The Young Singapore Talents Keeping Cinema Alive

The setting: the majestic Capitol Theatre, one of the finest picture houses in Singapore when it was built in 1929, and which was delicately restored and reopened 10 years ago. The wardrobe: Chanel’s Cruise 2025/26 collection – inspired by the glamour of cinema and to be showcased here on November 4 in a landmark show – worn as one would in real life. The cast: 11 emerging talents – from actors to directors and even a student film critic – who are helping to keep the magic of the silver screen alive.

This is a feature on the future of Singapore cinema, created in association with Chanel – a long‐time patron of the film industry. Yeah, some parts of it might be rooted in fun and fantasy, but who better than this brave new generation to make dreams come true?

LIM SHI-AN

WHY KNOW HER: Her effortless style and rebellious, emotionally layered roles – from an apprentice plumber in K Rajagopal’s In the Pipeline (2023) to the lead in Charlotte Hong’s quirky 2024 queer romance Tropical Rain, Death Scented Kiss – have made her a darling of both the film and fashion worlds. Now, discover this 27‑year‑old’s aura in Tan Siyou’s internationally acclaimed Amoeba, in which she plays a privileged teen juggling pressure and mischief.

HOW SHE’D DESCRIBE AMOEBA TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER HEARD OF IT: “It’s a diary of a teenage girl presented in the format of a film.”

THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF INHABITING HER AMOEBA CHARACTER SOFIA: “I think the most challenging thing was inhabiting the mind of a 16‑year‑old in as authentic a way as possible. I didn’t want to play her childish just because I’m at a stage of life that’s many chapters beyond hers. I wanted to make sure that I played her real. Siyou was incredible in directing us in a way that allowed this level of naturalism to shine through. She eradicated any self‑consciousness that I had.”

WHAT AND WHO HAS SHAPED HER AS AN ACTRESS: “Wes Anderson films were my favourite as a kid and they thoroughly inspired me. I loved all the actors he has used. Growing up in the Singapore theatre scene was also crucial to shaping my love of acting. And, of course, there’s my parents (veteran actors Tan Kheng Hua and Lim Yu‑Beng), whom I admire as masters of their craft.”

WHO IN THE SINGAPORE FILM SCENE IS EXCITING HER NOW: “There are so many! I’ve had the honour of working with production companies Akanga Film Asia and Momo Film Co very closely on my first two feature films, and they champion incredible stuff. Recently, I’ve also been loving local film‑maker Giselle Lin’s films.”

A SINGAPORE FILM EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: “Singapore Dreaming (2006) by Woo Yen Yen and Colin Goh is one of my all‑time favourite Singapore films. It paints a picture of life here that I believe everyone can relate to. It’s so simple and so moving.

GENEVIEVE TAN

WHY KNOW HER: If you’re an avid theatregoer here, you’ll already know this 28‑year‑old full‑time actress. She has taken on a wide variety of roles (she cites playing a stuffed goose toy in Irsyad Dawood’s debut play Kids, Gifts, COEs & Roast Duck as her most memorable) and was in the spotlight last year for playing the lead in the widely raved about Secondary: The Musical. Now, she makes her film debut in Amoeba as the tomboyish “class clown” Gina.

ON HER AMOEBA CHARACTER: “Off the bat, she’s the goofy, unserious one in class who loves to make people laugh, but those who’ve been in similar positions might see more to her – that the humour and need for levity may be a way of masking or coping with deeper pains and difficulties, at home or otherwise. I also hope that how dearly she loves her friends comes across – that was a very important part of Gina to me.”

ON WHEN SHE REALISED SHE WANTED TO ACT: “I didn’t consider a career as an actor until I decided to go to school for it and even then, I viewed it more vocationally than as a calling or passion … It took me three years to understand the concept of treating acting as playing, which was encouraged in school, but once I remembered that my favourite type of play as a child was playing pretend, acting took on a whole new significance. I don’t think I was born to do this, but I definitely feel an affinity with this craft that started long before I could speak.”

