Anthony Chen on We Are All Strangers, family and the end of his Singapore trilogy

When Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, it made history as the first Singaporean film to be selected for the festival’s main competition and contend for the prestigious Golden Bear.

The film has since opened the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival, screened in Italy, and will head to Shanghai next. Yet despite its growing international acclaim, Chen says the film was always intended for one audience first.

“We premiered at Berlin in February, where it was the first Singapore film in competition for the Golden Bear. It’s since opened the Hong Kong Film Festival, screened in Italy, and heads to Shanghai next. But what matters most is that I made this film for Singapore, for Singaporeans,” he says.

“The film has travelled and played well overseas, but it was always made for home first.”

The final instalment in Chen’s Singapore-set Growing Up trilogy, We Are All Strangers reunites familiar faces Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler from Ilo Ilo (2013), alongside new cast members Andi Lim and Regene Lim. The film also marks the conclusion of a journey that has accompanied Chen through three decades of his life.

“I made Ilo Ilo in my twenties, Wet Season in my thirties, and this one in my forties,” he says. “I’ve been navigating three decades of my life through these films. And this is the end. There’s no part four, no part five.”

Telling our own stories

At its heart, We Are All Strangers is another love letter to Singapore, a theme that has run through all three films in the trilogy.

“There’s a lot of love for Singapore in all of these films,” Chen says. “If we don’t tell our own stories, no one is going to tell them for us. We’re too small a country, too small a population. We have to do it ourselves.”

The timing of the film’s August release, coinciding with National Day month, feels fitting.

“I hope it’s a film for the moment.”

Finding beauty in the everyday

One of the film’s most striking qualities is the way it captures familiar Singaporean spaces. Older housing estates, neighbourhood coffee shops and everyday scenes are transformed into something unexpectedly cinematic.

For Chen, that was entirely intentional.

“I asked my whole team: how do we make ordinary life in Singapore beautiful?” he says. “I wanted to find beauty in the spaces we take for granted, and that’s the Singapore I wanted to capture.”

The director admits he once struggled to see Singapore as visually inspiring.

“For the longest time, I thought Singapore was very ugly,” he says with a laugh. “It’s always easier to find beauty overseas. But over time, I realised there is beauty in ordinary life.”

One scene in particular, set on a public bus, has become a favourite among audiences and critics alike.

“Foreign journalists told me it was one of the most iconic bus scenes they’d ever seen,” he says. “It’s also one of my favourite scenes in the film.”

A story about family on and off screen

Like Chen’s previous films, We Are All Strangers centres on family. But beyond the story unfolding on screen, the cast and crew have also formed a family of their own over the years.

“All my films are about constructed families,” Chen says. “There’s a family on screen, but over the years we’ve become a constructed family too. It’s a family where sometimes we tear each other apart, and then we come back together.”

No relationship embodies that journey more than the one he shares with actor Koh Jia Ler.

“I found him out of 8,000 children when he was 11,” Chen recalls. “He just turned 25. We’ve made three films together. He grew up in front of the camera.”

His creative partnership with Yeo Yann Yann stretches back even further.

“This is 20 years of working together,” he says. “The first time was my short film Ah Ma.”

The film’s themes of family, belonging and change are likely to resonate with audiences who grew up alongside the trilogy. As families evolve, gaining new members while losing others, the film explores the emotional complexities of what it means to belong.

Why the title means two different things

One of the questions Chen has been asked most frequently throughout the film’s international festival run concerns its title.

“The first question is always about the title,” he says, laughing.

While the English title is We Are All Strangers, the Chinese title translates more closely to We Are Not Strangers.

“The difference was intentional,” Chen explains. “It bookends the film. They start as strangers and end as a family.”

The contradiction also speaks to a larger question at the centre of the story.

“It made me think about how well you actually know the people you think you know. You sit down to eat as a family, but everyone’s on their phone. Sometimes your own family is a group of strangers.”

Ultimately, Chen hopes the film encourages audiences to rethink their own definitions of family and connection.

“I hope it lingers and opens up conversations.”

The strangers who made the film possible

Appropriately for a film called We Are All Strangers, Chen says many of the people who helped bring the project to life were complete strangers.

“It’s so easy to say no,” he says. “I’m grateful to all the strangers who were willing to open their doors for us anyway. There was so much goodwill and support along the way that allowed us to make this film.”

Yeo recalls residents and business owners going above and beyond to accommodate the production.

“The people around the coffee shop opened their homes and let us film around the clock,” she says. “We kept apologising, and they kept saying it was fine. We were so touched by how much support we received.”

Why Singapore cinema needs support

As Singapore’s film industry continues to navigate post-pandemic challenges, Chen believes audiences have an important role to play.

“We have a lot of talent here,” he says. “I’d love to see more Singaporeans come out and support local writers, local filmmakers and all these wonderful actors.”

While neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia have seen cinema attendance recover to near pre-pandemic levels, Singapore continues to face challenges in bringing audiences back to theatres.

“The region is doing well,” Chen notes. “But Singapore is still challenging. People aren’t coming back to cinemas the way they used to.”

His hope is simple: that Singaporeans continue to champion local stories and the people creating them.

“We don’t take care of our talent enough,” he says. “I hope we can work together to spread the word and encourage Singaporeans to support local films.”

After 13 years, We Are All Strangers may mark the end of Chen’s trilogy, but it also serves as a reminder of why local stories matter. Because if Singaporeans do not tell their own stories, who will?