SINGAPORE — Anthony Chen is heading back into the Oscar race, but this time the selection closes a circle more than a decade in the making.
The acclaimed Singaporean filmmaker’s latest feature, We Are All Strangers, has been chosen as Singapore’s official submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, giving the country another shot at a milestone it has yet to achieve: an Oscar nomination in the category.
The selection was made by a committee comprising eligible members of the Singapore Film Commission Advisory Committee, according to the Infocomm Media Development Authority. It is an important distinction, however, that Singapore’s selection does not mean the movie is already an Oscar nominee. It now enters a much larger international field from which Academy voters will eventually select a shortlist and, later, five nominees.
That makes the announcement less of a finish line than the beginning of another highly competitive campaign.
A Singapore Story Built Around Two Generations
Written and directed by Chen, We Are All Strangers is set in contemporary Singapore and follows 21-year-old Junyang, played by Koh Jia Ler, and his widowed father as their relatively fragile family arrangement is disrupted by major changes in both men’s lives.
Junyang and his girlfriend are pushed abruptly toward adulthood after she becomes pregnant, while his father begins a relationship of his own. Their parallel stories force the characters to rethink responsibility, intimacy and what a family can look like when circumstances refuse to follow a conventional script.
The 157-minute drama also stars Yeo Yann Yann, Regene Lim and Andi Lim and is primarily in Mandarin and English. Film Movement, which acquired the movie for North American distribution, describes it as a family drama built around love, loss and the imperfect bonds between relatives and the people they choose to bring into their lives.
The Oscar Bid Comes After a Historic Berlin Breakthrough
The Oscar submission is only the latest international milestone for Chen’s film.
Earlier in 2026, We Are All Strangers became the first Singaporean film ever selected for the main Competition section of the Berlin International Film Festival, putting it in contention for the Golden Bear alongside 21 other films. IMDA called the selection a historic first for Singapore cinema.
The film subsequently opened the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival, marking its Asian premiere.
Its international exposure has been accompanied by generally strong notices. Screen Daily described the film as an expansive family drama that doubles as a portrait of socioeconomic tensions in modern Singapore, while Film Movement’s critical roundup shows positive responses from outlets including The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, The Guardian and IndieWire.
That festival pedigree could help raise the film’s profile with international audiences, although festival acclaim and Oscar success remain separate contests with different voting bodies.
It Also Completes Anthony Chen’s 13-Year ‘Growing Up’ Journey
The Oscar selection has another layer of significance for Chen.
We Are All Strangers completes what the director calls his Singapore “Growing Up” trilogy, which began with Ilo Ilo in 2013 and continued with Wet Season in 2019.
All three films in that trilogy have now been selected to represent Singapore in the Academy’s international-film race.
That is especially notable because the films trace not only their characters’ evolution but Chen’s own career and changing perspective on Singapore. Chen has said Ilo Ilo was made when he was in his late twenties, Wet Season in his thirties and We Are All Strangers in his early forties, describing the trilogy as an evolving portrait of home.
The first film remains his career-defining breakthrough.
Ilo Ilo won the Caméra d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, becoming one of the most internationally recognised Singaporean films of its generation. The first two films in the trilogy went on to accumulate dozens of international honours and multiple Golden Horse Awards and nominations.
Chen has also been through the Oscar submission process with a film outside the trilogy. His 2023 drama The Breaking Ice was chosen as Singapore’s entry for the 96th Academy Awards, meaning We Are All Strangers is now the fourth Chen-directed film selected by Singapore for the category.
Yeo Yann Yann Is Building Awards Momentum of Her Own
The film’s awards-season profile is not limited to Chen.
Veteran actress Yeo Yann Yann, who plays Bee Hwa, has been nominated for Best Performance at the 2026 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The nomination followed the movie’s Berlin competition appearance and Hong Kong festival opening.
Yeo and Koh Jia Ler also bring an unusual continuity to Chen’s trilogy, having appeared in his earlier Singapore-set work. Their return helps connect three films made across more than a decade while allowing Chen to revisit similar questions — family pressure, economic insecurity, intergenerational tension and the compromises people make while growing older.
But Singapore Still Has an Oscar Barrier to Break
This is where the biggest challenge begins.
Singapore has submitted films to the Academy’s international category many times, but no Singapore submission has yet reached the final five nominees. That means even films with significant international credentials have historically struggled to survive one of world cinema’s most competitive awards races.
For the 99th Oscars, the process is particularly worth watching because the Academy has changed its international-feature rules.
Countries and regions may still select one official entry through an Academy-approved committee, as Singapore has done. But beginning with the 99th Academy Awards, certain non-English-language films may also enter through winning specified top prizes at qualifying festivals including Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Sundance, Toronto and Busan.
The international-feature submission deadline is September 30, 2026. Academy voting will then determine a 15-film shortlist scheduled for December 15. Those films face another voting round before the five nominees are announced January 21, 2027.
The 99th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for March 14, 2027, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Why This Entry May Attract More Attention Than Most
What separates We Are All Strangers from a routine national submission is the groundwork already behind it.
Before entering the Oscar race, the film had achieved a historic Berlin Competition berth, opened a major Asian film festival and secured North American distribution through Film Movement, which plans a theatrical release in the United States and Canada.
Those developments do not guarantee Academy recognition, but they give the movie something valuable in a crowded international race: visibility.
They also transform the Oscar campaign into the final international chapter of a much longer creative project.
Chen began the trilogy with Ilo Ilo, a story of one Singaporean household during the Asian financial crisis. Thirteen years later, he has returned to family life in a markedly different Singapore, following another generation confronting money, relationships, parenthood and uncertainty.
In announcing the selection, Chen described having all three entries in the trilogy chosen to represent Singapore as a particularly meaningful milestone for the filmmakers and actors involved. He said the stories belong to Singapore and called bringing the final chapter to the international stage a privilege.
Now comes the part no Singapore film has yet managed.
First, We Are All Strangers must survive the worldwide field and make the 15-film Oscar shortlist in December.
Then it has to reach the final five.
For Anthony Chen, a filmmaker whose journey has already taken him from the Caméra d’Or at Cannes to Berlin’s main competition, that next announcement could determine whether the conclusion of his 13-year Singapore trilogy also produces a historic first for the country.
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