The Singapore International Film Festival (Chinese: 新加坡国际电影节) was launched in 1987. The festival is an annual film event, held around April/May each year, and screens about 300 films from over 45 countries. Besides screening award-winning and critically acclaimed films, the festival also features workshops, seminars and exhibitions on film-making for film students and the film industry.
The festival accepts formats in 16mm, 35mm, VHS, U-matic (PAL).
Up to 2007, SIFF was led by its 3 Festival Directors: Philip Cheah, Lesley Ho and Teo Swee Leng, who also acted as Board Members, together with the festival founder Geoffrey Malone. In 2007 after the 20th edition, Jasmine Ng was appointed the new Board Member and Wahyuni A. Hadi joined as Festival Manager. In 2008, Wahyuni A. Hadi and Zhang Wenjie were appointed Festival Directors. The current Festival Board Members are Philip Cheah, Geoffrey Malone and Jasmine Ng.
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Originally launched to give local audiences a chance to see independent and non-commercial films, the festival is now recognised worldwide by film critics for its focus on Asian filmmakers and promotion of neglected Southeast Asian films. Many international critics attend this festival to see Asia's new and bright talents.
To encourage the Asian film-makers, the SIFF introduced the Silver Screen Awards Competition in 1991. The Awards have become regionally recognized and Asian film-makers vie to have their films entered to gain exposure in world markets.
Some internationally-recognised winners of the awards include: Chen Kaige, Park Kwang-Su, Tsai Ming-liang, Edward Yang.
Some notable Singaporean winners of the awards include: Eric Khoo, Kelvin Tong, Sandi Tan, Jack Neo and Royston Tan.