Singaporean filmmaker Ang Geck Geck Priscilla has taken the top film prize at the Singapore International Film Festival’s Silver Screen Awards, with her debut feature “Ah Girl” named best film in the Asian Feature Film Competition on Saturday.

Set in 1990s Singapore, “Ah Girl” centers on a seven-year-old girl whose parents have separated. The win marks another milestone in the project’s long connection with the festival: Ang workshopped the film at SGIFF’s Southeast Asian Film Lab in 2015. It later received the Youth Jury Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Ang is an alumna of the Busan Asian Film Academy. Her earlier honors include the best short film prize at the Singapore Short Film Awards for her 2012 short, “Broken Crayon.”

Asian feature prizes

Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat earned best director for “No Good Men,” which opened the Berlinale. Set in Kabul shortly before the Taliban’s return to power, the drama follows a camerawoman facing sudden uncertainty over her work, family and freedom.

Sadat has lived in Germany since 2021. Her previous films include “Wolf and Sheep,” which premiered at Cannes in 2016, and 2019’s “The Orphanage.”

The jury divided the best performance award between two actors. Pushpa Thing Lama was recognized for “Elephants in the Fog,” the story of a member of Nepal’s third-gender Kinnar community searching for her missing daughter. Putri Marino shared the honor for “Four Seasons in Java,” a magical realist drama about a woman returning to her hometown after spending two decades in prison.

Japanese director Nagahisa Makoto received the Special Jury Prize for “Burn,” his second feature, which premiered at Sundance. Nagahisa previously won awards at the same festival for the 2017 short “And So We Put Goldfish in the Pool” and the 2019 feature “We Are Little Zombies.”

Short films share the spotlight

In the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition, “Golden Island” was named best Southeast Asian short. Directed by Yogyakarta-based artist-filmmaker Arief Budiman, the Rotterdam competitor follows one videographer from Java and another from Papua as they collaborate on a film about Papua.

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke won best director for “The Bovine Comedy.” The Thai filmmaker’s Locarno premiere takes place in 2036, when cows have nearly become extinct. His 2025 feature debut, “A Useful Ghost,” won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at Cannes and received a special mention at SGIFF.

German-Indonesian filmmaker Berthold Wahjudi took the Special Jury Prize for “‘Vaterland’ or A Bule Named Yanto,” which premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week. Sarah Lingam won best performance for “Flame of the Forest,” about a young nurse who returns home and is blamed for her grandmother’s death.

Singaporean experimental animator Exyl’s “Singapore God” was selected as best Singapore short.

The Audience Choice Award went to Singapore Panorama Programme 2, “Second Life, Second Skin.” The five-film package comprises Shara Tay’s “Kiss Me Climax,” Ash Goh Hua’s “Subterranea,” Syahmi Iman’s “Reanimator,” Leon Cheo’s “Orang Minyak” and Ewan Leong’s “Encik.”

Pitching and honorary awards

SGIFF also presented prizes from its Pro Pitching Forum, held Oct. 30. “Agape,” from Yamaguchi Shin and Miyahara Takuya, received the SGIFF Pro Pitching Forum Award, while Lệ Diễm Hà’s “Dear Son An” won the SGIFF Pro Pitching Forum Award for the Asian Producers Network.

Tong Khoon Mun and Zhou Ke Xin’s “Beg, Borrow, Steal” collected the SGIFF Abroad Award supported by Sony. Sam Chua Weishi and Rein Maychaelson’s “Primal” received the SGIFF Abroad Award.

Earlier in the festival, Aamir Khan accepted the SGIFF Screen Icon Award from Peter Chan during an In Conversation With session on Oct. 22. Kore-eda Hirokazu received the SGIFF Cinema Honorary Award from Boo Junfeng on Oct. 24. Kore-eda released two features this year, “Sheep in the Box” and “Look Back.”

ShowBiz Take

“Ah Girl” brings the festival’s development and awards programs into the same success story. A project workshopped at the Southeast Asian Film Lab in 2015 has returned as a completed debut feature and captured the Silver Screen Awards’ leading film honor. The result also places a Singaporean story at the center of an awards slate spanning filmmakers and performances from across Asia.

The ceremony was held at the Singtel Waterfront Theatre on the penultimate day of the 37th SGIFF. The festival runs through Nov. 1. Launched in 1991, the Silver Screen Awards was the first international film competition with a dedicated section for Asian cinema.