THOUGHTS ON THE SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2003

Kudos is due to the organisers for the very solid programming of this year’s festival. Scheduling and budget mean it is not possible for me to catch every single film, or even a significant portion, but I’ll do my best to report on the ones I’ve seen.

Someone asked me what movies I was hoping would have also been part of the festival’s programming. Here’s my list: Standing in the Shadows of Motown, Morvern Callar, Roger Dodger, What Time is it Over There?, Real Women Have Curves, Raising Victor Vargas, Fellini: I’m a Born Liar, Personal Velocity, Igby Goes Down, and, while we’re making wish lists, retrospectives of Ealing comedies, 60s Michael Caine movies, and the Carry On films. (Okay okay, I’m a sucker for British movies, so I guess I’ll throw in Withnail and I into that list.) But then, that’s just shooting the moon. And sometimes good moments have come from films which I didn’t have any expectations for, like A Tale of a Naughty Girl or the Pier Paolo Pasolini retrospective. You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you get what you need.