Transforming the Local
Ticket Price: Free with Registration
28 Oct 2026, Wed / 6:30PM / 90 min
LASALLE Flexispace
Events will be free seating and on a first come, first served basis. Kindly arrive 10 minutes before your event starts.
What makes a Singaporean film feel culturally authentic when it’s made with international money and stars?
Singapore has always been a crossroads of cultures and global influences. As local cinema grows alongside the expansion of the media industry and an evolving national identity, filmmakers must navigate the tension between international commercial success, creative freedom, and staying true to home.
In this session, Professor Lim Song Hwee breaks down the rising phenomenon of Singapore-Taiwan co-productions to reveal how overseas funding, talent, and distribution are quietly reshaping local cinema. Following the presentation, he will be joined by a panel of film industry insiders to dive into the state of Singapore cinema, the reality of making movies today, and what truly gives a film its local soul.
Host and Moderator
Sim Jiaying
SGIFF Film Programmer and Lecturer
Sim Jiaying is a Lecturer at the University of Hong Kong and founder of the Singapore Film Database, a comprehensive digital resource on Singapore’s film ecosystem. She holds a PhD in Film and Television Studies from the University of Glasgow, with research focusing on Asian cinema, transnational screen cultures, and creative-critical practice. Her writing has appeared in Jom, Film-Philosophy, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, and anthologies by Edinburgh University Press and Routledge. She was a 2025 Hyundai Artlab Editorial Fellow. She has been working as a film programmer with SGIFF since 2024.
Speakers
Lim Song Hwee
Professor
Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature and Transnational Cultural Studies
Lim Song Hwee is Distinguished Professor at the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature and Transnational Cultural Studies, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan. He is the author of, among others, Taiwan Cinema as Soft Power: Authorship, Transnationality, Historiography (2022). His current research project is entitled ”Geopolitics and Transnational Cinemas: Focusing on Connections between 21st Century Taiwan Cinema and Southeast Asia,” funded by Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council.