Anthony Chen | Director

Anthony Chen’s films have screened at numerous prestigious film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Rotterdam, Busan, London, and Toronto. He became the first Singaporean to be awarded at Cannes when his short Ah Ma (Grandma) was lauded at the 60th Cannes Film Festival. In 2009, he was accorded the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council of Singapore. He trained at film school in Singapore, and further completed a Masters in Film Directing at the prestigious National Film and Television School, UK. Anthony’s debut feature Ilo Ilo debuted in the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and was unanimously awarded the Camera d’Or, making history again as the first Singapore feature to be awarded at Cannes. Ilo Ilo went on to gain widespread acclaim and recognition when it became an arthouse favourite, winning forty awards internationally, including four Golden Horse Awards at the 50th Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, the equivalent of the Oscars for Chinese-speaking people worldwide.

Under a jury presided by Ang Lee the film also won the coveted Best Picture prize, beating auteurs such as Wong Kar Wai, Jia Zhangke, Johnnie To and Tsai Ming Liang. Ilo Ilo was also Singapore’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards. It became the most successful arthouse film in the history of Singapore cinema both commercially and critically.

He is the co-founder of Giraffe Pictures.