.