Oscars 2024: Anthony Chen's The Breaking Ice selected as Singapore's entry for Best International Feature Film category
Anthony Chen’s The Breaking Ice has been selected by the Singapore Film Commission as the country’s entry to the 96th Academy Awards in 2024, in the Best International Feature Film category, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) announced on Friday (Sept 29).
The Breaking Ice, Chen’s mainland Chinese feature debut, stars Zhou Dongyu, Liu Haoran and Qu Chuxiao as a trio of twenty-somethings pondering the meaning of life over the course of a few days in the winter snow in Yanji, a border city in the north of China.
The Hong Kong-based Singaporean previously told Variety: “Even though this film is shot and set in China, I find it a wonderful opportunity to introduce new Singapore talent to the world. In The Breaking Ice, Singaporean musician Kin Leonn composed all the original music, marking his feature debut."
The film made its world premiere in May at the Cannes Film Festival. It was commercially released in China on Aug 22 and in Singapore on Sept 7.
The Breaking Ice is Chen’s third directorial film to represent Singapore at the Oscars. The first was 2013’s Ilo Ilo, and 2019’s Wet Season.
Chen was also the producer on past Oscars picks Pop Aye and Ajoomma,
Asia’s other Oscars hopefuls next year include Hong Kong’s A Light Never Goes Out, India’s 2018, Indonesia’s Autobiography, Japan’s Perfect Days, Nepal’s Halkara, South Korea’s Concrete Utopia and Taiwan’s Marry My Dead Body.
The deadline for submission is Oct 2. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the 15 films on the shortlist on Dec 21. The five nominees in the category will be revealed on Jan 23. The 95th Academy Awards will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Mar 10.
The last time an Asian film won the category was in 2022 with Japan’s Drive My Car, by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Before that it was in 2020, South Korea’s Parasite, by Bong Joon-Ho, which was also named Best Picture, making it the first foreign language film to win the title.
Singapore’s previous Oscars entries include Eric Khoo’s Be With Me, Michelle Chong’s Already Famous, Mike Wiluan’s Buffalo Boys and Yeo Siew Hua’s A Land Imagined.
The Breaking Ice (M18) is still in cinemas.
Photo: Giraffe Pictures
