This February, We Are All Strangers (我们不是陌生人), the latest film by acclaimed filmmaker Anthony Chen (Ilo Ilo, Wet Season), will become the first ever Singaporean film to compete for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, marking a historic first for Singapore cinema.

For Chen, whose films have long captured the emotional textures of everyday life in Singapore, the moment is both global and deeply personal. The Berlinale selection marks the completion of his much-loved “Growing Up” trilogy, a body of work that has followed Singaporeans across life stages, relationships and quiet reckonings for more than a decade.

Set in contemporary Singapore over three years, We Are All Strangers is an intimate family drama that explores love, loss and responsibility—and the imperfect bonds between those we are born to and those we choose. It is a film about finding connection amid distance, and learning to live with emotional gaps that cannot always be bridged.

The Berlinale’s main competition is the festival’s most prestigious section, previously awarding films by directors such as Ang Lee, Hayao Miyazaki, Zhang Yimou, Terence Malick and Paul Thomas Anderson. This year, We Are All Strangers is one of just two Asian films selected among 22 titles from around the world.

That a Singapore film is competing for the Golden Bear for the first time feels symbolic of a broader shift. Once considered a niche industry, Singapore cinema has steadily gained international attention through personal, regionally grounded stories, many of them led by Chen himself.

His breakout film Ilo Ilo won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes in 2013, followed by Wet Season in 2019, which earned multiple international awards. Together, the two films collected more than 50 awards worldwide and helped redefine how Singapore stories could travel.

For Chen, We Are All Strangers mirrors his own evolution as a filmmaker in Singapore. “Completing my Singapore ‘Growing Up’ trilogy has been a profoundly personal journey. This film also reflects my own evolution – as a son, a husband, and now a father. Ilo Ilo was made in my late twenties, Wet Season in my thirties, and We Are All Strangers in my early forties. All these films capture my love for Singapore and our people, my enduring portrait of home. I am immensely proud to present this final chapter at Berlin.”

The trilogy’s final chapter deepens themes Chen has long been drawn to: surrogate families, unconventional relationships, and the quiet sacrifices that bind people together. The result is a film that is epic in emotional scope yet intimate in scale, rooted in ordinary moments that feel achingly familiar.

Starring Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler, both frequent collaborators of Chen, alongside Andi Lim and Regene Lim, the cast brings a lived-in authenticity to the screen. All four actors will join Chen in Berlin for the film’s world premiere.

Beyond its artistic significance, the film’s selection marks a milestone for Singapore’s creative industries. Supported by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the Singapore Film Commission, We Are All Strangers exemplifies the growing confidence of Made-with-Singapore storytelling on the global stage.

IMDA has described the selection as a validation of Singapore’s emergence as a serious player in international cinema, one capable of crafting stories that resonate well beyond its shores.

The film is produced by Chen’s Singapore-based company Giraffe Pictures, known for championing distinctive Asian voices and premiering films at major festivals including Cannes, Venice and Berlin. The company will also present another co-produced film, Indonesian director Edwin’s Sleep No More, at the Berlinale this year.

Following its Berlin debut, We Are All Strangers is slated for release in Singapore and other territories later in 2026. But before it returns home, the film will stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the world’s most anticipated works—carrying with it a distinctly Singaporean voice.

In a festival known for bold, politically charged cinema, Chen’s film offers something quieter but no less powerful: a reminder that growing up, loving, and letting go are universal experiences—no matter where we come from.