Three Singapore films will make their mark at the Toronto Film Festival

Three films by Singaporean directors will make their North American premieres at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), giving local film-makers a strong showing at the festival’s Centrepiece programme.

Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers, Ang Geck Geck’s Ah Girl and The Violinist, co-directed by Singaporean Ervin Han and Spanish animator Raul Garcia, are among 54 titles from 50 countries featured.

Centrepiece is a major programme at the festival and a showcase for international cinema, bringing together acclaimed films from other festivals, anticipated premieres and new work by established film-makers.

Chen’s We Are All Strangers closes his Growing Up trilogy after Ilo Ilo (2013) and Wet Season (2019), both of which were also screened at TIFF. The 2026 edition runs from Sept 10 to 20.

The drama, which made its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, follows the parallel romances of a father and son (Andi Lim and Koh Jia Ler) while exploring class divides, family ties and the relationships people choose for themselves.

“Returning to Toronto to wrap up the Growing Up trilogy with We Are All Strangers alongside other distinct Singaporean works feels deeply moving,” Chen tells The Straits Times. “It’s a watershed moment showing that our stories, deeply local as they are, resonate across borders because the desire for connection is universal.”

Set in Singapore in 1994, Ah Girl centres on a curious seven-year-old (Ong Xuan Jing) caught between her separated parents while also looking after her younger sister. Told from a child’s perspective, the film follows her attempts to make sense of the instability and contradictions of the adult world around her.

Ah Girl  won the Youth Jury Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in February, while Xuan Jing won Best Actress at the Malaysia Golden Global Awards in July and the Firebird Award for Best Actress at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in April.

Ang says screening alongside fellow Singaporean directors at TIFF is “especially meaningful”, adding: “Through one little girl’s journey, I hope Ah Girl continues to inspire audiences from different cultures to reflect on their own childhoods.”

The Violinist, a Singapore-Spain-Italy animated feature, follows young musicians Fei and Kai (voiced by Ayden Sng and Fang Rong) from pre-war Singapore through the Japanese Occupation and its aftermath. After Kai joins the resistance and disappears, Fei pursues a life in music while continuing to search for him.

The film arrives at TIFF after winning the Cristal for Feature Film at France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June.

Han calls its move from Annecy to TIFF “a huge validation”, adding: “I believe this is also the first Singapore-produced animated feature at TIFF, so it is all very encouraging.”

Yvonne Tang, assistant chief executive of the Media Industry Group at the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), says the presence of the three home-grown directors “reflects growing global recognition and interest in made-with-Singapore stories”.

“IMDA is proud to have supported these film-makers and their work as part of our continued efforts to develop Singapore’s media talent,” she adds.

Singapore also has a production link to another Centrepiece title: Indonesian director Kamila Andini’s Four Seasons In Java, which will have its world premiere at TIFF.

The Indonesian drama follows a woman returning to her Javanese village after more than a decade in prison, where she confronts the violence and patriarchal forces that have continued to haunt her community. Chen’s Giraffe Pictures is among the film’s international co-production partners.

We Are All Strangers opens in Singapore cinemas on Aug 20, The Violinist on Sept 17 and Ah Girl in end-2026.

This article was originally published in The Straits Times.