Director Royston Tan’s first feature in six years is an idiosyncratic comedy-drama about a dead sound recordist who continues to roam the earth as a spirit, recording the sounds of the 24 places he chooses to visit, including a Chinese opera performance and a lotus pond in Udon Thani.

The sound recordist is played by Tan’s own frequent sound collaborator James Choong, and the sounds we hear are exactly what he records while being filmed. Tan’s films are frequently lauded for their gorgeous visuals, but 24 shifts the focus to the sound design instead.

Dec 3, 7pm

Transgender women seldom get their voices heard in the local media. So Quen Wong decided to get a camera and train it on herself. Some Women tells a difficult but honest story of her journey so far, from the time she came out to an unsupportive family, to the present where she’s about to get married.

Wong also interviews other trans women in the community, such as Anita, a once-popular figure in Bugis Street, and Lune Loh, a trans youth activist.

Dec 4, 6:30pm

The late indie filmmaker and musician Abdul Nizam died of cancer at the age of 50 in 2016. Prior to his death, he shot a lot of footage of Singapore’s underground music scene, which covers a wide range of genres including punk, hardcore and metal.

After his death, producer Panuksmi Hardjowirogo as well as his friends came together to assemble a music documentary of a scene little celebrated in the mainstream.

Nov 28, 7pm

Newly restored for its 30th anniversary, Centre Stage won Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung a bevy of awards for her luminous portrayal of silent movie star Ruan Lingyu, China’s first prima donna of the silver screen, who tragically committed suicide at the age of 24 at the height of her success.

The 4K restoration accentuates the lush period sequences captured by cinematographer Poon Hang Sang and gorgeous film score by Johnny Chen.

Nov 27, 7:30pm

Adapted from a best-selling novel by Eka Kurniawan (of Beauty Is A Wound fame), the film is a critique of toxic masculinity, telling the story of a young man who becomes impotent after a traumatic incident and tries to compensate for it through violence and brutality.

Set in ’80s Indonesia, the film is also a critique of Suharto’s authoritarian rule from 1967 to 1998. At the Locarno Film Festival in August, it picked up the top prize.

Nov 25, 7:30pm

For his first English-Spanish language feature, Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul casts indie queen Tilda Swinton as a Scottish woman who persistently hears a strange sound in her head. Her attempts to get to the root of the mystery finally take her into the jungles of Colombia.

As always, Weerasethakul blends contemporary backdrops with surreal images, drawing connections between our subconscious mind, our intuition and the physical world.

Nov 27, 6:30pm

Wes Anderson’s much-anticipated new film is a love letter to print media and journalists of yore. The story centres on the death of a newspaper editor, which leads to a retelling of the most remarkable stories the paper has ever published.

The cast alone is enough to get excited about: Timothee Chalamet, Tilda Swinton, Lea Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Jeffrey Wright, Benicio del Toro, Adrien Brody, Bill Murray and many more. The film premiered at the Cannes to strong reviews. This screening is its first in South-east Asia.

Nov 26, 6:30pm

Iran’s most sought-after director returns with another moral fable, this time exploring the cancel culture of social media. It stars Amir Jadidi as a man who decides to return a lost bag of gold coins, which turns into an overnight news sensation. However, rumours and suspicion soon overtake the public imagination, transforming him into a social pariah.

Dec 3, 6:30pm

A version of this article first appeared in The Business Times