WHO IN THE SINGAPORE FILM SCENE IS EXCITING HER NOW: “Calleen Koh (the film‑maker most known for her animation work, including the 2021 short To Kill the Birds & The Bees, which earned her a nomination at the British Academy Film Awards)! She’s the creator of My Wonderful Life (2024), in which I voiced the small role of jie jie (‘big sister’ in Chinese) and that consisted of indecipherable screaming 90 per cent of the time … I find it crazy how her work manages to be extremely wild and relatable at the same time.”

A SINGAPORE FILM EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: “Wonderland (2023) by Chai Yee Wei, which is about two fathers who become friends when the illiterate one needs help from the other to read letters and write to his daughter studying abroad … I had a teary‑eyed watch, thanks to the great performances and straightforward storytelling.”

EDWARD TAN

WHY KNOW HIM: This newcomer made a striking debut in Jow Zhi Wei’s Tomorrow Is a Long Time (2023), playing Meng, a teen navigating grief, violence and military service in a journey of redemption, and earned a Best Performance nomination at the 2023 Singapore International Film Festival’s Silver Screen Awards for it. Off set, the 26‑year‑old studies psychology, learns Chinese dance and crafts Peranakan beaded shoes – now we love him even more.

HOW HE DESCRIBES HIMSELF AS AN ACTOR: “I’d say I’m a quiet actor who plays quiet characters. I love exploring non‑verbal ways to express the thoughts and feelings of my characters. I’m also drawn to stories about normal people in situations with an unusual twist.”

ON WHEN HE REALISED HE WANTED TO ACT: “I think my love of acting was cemented during my secondary school days in drama club. It wasn’t the coolest or most popular club in school, but we had a lot of fun. I went on to study acting after that. My most memorable acting experience then was playing the father in an excerpt of Jean Tay’s play Everything but the Brain. Not sure how convincing it was for a 15‑year‑old boy to play an elderly former professor afflicted with cerebral thrombosis, but it was the first time I experienced acting in a manner that was sincere and truthful. I felt fulfilled.”

ON BREAKING INTO THE INDUSTRY: “It takes a combination of acting skills, knowing the right people, and being at the right place at the right time. Making good connections is important, as the community is very small. And remember: the cycle of auditions and rejections can be very draining, but you can’t run away from it. I had a really bad audition experience a few years back that affected my confidence a lot – maybe because the director was one of my favourite local film‑makers. But I picked myself up and went for more, and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work on another project that inspired me to keep going. Acting is an inherently vulnerable thing to do, and emotional support or encouragement from the community goes a long way.”

A SINGAPORE FILM EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: “Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo (2013) was one of the first local films I watched and liked a lot as a teen. I think it’s a good first recommendation for anyone wanting to explore independent films in Singapore.”

RHEA CHALAK

WHY KNOW HER: This 23‑year‑old English Literature and Art History final‑year undergraduate at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a budding film critic and the president of the school’s Film Society (FilmSoc), where she spearheaded the launch of Exposure – the group’s first in‑house publication. So successful was its debut print edition, which was released this year, that she and her team were invited to speak about it at the 2025 Hawaii International Film Festival this October.

ON FILM CRITICISM TODAY: “As the first editor‑in‑chief of Exposure, I spent a lot of time thinking about what makes good criticism, especially as I was shaping the publication’s voice … Everyone has some kind of emotional response to films. Personally, I find that the pieces of criticism that are rooted in my own intimate experiences of life instead of strict academic theory tend to be my strongest. Also, the quirky, comedic one‑liners people publish on Letterboxd (a social platform for film lovers to track, review and rate movies) are some of my favourite forms of film criticism.”

ON THE CINEMA COMMUNITY: “When we first heard about the news of The Projector closing, our programming team organised a sort of funeral, during which we screened Tsai Ming‑liang’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn (a 2003 film that revolves around the final night of a cinema’s operation). We had a turnout of almost 80 people who came forward with emotional anecdotes, critiques of the system, and more. The gathering was proof that cinema lives on, even without physical cinemas.

