Local entertainment company NoonTalk Media is organising the first Golden Singa Awards to be presented in Singapore in December.

The international film awards ceremony aims to bring together filmmakers to recognise and celebrate Chinese-language cinema.

At the press conference yesterday (June 23), NoonTalk Media CEO Dasmond Koh said: "We believe that in the Chinese film market nowadays, there aren't many award ceremonies that are open to outside the region. With that in mind, we hope to make Singapore an international stage for all Chinese-language films to participate in."

The 52-year-old shared that apart from the Golden Horse Awards held in Taiwan, other Chinese-language film awards such as the Hong Kong Film Awards and China's Hundred Flowers Awards and Golden Rooster Awards are country-specific, which leaves a gap for international filmmakers.

At the Golden Horse Awards in 2018, Taiwanese film director Fu Yue said in her winning speech after receiving Best Documentary that she hoped Taiwan would be recognised as "independent".

Her speech sparked outrage among China filmmakers and celebrities — as China regards Taiwan as part of their territory — and triggered an official snub of the ceremony from the following year. According to a report by Taipei Times in 2021, China's national film board had ordered directors and actors to boycott the event.

Several Hong Kong films also reportedly dropped out of the awards under pressure from Beijing. Since then, mainstream Chinese filmmakers steered clear of the Golden Horse Awards for fear of repercussions.

About the upcoming Golden Singa Awards, Dasmond added: "We hope that within five years, with the awards ceremony held annually, we will be able to let it develop into the most prominent and trusted awards ceremony in the Asia Pacific region."

Dasmond told AsiaOne that Singapore is the ideal location to host the international film awards as it provides a neutral ground.

Furthermore, he hoped that the event would "spur the adrenaline rush" for local filmmakers to excel and create opportunities for them to participate in the awards as well.

However, he also said: "We had discussed and know that it might be a little bit difficult for local productions to emerge as winners for a lot of categories. We should be seeing quite a bit of overseas artistes and nominees running for the awards."

22 awards categories to be presented, calls for submissions now open

The Golden Singa Awards will be presented on Dec 1 at Capitol Theatre in conjunction with the Infocomm Media Development Authority's (IMDA) Singapore Media Festival.

Ng Tse Meng, Honorary Chairman of RuiFeng Wealth Management Pte Ltd, invested in the event.

The awards committee comprises industry veterans including producer and founder of film company Xue Zhe Ying Shi (Scholar Films) Tsai Sung-lin and his wife Lu Meihui. They had distributed and invested in films such as Farewell My Concubine (1993), Ashes of Time (1994), A Chinese Odyssey (1995) and In The Mood for Love (2000).

There will be 22 award categories: Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Male Actor, Best Female Actor, Best Male Supporting Actor, Best Female Supporting Actor, Best Rising Star, Best Director of Photography, Best Animated Film, Best Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Sound Effects, Best Editing, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Action Design, Best Asian Feature Film (Non-Chinese), Most Popular Feature Film, Most Popular Male Actor and Most Popular Female Actor.

To qualify, the film must run for at least 60 minutes and be screened in cinemas between Jan 1, 2024 and May 31, 2025. The international call for submissions is now open at https://goldensingaawards.com/ .

The jury panel, which will comprise nine to 11 international industry representatives including award-winning filmmakers, producers, actors, musicians and costume designers, will be finalised in July.

The preliminary jury will evaluate and shortlist submissions for nomination in September and nominees will be announced in October. In November, the final jury will evaluate and decide on the winners.

Local jeweller Risis is the official trophy partner for the awards and will be designing and crafting trophies for the ceremony.

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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