Festivals

'Ah Girl' Wins Best Film At Singapore Film Festival's Silver Screen Awards

Hannah Abraham

02 Nov 2026 — 3 min read

'Ah Girl'

Ah Girl, the debut feature from Singaporean filmmaker Ang Geck Geck, won Best Film in the Silver Screen Awards' Asian Feature Film Competition at this year’s Singapore International Film Festival.

The ceremony, held on October 31 at the Singtel Waterfront Theatre, saw Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat score Best Director for No Good Men, while Makoto Nagahisa’s Burn took the Special Jury Prize. Best Performance was shared by Pushpa Thing Lama for Elephants In The Fog and Putri Marino for Four Seasons In Java.

Ah Girl follows a seven-year-old caught between her separated parents in 1990s Singapore. The film took ten years to make, initially originating from a trilogy of short films in 2013, and also won the Youth Jury Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in February.

The film’s young lead, Ong Xuan Jing, has since won best actress prizes at the Hong Kong International Film Festival’s Young Cinema Competition and the Malaysia Golden Global Awards. The film has three nominations for the upcoming Golden Horse Awards, including Best New Director for Ang, and opens in Singapore cinemas on November 19. Ang developed the film at the SGIFF Southeast Asian Film Lab in 2015.

Sadat’s No Good Men, which was the Berlinale’s opening film this year, is set in Kabul on the eve of the Taliban’s return. The film follows a camerawoman deciding what to keep and what to leave behind.

Kamila Andini’s Four Seasons In Java stars Marino as a woman who returns to her village after 20 years in prison. Elephants In The Fog, from Nepal’s Abinash Bikram Shah, won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes in May, the first Cannes prize for a Nepali film. Lead Lama is a Kinnar activist who had never acted before.

In the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition, Arief Budiman’s Golden Island won Best Southeast Asian Short Film, and EXYL’s Singapore God won Best Singapore Short Film. Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke won Best Director for The Bovine Comedy.

Sarah Lingam won Best Performance for Flame Of The Forest, and Berthold Wahjudi’s Vaterland Or A Bule Named Yanto took the Special Jury Prize. The Audience Choice Award went to Singapore Panorama Programme 2: Second Life, Second Skin, a package of five local shorts.

The Pitching Forum awards, held on October 30, went to four projects. Beg, Borrow, Steal won the SGIFF Abroad Award supported by Sony, and Primal won the SGIFF Abroad Award. Dear Son An won the SGIFF Pro Pitching Forum Award (Asian Producers Network), and Agape won the SGIFF Pro Pitching Forum Award.

Dear Son An also received a Purin Film Fund production grant in the fund’s Spring 2026 round, as Streamlined reported in May. The festival also gave Aamir Khan its Screen Icon Award and Hirokazu Kore-eda its Cinema Honorary Award.

SGIFF SILVER SCREEN AWARDS 2026:

ASIAN FEATURE FILM COMPETITION:

Best Film: Ah Girl, dir: Ang Geck Geck

Best Director: Shahrbanoo Sadat, No Good Men

Best Performance:
Pushpa Thing Lama, Elephants In The Fog [dir: Abinash Bikram Shah]
Putri Marino, Four Seasons In Java [dir: Kamila Andini]

Special Jury Prize: Burn, dir: Makoto Nagahisa

SOUTHEAST ASIAN SHORT FILM COMPETITION:

Best Southeast Asian Short Film: Golden Island, Arief Budiman

Best Singapore Short Film: Singapore God, EXYL

Best Director: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, The Bovine Comedy

Best Performance: Sarah Lingam, Flame Of The Forest [dir: Krityishaa Karunagaran]

Special Jury Prize: Vateland Or A Bule Named Yanto, Berthold Wahjudi

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD:

Singapore Panorama Programme 2: Second Life, Second Skin
Kiss Me Climax, Shara Tay
Subterranea, Ash Goh Hua
Reanimator, Syahmi Iman
Orang Minyak, Leon Cheo
Encik, Ewan Leong