The 14th edition marked a stark departure from the ordinary, showcasing cinema at its most daring and ridiculous, subverting all expectations. Alongside two online Q&As and a virtual lineup including Strawberry Mansion (2021) and Belladonna of Sadness (1973), a physical screening of Annette (2021) closed the festival for the first time since it went virtual due to Covid.

We went existential on our 15th anniversary as we pondered the permeation of time in cinema. Seated between the precipices of polar binaries — life and death, nature and human, permanence and temporality. We opened with Memory Box (2021) and closed with Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003) and Scala (2022), meditations on movie theatres and time. Scala’s director Ananta Thitanat joined us for a live Q&A.

On our 10th anniversary, we curated our largest programme, with a range of award-winning films from Behemoth (2015) and City of Ghosts (2017) to the Zambian Camera d’Or nominee I Am Not a Witch (2017), previously screened at Director’s Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival. Our multimedia events included a screening and panel discussion with Singapore pioneers in virtual reality.

In 2018, the film selection captured the resistance or compliance of individuals against institutions, prompting the audience to reexamine how social constructs have governed our lives. We opened with Jafar Panahi’s 3 Faces (2018), showcased Bertolucci’s The Conformist and closed with Ann Hui’s Song of the Exile (1990).

Standing at the intersection of people, places and ideas, PFF 2019 examined the tensions that exist in the spaces between convergence and separation, featuring For Sama (2019), a Cannes L’Œil d’or winner for Best Documentary and Vai (2019), coupled with post-screening dialogue.

Our 2014 programme was dedicated to the stories of people estranged from their communities. We featured Short Term 12 (2013), actress Brie Larson’s breakout film based on Director Daniel Cretton’s personal experience in a youth facility, as well as Salaam Bombay! (1988), which screened alongside an exclusive masterclass with screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala.

We examined rites-of-passage and coming-of-age stories, opening with Xavier Dolan’s Mommy (2014) and closing with Keisuke Kinoshita’s 1958 classic, The Ballad of Narayama. Our festival also held a screening of award-winning student shorts, and a talk about student programmes at the Cannes Film Festival.

Paying homage to the surrealist cinema movement, we illuminated the outlandish, perplexing and even uncanny imageries in cinema. The selection of films, including a special double-bill of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016), forced audiences to question all notions of normalcy.

Presenting films that were banned or considered controversial, PFF showcased radical and unorthodox works that offer rare insight into our world. Highlights included the Singapore premiere of the uncut and digitally-restored version of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Tian Zhuangzhuang’s The Blue Kite (1993) in a rare 35mm print.

In 2012, our festival explored sexuality and its influence on love, fear, psychology and death. Cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) screened at midnight with audiences dressed up and participating in the iconic musical numbers. It also marked the first time we had a post-screening dialogue for Zenne Dancer (2011) in its Asian premiere.

This year’s edition honoured independent films such as Mostafa Farooki’s Television (2012) and Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Boys from Fengkuei (1983). For the first time in our history, we held ancillary events beyond the screen with a masterclass and showcase with Akanga Film Asia, featuring K Rajagopal (A Yellow Bird, 2016).

Our festival’s inaugural year was a retrospective exploration of Singaporean films from the 1960s— the Golden Age of local cinema. The festival curated films that stood as cinematic landmarks in our homegrown industry, including Lion City (1960) and Seniman Bujang Lapok(1961).

In our second year, we showcased horror and monster films, starting with a free outdoor screening of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (1991), introduced by Eric Khoo. ADM faculty member Permagnus Lindborg and three local music groups also produced an original score for the 1922 silent horror classic Nosferatu.

In 2010, the programme explored the existential question: What is real? We showcased films that blurred the lines of reality through vivid imagery and mind-bending storytelling, including Waltz with Bashir (2008) and Russian Ark (2002).