Vietnamese filmmakers win Singapore film fest prizes

Truong Minh Quy’s “The Men Who Wait” was awarded the Best Southeast Asian Short Film at the festival held Sunday.

The jury remarked that the film “beautifully draws us in where the superimposition of space between men living on the margins are left waiting, wanting. A cinema that is as unapologetic and bold as it is painfully real and ephemeral.”

The film is about three anonymous men who seek gratification in different ways on a slag heap once trodden by coal miners.

A still cut from “The Men Who Wait”. Photo courtesy of SGIFF

The Youth Jury Prize was awarded to “Grandma’s Broken Legs” by Huynh Cong Nho. Lauded as a film that “democratises filmmaking”, the jury praised the Vietnamese director for “his daring vision which blurred the line between fact and fiction and perfectly embodied the notion that the personal is political.”

The Fellowship Prize was awarded to Pham Hoang Minh Thy’s second project, “Daughter of the Mountain God.” Thy earned the award alongside Paul Rembert Patindol from the Philippines.

The film festival awarded it to the Thy for the “testament to the power of film and a celebration of hope” in her movie.

“The film has received the award as it serves to remind us of the roots of filmmaking and the innocent joy at the core of image-making,” the jury said.

The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) was held Nov. 25 to Dec. 5, introducing over 100 films by filmmakers from all over the world.