Some other examples: the NTU FilmSoc has seen its highest membership this year – 281 people and counting – and our first screening drew a record 120 attendees. We’ve even had requests from people outside NTU asking to join, but sadly, the answer’s no. Outside NTU, there’s fff.forever, an online Telegram community by the amazing Judith Tong that spotlights and organises local cinema events … My friend Daryl Cheong also runs Blind Boars and Close‑Up @ The Coup. Both are independent programmes for young film lovers to connect with local film‑makers through monthly underground screenings. Whether on a large or an intimate scale, cinephiles always find ways to create their own spaces.”

A SINGAPORE FILM EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: “White Days (2009) by Lei Yuan Bin, which I watched at the Asian Film Archive last year. The film is about three friends drifting through life in a Singapore that feels both near and distant – almost like a time capsule. It’s a seemingly mundane, slice‑of‑life film, but a lot is felt. By the end of it, it felt like the characters had somehow become my friends.”

RANICE TAY

WHY KNOW HER: It’s hard to believe that this 29‑year‑old’s lead role in Tan Siyou’s Amoeba marks her on‑screen debut – she won the Fei Mu Best Actress prize at the 2025 edition of the illustrious Pingyao International Film Festival for it. As contemplative and expressive in real life as she is when acting, she’s also a national Taiji athlete and co‑founded Wushiren Theatre – a collective that combines Taiji and theatre into multidisciplinary works – last year.

ON WHAT DREW HER TO AMOEBA: “My immediate reaction to the script was a visceral sense of being understood. There’s a feral, uncompromising sense of authenticity in Siyou’s work, which I resonated with immensely. There was also this uncanny familiarity with my character Xin Yu – the world she grew up in and the way she perceives life. I’m always drawn to material that seeks to bring to light something forgotten, buried or hidden, and I love work that wrestles with difficult answers and isn’t afraid to defy easy labels and categorisation. In a world that tends to think in binaries, I feel like we need art to remind us that the human experience is often layered, complex and poetic.”

THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF THE ROLE: “Before this, I had only ever acted for the stage. The biggest challenge was learning how to surrender and deliver the emotional beats in the script despite shooting out of order or in a completely foreign environment.”

WHY WATCH AMOEBA: “Growing up in Singapore, where we’re constantly fed this narrative of having to be pragmatic, survive, and plan for the future, can really diminish the light of an individual. Most people might not want to confront this, but to be fulfilled, we need an element of risk. Risk helps us to realise ourselves and crystallises character. Without risk, life becomes spiritually numbing. Amoeba is a film about the rewards and dangers of risk, and what might happen to a society where risk‑taking is stamped out.”

ON HOW SHE BALANCES THEATRE, TAIJI AND, NOW, FILM: “I follow the wind. I’ve come to realise that life tends to mysteriously reveal and arrange itself when we listen closely. I also don’t see the three as separate things … Performing allows me to become a vessel through a character, a song, a dance, or even a complex Taiji routine that I have to master. But at the end of the day, when all is done and dusted, I find myself returning to the practice of theatre – it is where I go to connect to the deepest parts of myself.”

A SINGAPORE FILM EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: “Jack Neo’s Homerun (2003). Watching it for the first time, I remember it inspiring a belief in local cinema among my friends and family.”

JENNIFER CHAI WILKINSON

WHY KNOW HER: This teen actress made her memorable on‑screen debut in Ong Kuo Sin’s touching film The Morning Call – one of six shorts in the Eric Khoo‑led anthology Kopitiam Days, released this August to commemorate Singapore’s 60th birthday. Now, the affable 15‑year‑old, who displays professionalism beyond her years, is on to her first feature film, the details of which she had to keep under wraps at press time. We’re keeping watch.

ON HER BACKGROUND: “I’m half Chinese and half British, but I’ve lived in Singapore my whole life, so this is home for me. From young, I’ve been drawn to the performing arts. I love to dance, sing and act, and I find joy in expressing myself through creative movement and storytelling. Outside of performing, I enjoy baking, drawing and exploring different forms of visual art. I’m the kind of person who loves to stay curious and try new things, and I think that’s what makes acting so exciting for me – there’s always something new to discover about people and emotions.”

