Singapore Selects First-Time Feature ‘Ilo Ilo’ as Foreign-Language Oscar Submission (TRAILER)

Singapore has picked first-time feature filmmaker Anthony Chen’s “Ilo Ilo” as its submission for the Foreign-Language Oscar. It won the Camera d’Or prize unanimously for best debut feature at Cannes in May.

The film, which had a Singapore release at the end of August, centers on a Filipino maid living with a Singaporean family in the midst of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997.

Singapore Film Commission director Yeo Chung Chen stated that “‘Ilo Ilo’ is a uniquely Singapore story…which also resonates with the rest of the world.”

In other Foreign-Language Oscar contender news, Germany recently selected “Two Lives,” starring international icon (and Ingmar Bergman’s long-time muse) Liv Ullmann, as its pick.