Ah Girl Leads Singapore’s Golden Horse Push with Three Nominations

Singapore independent feature film Ah Girl has earned three nominations at the 63rd Golden Horse Awards, adding to a strong year for Singapore cinema on the international festival circuit.

The film is nominated for Best New Director for Priscilla Ang Geck-geck, Best New Performer for Ong Xuan-jing, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Priscilla Ang Geck-geck.

The nominations come after an extensive international festival run for Ah Girl. The film had its world premiere at the 55th International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it was selected for the Bright Future programme and received the Youth Jury Award. It later had its European premiere at the Far East Film Festival and its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

At the Hong Kong International Film Festival, Ah Girl made its Asian premiere and received the Firebird Award for Best Actress in the Young Cinema Competition. The film was also selected for the Malaysia International Film Festival, where it received the Best Actress and New Hope awards at the Malaysia Golden Global Awards. It has additionally recorded competition wins at the Bangkok International Film Festival and Hong Kong International Film Festival, and was showcased at the Da Nang Asian Film Festival in Vietnam.

The film will continue its festival journey in October, when it opens Jakarta Film Week on 21 October 2026. It has also been shortlisted for competition and screening at the upcoming Singapore International Film Festival.

Supported by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA), Ah Girl was also developed with the support of international film platforms including the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion, the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum and Focus Asia: Far East in Progress by the Far East Film Festival.

Distributed by Shaw Organisation, Ah Girl will return to Singapore cinemas nationwide on 19 November 2026. The film is also slated for release in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Vietnam in the coming months.

Ah Girl is among five Singapore films recognised with nominations at this year’s Golden Horse Awards. The other nominated Singapore productions are We Are All Strangers, The Violinist, Fruit (Buah) and She Said.

We Are All Strangers, directed by Anthony Chen, leads the Singapore contingent with seven nominations. Its nominations include Best Narrative Feature Film, Best Director for Chen, Best Leading Actress for Yeo Yann Yann, Best Supporting Actor for Andi Lim, Best Makeup & Costume Design, Best Original Film Score and Best Film Editing.

The film continues Chen’s connection with the Golden Horse Awards that began with Ilo Ilo. The 2013 film won four awards at the 50th Golden Horse Awards, including Best Feature Film, Best New Director and Best Original Screenplay for Chen, as well as Best Supporting Actress for Yeo Yann Yann. Yeo later won Best Leading Actress at the 56th Golden Horse Awards for Wet Season.

We Are All Strangers had its world premiere in competition at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival before opening the Hong Kong International Film Festival and receiving a Special Mention at the Far East Film Festival in Udine. Supported by IMDA, it was also selected as Singapore’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards.

Singapore led animated feature The Violinist has received three Golden Horse nominations for Best Animated Feature, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Film Score. Directed by Singaporean filmmaker Ervin Han and Spanish filmmaker Raúl García, the 114-minute historical drama spans colonial Singapore, the Japanese Occupation and the decades that followed.

The film centres on childhood friends Fei and Kai and explores themes of love, memory, identity and resilience through their connection with music. The Best Adapted Screenplay nomination recognises the feature’s expansion of Han’s 2015 animated short The Violin.

The film’s score was composed by Singaporean composer Ricky Ho and Spanish composer Isabel Latorre, with Singaporean violinist Joy Yong performing the lead violin parts. The Violinist is an official Singapore Spain Italy co-production led by Robot Playground Media, in collaboration with Spain’s TV ON Producciones and Italy’s Altri Occhi.

The Violinist previously recorded a double win at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and was included in the 2026 Centrepiece programmes at the Toronto International Film Festival and Busan International Film Festival. It opened in Singapore cinemas on 17 September 2026.

Meanwhile, Fruit (Buah) has been nominated for Best Live Action Short Film for Lim Jen-nee, while She Said received a nomination for Best Live Action Short Film for Ivan Tan.

The 63rd Golden Horse Awards will take place on 22 November 2026 at the Taipei Music Center in Taipei. The red carpet will begin at 5pm, followed by the awards ceremony at 6.30pm Taipei time. The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival runs from 6 to 22 November 2026.

The nominations add to a growing record of recognition for Singapore filmmakers and performers at the Golden Horse Awards, with previous winners including Megan Zheng, who became the first Singaporean Golden Horse winner when she received Best New Performer for Homerun in 2003, and Chiang Wei Liang, who won Best New Director for Mongrel at the 61st Golden Horse Awards in 2024.