Tan Chee Lay: Looking at Singapore Cinema Through Anthony Chen and Ervin Han

In a commentary for Lianhe Zaobao, Associate Professor Tan Chee Lay examined how two recent local productions—Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers and Ervin Han and Raúl García’s The Violinist—have brought Singapore stories to the international stage.

We Are All Strangers became the first Singapore film selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Meanwhile, The Violinist, Singapore’s first historical animated feature, won the Cristal for a Feature Film and the SACEM Award for Original Music at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

Despite their contrasting forms, A/P Tan observed that both films explore fundamental questions about family and belonging. We Are All Strangers portrays the changing relationships within a single-parent household, showing how people beyond one’s blood relations can become family through their decisions to remain, reconcile and care for one another.

Set against war and upheaval in Singapore and Malaya, The Violinist follows childhood friends Fei and Kai, who are separated by the Japanese invasion. Their enduring bond, expressed through music and a lifelong search for one another, offers another interpretation of love, loyalty and belonging.

A/P Tan noted that the two films also present Singapore as more than a visually attractive setting. Through housing estates, neighbourhood coffee shops, war memories and the experiences of ordinary people, Singapore becomes a character shaped by inequality, historical trauma, resilience and hope.

The films adopt different but equally significant approaches to language. We Are All Strangers moves naturally among Hokkien, Mandarin, English, Singlish and “Singdarin”. These shifts reflect how Singaporeans speak in different social settings while revealing the backgrounds and circumstances of the characters.

By contrast, The Violinist was originally produced in standard English, with a Mandarin version subsequently created to reach audiences across generations and language backgrounds. Its music offers a further universal language, helping the film communicate emotions beyond linguistic and national boundaries.

According to A/P Tan, these approaches illustrate a continuing challenge for Singapore filmmakers: how to speak authentically to local audiences while making their stories accessible internationally.

He also highlighted how the films fill different gaps in Singapore’s cinematic landscape. Anthony Chen extends Singapore’s tradition of social realism, while The Violinist breaks new ground through historical animation and international co-production. Created over a decade by more than 200 artists and producers across several countries, the film demonstrates how global collaboration can support the telling of a distinctly Singapore story.

Rather than choosing between intimate realism and internationally oriented productions, A/P Tan argued that Singapore cinema should allow both paths to develop and strengthen one another. He expressed hope that more local stories will be told with care and conviction, enabling Singapore filmmakers to move audiences both at home and around the world.

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