ON HER FIRST ROLE IN A FILM: “I was so grateful to play May, a Gen Z teenager who travels from overseas to visit her mum’s side of the family in Singapore. I related to her quite naturally because like May, I have family both in Asia and the UK. I understood what it’s like to reconnect with relatives after a long time and navigate cultural gaps along the way. Interestingly, I speak Mandarin fluently in real life, but in the film, I had to sound like a foreigner speaking Mandarin with an accent. It was a fun challenge!”

HER ROLE MODEL: “Jennifer Lawrence! She’s so talented, fearless and funny. I really admire how natural her acting always feels.”

IF SHE WEREN’T AN ACTRESS, SHE’D BE … “…probably doing something related to singing, dancing or visual arts.”

A SINGAPORE FILM EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: “Kopitiam Days, so you can catch me in it! I’d also recommend Cheng Chai Hong’s We Can save the World!!! (2025), which is such a fun and heart‑warming sci‑fi comedy that made me laugh so much. The film even includes an interactive singalong segment, making it such a unique and memorable experience.”

NICOLE LEE

WHY KNOW HER: The fourth member of the 2025 film Amoeba’s girl gang cast makes rebellion look effortless as Vanessa – the popular, confident and seemingly untouchable school athlete whose walls are slowly broken down by friendship, freedom and the messy realities of youth. Lee, 26, isn’t just a powerhouse on camera though. She’s also a film‑maker, a screenwriter and the founder of production house Bite Size Pictures, which creates microdramas that bridge cinema and digital media.

WHAT DREW HER TO AMOEBA: “Honestly, everything. Amoeba was drawn from director (Tan) Siyou’s own schooling experience and we actually went to the same school, so I saw myself in it right away … What’s brilliant about the film is that it isn’t a melodramatic ‘woe is me’ kind of story. It takes the growing pains we’ve all felt and makes them fun.”

ON WHAT EXCITES HER ABOUT SINGAPORE’S NEW WAVE OF FILM‑MAKERS: “I feel like all the rules are out the window now – everything’s worthy of being told as a story. Film‑making is no longer limited to just so‑called highbrow art‑house films or purely commercial ones. What excites me most is the variety and boldness of this new generation that isn’t afraid to break away from tradition and just create what feels true to them.”

IF SHE WEREN’T AN ACTRESS, SHE’D BE … “…a writer. That was my first dream job. I lived and breathed in the school library, and have churned out terrible novels since primary school, so hopefully that? If not, I’d probably just be a very sad person. Thankfully, I still write now. I’ve just also found the screen – the stage beyond the page.”

ON THE DEMISE OF CINEMAS: “There’s a lot of talk about traditional film and television dying. I see it, I feel it, I mourn it, but I don’t think all hope is lost because I’m not alone in feeling this way. There’ll always be like‑minded people and there’ll always be spaces – what’s disappearing can be revived. To save it, we first have to go where the audience is. If everyone’s on digital media, then we go there, make stories for them there, and then lure them back to the cinemas and make them join back our cult.”

A SINGAPORE FILM EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: “Can I say Amoeba, or is that cheating? Other than that, Shirkers (2018) is my favourite local classic – it’s a story within a story and there’s something endlessly inspiring about that.”

NATALIE KHOO

WHY KNOW HER: If you’ve caught a film at the Asian Film Archive (AFA) in the past four years, chances are she’s had something to do with it. She’s its in‑house programmer and, under her, the non‑profit organisation has been showcasing an increasingly broad variety of films – from restored classics to fashion documentaries and Y2K cult gems. The 29‑year‑old is also a film‑maker and an artist in her own right, and is developing a multi‑sensory installation that will debut at the 2026 Singapore Art Week, set to take place this coming January.

ON WHAT GUIDES HER AS AFA’S PROGRAMMER: “Much of my work is about recontextualising the past through the present, often via multidisciplinary collaborations … We’ve worked with the electronic publication platform Mixmag Asia for a programme exploring underground music and sonic landscapes in Asian cinema, for example, and will be hosting a listening party (this Nov 15) with the collective Pure Blue that’s focused on music’s role in film.”

