A young writer discovers the forgotten poetry of aging post office worker Ed Saxberger (Willem Dafoe), welcoming him into a literary salon of young New York artists. Intoxicated by their adulation and charmed by a charismatic actress (Greta Lee), Ed steps out of quiet obscurity and into the dizzying world of modern bohemian vanity.
Filmmaker and critic Kent Jones delivers a biting yet humorously perceptive character study with Late Fame, brilliantly anchored by Dafoe’s disarming sensitivity. It playfully skews the romanticization of the struggling artist while quietly examining our universal desire to be seen.
Virtual Q&A:
Join us on Friday 17 July's session for a post-show virtual Q&A with director Kent Jones.
Spoken Word Performance:
Join us on Sunday 26 July's session for a post-show Spoken Word Performances by Spoke & Bird.
In English
Rated NC16 for Some Drug References.
Presented in collaboration with SGIFF for SGIFF Replay:
Missed last year's edition of SGIFF? SGIFF REPLAY is here!
From 17 July to 8 Aug, SGIFF REPLAY takes over Filmhouse, screening five standout films from the 2025 season that deserve a second run. Snag a spot to our online Q&As with filmmakers Shio Miyake (Two Seasons, Two Strangers), Kent Jones (Late Fame), and Polen Ly (Becoming Human), and hang out with local filmmakers, animators, activists, and poets during our fireside chats and live poetry readings.
When ten-year-old Arco steals a time-traveling flight suit to see dinosaurs, a miscalculation strands him in a climate-ravaged 2075. Stripped of the gemstone powering his suit, Arco allies with an imaginative girl named Iris to evade tracking siblings and a rigid robotic police force. As a devastating wildfire closes in, their race home becomes a cross-century fight for survival.
Evoking the whimsical wonder of Miyazaki, Ugo Bienvenu’s breathtaking animated debut Arco delivers a rich and imaginative odyssey about friendship, the climate crisis, and the enduring bonds that connect us.
Fireside Chat:
Join us on Saturday 18 July's session for a post-show Fireside Chat with local animatiors Jerrold Chong and Ervin Han.
In French with English subtitles.
Rated PG.
Presented in collaboration with SGIFF for SGIFF Replay:
Missed last year's edition of SGIFF? SGIFF REPLAY is here!
From 17 July to 8 Aug, SGIFF REPLAY takes over Filmhouse, screening five standout films from the 2025 season that deserve a second run. Snag a spot to our online Q&As with filmmakers Shio Miyake (Two Seasons, Two Strangers), Kent Jones (Late Fame), and Polen Ly (Becoming Human), and hang out with local filmmakers, animators, activists, and poets during our fireside chats and live poetry readings.
What begins as a youthful summer romance against deep sea blues is revealed to be a screening of Li's film, a writer paralyzed by creative block. Seeking escape, she retreats to a snowy resort, where a tentative connection with a divorced innkeeper starts to mirror her own fiction.
Reminiscent of Hong Sangsoo’s bifurcated storytelling, Two Seasons, Two Strangers (旅と日々) explores art and isolation through contrasting landscapes of sea, snow, and silence. Fresh off its Golden Leopard win at Locarno, this poetic film eloquently captures the limits of language-- letting the environment speak where words fail, and finding a comforting grace in shared loneliness.
Fireside Chat:
Join us on Saturday 6 August's session for a post-show Fireside Chat with local filmmakers Gladys Ng and Shaun Neo
In Japanese and Korean with English Subtitles.
Rated PG.
Presented in collaboration with SGIFF for SGIFF Replay:
Missed last year's edition of SGIFF? SGIFF REPLAY is here!
From 17 July to 8 Aug, SGIFF REPLAY takes over Filmhouse, screening five standout films from the 2025 season that deserve a second run. Snag a spot to our online Q&As with filmmakers Shio Miyake (Two Seasons, Two Strangers), Kent Jones (Late Fame), and Polen Ly (Becoming Human), and hang out with local filmmakers, animators, activists, and poets during our fireside chats and live poetry readings.
In the Chilean desert of 1982, eleven-year-old Lidia is raised within a fiercely protective queer household. But when a fatal disease sweeps her village, a dark superstition takes hold: that the illness spreads through a single glance between two men in love. Suddenly targets of intense hostility, Lidia embarks on a quest for truth and vengeance, navigating a volatile landscape of fear where her family is both her sole sanctuary and the ultimate source of her peril.
Balancing absurdist wit with deep poignant urgency, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo forces us to confront how easily fear can weaponize love, and the lengths we must go to shield those we cherish.
Fireside Chat:
Join us on Wednesday 5 August's session for a post-show Fireside Chat with Project X.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
Rated M18 for Mature Content.
Presented in collaboration with SGIFF for SGIFF Replay:
Missed last year's edition of SGIFF? SGIFF REPLAY is here!
From 17 July to 8 Aug, SGIFF REPLAY takes over Filmhouse, screening five standout films from the 2025 season that deserve a second run. Snag a spot to our online Q&As with filmmakers Shio Miyake (Two Seasons, Two Strangers), Kent Jones (Late Fame), and Polen Ly (Becoming Human), and hang out with local filmmakers, animators, activists, and poets during our fireside chats and live poetry readings.
In Battambang, Cambodia, a once-beloved cinema stands on the brink of demolition. Sneaking in to document its final days, a journalist named Hai encounters Thida, the spectral guardian of the decaying theater. Faced with the building's destruction, Thida is granted a rare choice: to fade away, or to be reborn into the human world. As the two embark on a metaphysical journey through a rapidly modernizing nation, they find themselves bound by a shared history of displacement.
Polen Ly’s debut feature Becoming Human is a gorgeous, meditative film that quietly explores time, memory and resilience, asking how we find a way forward when the places that hold our history and identity disappear.
Virtual Q&A:
Join us on Thursday 30 July's session for a post-show virtual Q&A with director Polen Ly.
In Khmer with English subtitles.
Rated PG for Some Disturbing Scenes.
Presented in collaboration with SGIFF for SGIFF Replay:
Missed last year's edition of SGIFF? SGIFF REPLAY is here!
From 17 July to 8 Aug, SGIFF REPLAY takes over Filmhouse, screening five standout films from the 2025 season that deserve a second run. Snag a spot to our online Q&As with filmmakers Shio Miyake (Two Seasons, Two Strangers), Kent Jones (Late Fame), and Polen Ly (Becoming Human), and hang out with local filmmakers, animators, activists, and poets during our fireside chats and live poetry readings.
