Anthony Chen

Anthony Chen is an award-winning Singaporean writer, director and producer whose work has garnered international acclaim. He made history in 2007 as the first Singaporean to win at Cannes with his short film Ah Ma. His debut feature, Ilo Ilo (2013), earned the prestigious Caméra d’Or at Cannes and went on to collect over 40 awards worldwide, including four Golden Horse Awards. His follow-up, Wet Season (2019), was nominated for the Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival; both films were Singapore’s official submissions for the Academy Awards.

In 2021, Chen contributed a short to the anthology The Year of the Everlasting Storm, which premiered at Cannes. His English-language debut, Drift (2023), starring Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo, premiered at Sundance, while The Breaking Ice (2023), his first Chinese-language film made in China and starring Zhou Dongyu and Liu Haoran, premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and was once again Singapore’s Oscar submission.

His upcoming film We Are All Strangers (2026) concludes his Singapore “Growing Up” trilogy, reuniting Ilo Ilo and Wet Season stars Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler.

Through his Singapore-based company Giraffe Pictures, Chen also produces acclaimed films across Asia. His producing credits include Kirsten Tan’s Pop Aye (2017), He Shuming’s Ajoomma (2022), Sorayos Prapapan’s Arnold Is a Model Student (2022), Neo Sora’s Happyend (2024), Tumpal Tampubolon’s Crocodile Tears (2024) and Mouly Surya’s This City Is a Battlefield (2025).