Singapore International Film Festival

23rd Singapore International Film Festival to take place from April 15-24

The Singapore International Film Festival kicks off next month. The S$500,000 festival will showcase close to 200 films from over all over the world.

It's one of the most anticipated festivals for movie buffs in Singapore. Now in its 23rd year, the Singapore International Film Festival is back with a wide selection of films.

One of the highlights is a film called "Shake Hands With the Devil", a sad tale about the struggles in Rwanda seen through the eyes of a U.N peacekeeper.

Meanwhile Park Jin Pyo's latest effort, Closer To Heaven will also be showcased.

And setting the tone for the festival is the film, "Mao's Last Dancer". It's about a dancer from China who defects to the US and eventually becomes a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet. It stars one of Asia's most established actresses, Joan Chen.

This year's festival includes special segments on Dance, Women in Film as well as cutting edge flicks from New York.

Kirpal Singh, festival director, Singapore International Film Festival, said: "We are showing films that have very broad appeal and will reach out to both the general viewership as well as the niche film going public.”

When it comes to censorship, organisers said they have had meetings with the authorities and have been pro-actively persuading them to give more leeway.

Majority of the films have been passed while some are still in consideration.

Geoff Malone, chairman & founder, SIFF, said: "We don't show films if they want cuts for it but I don't think we've got anything hugely controversial. Of course with the Board of Film Censors, the whole thing has opened up a lot more these days, it certainly got a lot better than when we first started the festival. Singapore's come a long way."

Festival Director Kirpal Singh added: "We've had meetings with people in the MDA. We have also been very pro active in trying to persuade them that it is time that the Singapore Film Festival became like every other big international film festival.

“This means that films that have to go through the usual process of censorship are actually submitted for viewing but are given more leeway in their screening so that Singaporeans can also proudly walk anywhere in New York or Paris or London and say that these days even the Singapore Film Festival is liberal and shows films now that weren’t allowed five years ago.”

And it's not long before the festival kicks off from April 15 to 24.

-News courtesy of Channel Newsasia-