ON WHAT YOUTHS ARE LOOKING FOR IN CINEMA TODAY: “There’s a renewed appreciation for high‑fidelity image and sound … Our 4K restorations of visually stunning films often do well among younger audiences. Even if they can find a version online, it’s not the same as when you’re watching it in 4K, especially if it’s something like Lou Ye’s Suzhou River …

Younger, more style‑conscious audiences also tend to gravitate towards visually lush and textural films … We’ve seen great reactions to restorations like Shunji Iwai’s All about Lily Chou‑Chou – its early‑2000s aesthetic really resonates with viewers now. And younger audiences are interested in expanded cinema as well, where film intersects with music, performance or installation.”

ON SINGAPORE’S FILM SCENE NOW: “It’s encouraging to see new ground‑up efforts emerging: independent screenings, microcinemas, community‑led film clubs. These make film culture more accessible and dynamic even as traditional and much‑loved venues like The Projector close.”

A SINGAPORE FILM EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: “This is more a Singapore‑Filipino co‑production than a purely Singaporean film, but have you seen They Call Her Cleopatra Wong? It’s a 1978 film we restored and it’s a fascinating piece of Singapore cinema: part spy thriller, part martial arts film, part exploitation flick … You see 1970s local landmarks such as the cable car alongside scenes filmed in a nunnery overseas. It’s transnational, daring and unlike anything else from that era.”

ISAAC CHAN

WHY KNOW HIM: For the past three years, this graduate from the Nanyang Technological University’s School of Art, Design and Media has been the mainstay moderator of independent non‑profit visual arts space Objectifs’s FreshTake programme, helping to spotlight emerging Singaporean film‑makers and giving them a platform to speak. The cheeky 27‑year‑old also aims to make films that bring both laughter and heartbreak, inspired, he says, by the “joy, tragedy and vivid colours of shared human stories”.

ON HIS CREATIVE APPROACH AS A FILM‑MAKER: “This question couldn’t have come at a better time – I’ve never been more sure of my practice than this year. For me, it’s about comedy with heart: creating works that marry common‑folk narratives with the extravagance of living. I’m a self‑proclaimed disciple of laughter and I’m going to stop there because I could write a dissertation on how laughing has saved me.”

ON WHAT EXCITES HIM ABOUT SINGAPORE’S NEW WAVE OF FILM‑MAKERS: “I think what’s exciting is seeing how this new generation depicts the coming‑of‑age experience. It’s a rite of passage to have your first works be about angst, misunderstanding, restlessness and things of that ilk, but these creatives have grown up in such interesting times that I know their treatments of these tropes are going to be very interesting.”

ON THE SUPPORT EMERGING FILM‑MAKERS HERE NEED MOST: “I think the minimum is respect – to see what we do as valid and viable, and to recognise the effort that goes into a film and to celebrate when it has been made.”

A SINGAPORE FILM EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: “Giselle Lin’s 2021 short Time Flows in Strange Ways on Sundays. It’s a beautiful capture of grief and resentment – the way the story is told is so compelling. Also, you get to see familiar Singapore sights shot in a light you’ve never seen before.”

TAN SI EN

WHY KNOW HER: Under her guidance, the boutique production company Momo Film Co, which she co‑founded seven years ago, has helped to bring critically acclaimed films such as Nelson Yeo’s Dreaming & Dying (2023) and Duong Dieu Linh’s Don’t Cry, Butterfly (2024) to international audiences. The 32‑year‑old film and TV producer has also made it a point to invest in the full life cycle of a film, from development to distribution and providing grants – all to make sure that personal, often offbeat stories not only get made but are also seen.

ON STARTING MOMO FILM CO: “There was a gap between emerging film‑makers with strong voices and the resources or producers that could give them the space to dream. Momo was born out of that desire to bridge that gap … Two projects that have truly set the tone for us have been Dreaming & Dying and Don’t Cry, Butterfly. Both are emblematic of what we hope to champion: deeply human stories told with humour and warmth, and with a distinctly regional heartbeat. The journeys of both films also showed us that stories rooted in specificity can travel far. Dreaming & Dying premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and won two of the top awards, while Don’t Cry, Butterfly premiered at the Venice Critics’ Week and took home both the Grand Prize and the Most Innovative Film award.”

