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A decade after Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen parlayed his Cannes Camera d’Or win for “Ilo Ilo” into launching production house Giraffe Pictures, the company is expanding into distribution while strengthening its pan-Asian presence.
Chen is currently serving on the Indonesian Screen Award jury at the ongoing Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival.
“Giraffe was started off the back of ‘Ilo Ilo.’ After the success of the film – it was a small little film from Singapore – we didn’t expect that it would go to Cannes and then win the Camera d’Or, and then went on to win like 40 prizes around the world,” Chen told Variety.
The company’s name reflects its philosophy. “It’s not just a very cute animal, but I think it’s the only animal on Earth where it’s always standing tall and above everyone else,” Chen said. “Everyone might just be muddled and everything else, going for the trees, the forest and everything. But we are constantly looking and taking a very objective, long term vision on things.”
Popular on Variety The company, which Chen co-founded with radio broadcaster Huang Wenhong and later added former finance executive Teoh Yi Peng as partner, has notched several milestones including being the first Singapore film to compete at Sundance with “Pop Aye,” producing Singapore’s first co-production with Korea “Ajoomma,” and backing Chen’s English-language debut “Drift.”
This year marked Giraffe’s first foray into Japanese cinema with Neo Sora’s “Happyend,” which premiered at Venice. The company is also expanding across Southeast Asia with three Indonesian films in various stages – Edwin’s “Sleep No More,” Mouly Surya’s “A Road With No End” and “Crocodile Tears” which bowed at Toronto. Their Filipino co-production “Some Nights I Feel Like Walking” recently premiered at Tallinn.
Looking ahead, Chen is preparing to shoot “We Are All Strangers” in Singapore in March 2024. The company is also developing its first horror film and animation feature “Skin Coat.”
After a decade of experience, Giraffe is making strategic shifts. “We want to make films that would engage a wider audience. We no longer just want to make stuff which is playing in a niche way,” Chen said. The company is also being more selective about co-productions where they don’t have lead producer status.
2023 also saw Giraffe venture into distribution, beginning with releasing films they haven’t produced in Singapore. The first such title, Nelicia Low’s Karlovy Vary winner “Pierce” is currently on release. “If it’s the right films that we want to champion, the right filmmakers that we want to champion, we’re actually open to doing that,” Chen said. “We are taking more and more control of the distribution space, especially in Singapore and territories that we are familiar with.”
The company is also developing several episodic series, including one set in India. “We want to do good quality stories in the long form, episodic realm, without just pandering into ‘Oh, this worked, so we’re gonna do a version of that,’” Chen said.
