Encore for Singapore films at Cannes

THE wait for the next Anthony Chen shouldn't take too long if the four local titles recently picked to be showcased at last month's 67th Cannes Film Festival are anything to go by. It follows hot on the heels of Chen's historic win of the highly coveted Camera d'Or award for his debut feature, Ilo Ilo, last year, and the number of films picked for the prestigious event sets a new record for the local film industry.

Of the four, Oh Lucy!, by writer-director Atsuko Hirayanagi from the Singapore-based NYU Tisch School of the Arts Asia took home the second prize in the 17th Cinéfondation Selection - which runs parallel to the festival's Official Selection and was created to support and inspire the next generation of international filmmakers. American filmmaker Annie Silverstein was awarded the top prize by the jury - led by veteran Iranian writer-director-producer, Abbas Kiarostami - for her short film, Skunk.

Hirayanagi's Oh Lucy! was one of 1,631 works submitted by budding international directors from 457 film schools around the world. Only 16 were eventually shortlisted for the competition, including Last Trip Home by Han Fengyu from Ngee Ann Polytechnic School of Film and Media Studies.