ON HOW SINGAPORE’S FILM COMMUNITY CAN THRIVE: “We need sustainable infrastructure – from arts literacy to development funding to exhibition screen quotas. More importantly, we need trust: trust in artists to tell their stories without excessive bureaucracy.”

ON WHAT SHE THINKS FILM‑MAKERS SHOULD BE DOING TODAY: “Audiences today are more fragmented but also more adventurous. They’re discovering films through algorithms, festivals, TikTok – everywhere. Film‑makers and producers need to think across platforms and time zones. We can’t rely solely on the old theatrical model, and have to be nimble about where and how we reach viewers. In the end, though, no matter how much the landscape changes, good stories still connect people.”

A SINGAPORE FILM EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: “15 (2003) by Royston Tan – it’s raw, fearless and deeply rooted in a very real slice of Singapore.”

GISELLE LIN

WHY KNOW HER: This 28 -year -old film‑maker is part of a new wave of talent rewriting what Southeast Asian cinema can look and feel like. Her soft, romantic works often centre on family, nature and the emotional lives of young girls, and have been screened at top festivals globally. Her latest, Children’s Day, premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival’s Berlinale Shorts competition this February.

ON WHAT DREW HER TO FILM‑MAKING: “Growing up, I was a very avid reader … Reading allowed me to escape. In my early teens, I started reading about films and that reading turned into making. I decided to make cinema my life’s work because film‑making is unlike any other medium I’ve encountered. It is literature and theatre, painting and music, all at the same time yet somehow something entirely different.”

ON HER FILM‑MAKING STYLE: “Edward Yang (a pioneering film‑maker of Taiwan’s New Wave cinema movement) once mentioned that making his final film Yi Yi (2000) was ‘very much like writing a letter to a close friend’, and that’s something I try to apply in my practice.”

ON CHILDREN’S DAY: “Without giving away too much, Children’s Day is about an eight‑year‑old child trying to remain whimsical through the horrors of being a girl. I grew up in a family of five girls and one boy, and if you asked me to close my eyes and describe to you a scene from when I was eight, I could do it in great detail … Everything still feels close to me because I still feel like that eight‑year‑old girl most days. Children’s Day came from a desire to preserve all of that – the textures, smells and tastes of my girlhood.”

ON WHAT SINGAPORE FILM‑MAKERS NEED: “We definitely need more screening spaces. Film needs to be watched in a cinema. That’s the best way to watch a film. Watching a film is a communal process, and cannot be replaced by streaming and the like. Film‑makers will always make films; we just need less hostile screening infrastructures.”

A SINGAPORE FILM EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH: “For shorts, I’d recommend My Father after Dinner (2015) by Gladys Ng, which gently portrays an elderly father through his daughter’s perspective … And Kirsten Tan’s Pop Aye (2017) – about a disillusioned architect who reunites with his lost elephant in Bangkok and discovers truths about himself along the way – would be my pick for features. Gladys and Kirsten are some of the many local female film‑makers I looked up to when I was just starting out. Their body of work and film‑making ethos really encouraged me, and even though they’ve become friends, I still continue to be inspired by them.”

ALL INTERVIEWS HAVE BEEN EDITED FOR BREVITY AND CLARITY.

THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN VOLUME 4 OF F ZINE.

CREATIVE DIRECTION NOELLE LOH PHOTOGRAPHY REBECCA TOH STYLING TOK WEI LUN TEXT & COORDINATION KENG YANG SHUEN, ASSISTED BY PANG JIA WEI PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANTS MOHD ALIF & CHRISTOPHER WONG STYLING ASSISTANTS MEGAN LIM & YAWEN KHONG HAIR EC TAN/KIZUKI+LIM MAKEUP KEITH BRYANT LEE & WEE MENG, USING CHANEL BEAUTY