Every year, film buffs wait with bated breath for the return of the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF). The largest and longest-running film event on the island has formed a knack of bringing some of the year’s most critically acclaimed films to our shores, before they become mainstream box office hits (cough, Call Me By Your Name). Now back in its 29th edition, SGIFF will run from Nov 28-Dec 9 across multiple venues like Capitol Theatre, the National Museum of Singapore, National Gallery Singapore and The Cathay.

Through its 29 years, SGIFF has consistently put the spotlight on groundbreaking Asian cinema, giving credit where it’s due to talented local and regional filmmakers. This year’s line-up proves no different.

Amongst them is the hotly anticipated A Land Imagined, Singaporean filmmaker Yeo Siew Hua’s sophomore feature that recently won the top prize, the Golden Leopard, at the Locarno Film Festival 2018. The Mandarin mystery thriller follows the disappearance of a migrant construction worker at a land reclamation site in Singapore, unraveling gritty secrets along the way. No small feat, its win makes it the first film from Singapore to clinch the grand prize at the prestigious Swiss film festival.

In addition, the Festival is introducing an all-new program—Moonlight Cinema, which will host two free outdoor screenings at Gardens by the Bay, as a primer to the festival. Grab your picnic essentials and get cozy; the inaugural series kicks off with My Girl (USA, 1991) and Southeast Asia's same-named take on a similar theme, My Girl (Thailand, 2003) at the Supertree Grove over Oct 26-27.

My Girl (Thailand)

As per previous years, SGIFF will also being showcasing short films in competition under its Silver Screen Awards—like Manila is Full of Men Named Boy by Andrew Stephen Lee, The Imminent Immanent by Carlo Francisco Manatad, and Please Stop Talking by Josef Gacutan. The dense line-up of Filipino directors comes hand-in-hand with the Country Focus of Philippines this year; so clear your calendar for a rich crop of Philippine cinema.

More details to come on the full Festival line-up, so stay tuned.

Singapore International Film Festival 2018 runs from Nov 28-Dec 9 across multiple venues. More information available here.