‘Autobiography’ wins Best Asian Film at Singapore’s SGIFF Silver Screen Awards

Makbul Mubarak’s Autobiography has taken home the top prize at the Singapore SGIFF Silver Screen Awards.

Makbul’s film was lauded as Best Asian Film by a jury that included the likes of filmmakers Lav Diaz, Ritu Sarin and Kim Soyoung, as well as Dennis Lim of the New York Film Festival, who commended the film as a “vivid character study, a powerful allegory of national trauma, an urgent dissection of the fascist mindset and how it persists”, according to Variety.

The film’s win nets the filmmakers an SGD8,000 cash prize, as well as SGD45,000 worth of services from Mocha Chai Laboratories consisting of an online, audio post and DCP package, audio final mix and DCP feature.

Elsewhere, Laha Mebow’s won Gaga won him the Best Director award following the film’s Golden Horse brace, while How to Save a Dead Friend by Marusya Syroechkovskaya was named the Audience Choice Award winner.

The SGIFF win adds to Autobiography‘s already glittering trophy cabinet, which includes plaudits from the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Golden Horse, Jogja-NETPAC, Stockholm and Tokyo Filmex.

Starring Kevin Ardilova, Arswendy Bening Swara, Yusuf Mahardika, Lukman Sardi and Haru Sandra, Autobiography is produced by Yulia Evina Bhara’s KawanKawan Media alongside a multinational cast of producers from Indonesia, France, Singapore, Poland, Philippines, Germany and Qatar.

The director has shared that the story of Autobiography is “very specific to Indonesia because it addresses the legacy of our history”. However, the movie addresses current topics faced by Indonesians today, with Makbul pointing out the themes of “the heavy price of ignorance, the rise of populism, and what does it mean to be our true self in a world where the concept of self is continuously shaped by our relationship with other people”.

KawanKawan Media has also recently announced a slate of upcoming projects which include a documentary on Indonesian all-girl metal band Voice of Baceprot.

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