February 22, 2021

The inaugural Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) was held on 20 February 1987. It is the most distinguished film event in Singapore, intending to celebrate the best of Asian cinema. It offers a selection of international films at various screening venues, and provides a global platform for both established and aspiring local filmmakers to showcase their best productions. The Festival also holds awards ceremonies which recognize excellence in Asian cinema.

In the project ‘The Making of a Transpacific Film City: A Study of Minor Transnational Flows Across Vancouver, Hong Kong, and Singapore’, Professor Helen Hok-Sze Leung (Simon Fraser University, Canada) and Professor Audrey Yue (NUS Communications and New Media) examine how the Vancouver film industry capitalizes on its association with Hollywood and its Asian migrant connections to develop transnational film partnerships with China. It compares Vancouver’s initiatives with those of Singapore and Hong Kong, which are similar minor film-making hubs seeking to establish collaborations with China to boost their film industry. The project attempts to frame Vancouver-based film initiatives that embrace this developing partnership as part of a new transpacific film geography. Concurrently, it strives to understand how minor film cultures negotiate between appealing to a global audience without compromising on their local attributes.

This research initiates a new approach to examine Vancouver’s film industry – one that leverages on both local and transnational resources and partnerships to boost their appeal and longevity. It also informs policymakers who are keen on promoting the arts scene on ways to maximize Vancouver’s multiculturalism and transnational connections to their advantage.