By Patrick Frater: Hong Kong-produced films “Papa”, “The Last Dance” and “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In” dominated the inaugural edition of the Golden Singa Awards presented in Singapore Monday (1 Dec).

Held at the Capitol Theatre with some 400 guests in attendance, the ceremony replicated many of the tropes and rituals of prize contests in mainland China, where the largest TV audience for the new awards is almost certain to be found. Decked out in black and gold, and punctuated with stirring musical interludes, proceedings moved swiftly through 18 awards categories of best Chinese film.

“The Last Dance” a drama featuring male bonding and ceremonial funeral rights, was named best feature and additionally picked up the best supporting actor award. The night’s numerical winner was “Papa”, with five awards, including best director and best screenplay, both for Philip Yung, and a best lead actor award which went to the veteran Sea Lau Chin-wan.

The 2024 action title “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In” won in four craft categories.

“It was a thrill to win prizes from such a prestigious jury”, “Papa” producer Amy Chin told ContentAsia after the ceremony.

“Even more gratifying was the categories that were recognised, such as the music and editing, as achieving the appropriate tone was a difficult task”. The controversial film sees a café owner grapple with devastation and survivor's guilt after his mentally ill son commits a tragic act against other family members.

The jury included Hong Kong action star Donnie Yen, Hollywood producer-turned-entrepreneur Teddy Zee, Taiwan’s Wei Te-sheng, “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” cinematographer Peter Pau and mainland Chinese director Li Shaohong.

Yen led a minute or remembrance for the hundreds of victims of an apartment complex fire in Hong Kong last week. He then named his old colleague Kenji Tanigaki as the winner of the best action choreography award for “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”.

The two lead actresses in “Her Story” claimed the best female and female supporting actor prizes. The other mainland Chinese film to win multiple prizes was the extravagant caper “Detective Chinatown 1900”. 

Arguably, the biggest cheer of the evening was reserved for the last moment, when Usha Seamkhum, titular star of “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies”, climbed the stage. The Thai-produced box office hit picked up the prize for best (non-Chinese) Asian film.

Coming so shortly after the Golden Rooster awards in mainland China and the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, it was unclear why the fourth quarter of the year needs another award ceremony dedicated to Chinese-language movies. And it was a surprise to see a debut event included within this week’s Singapore Media Festival, which is headed by the much longer-running Singapore International Film Festival and the Asian Television Forum (ATF).

Organised by Singapore entertainment minnow NoonTalk, the awards also showed their political – and commercial – leanings by use of simplified Chinese characters throughout and by omitting films from Taiwan.

2025 Golden Singa Awards Honour Roll

Best feature film: “The Last Dance”

Best Asian feature film (non-Chinese): “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies.”

Best director: Philip Yung for “Papa”

Best screenplay: Philip Yung for “Papa”

Best actor: Lau Ching-wan (aka Sean Lau) in “Papa”

Best actress: Song Jia in “Her Story”

Best supporting actor: Chu Pak-hong in “The Last Dance”

Best supporting actress: Zhong Chuxi in “Her Story”

Best Original Song: “The Last Dance”

Best original score: “Papa”

Best cinematography: “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”

Best editing: “Papa”

Best sound effects: “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”

Best VFX: Xu Mingjun for “Detective Chinatown 1900”

Best Art Direction: “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”

Best Costume Design: “Detective Chinatown 1900”

Best rising star: 李珂安

Best action choreography: Kenji Tanigaki for “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”