Emily J. Hoe
Executive Director
As Executive Director, Emily leads the team to ensure SGIFF continues to deliver vibrant, exciting and engaging film experiences to the Singapore arts and culture calendar.
Emily is a passionate advocate of the arts in Singapore and determined to make a lasting contribution to the sector with respect, integrity and humility. She has developed extensive experience in the arts over the last 12 years having held key roles at Esplanade, Singapore’s national performing arts centre and as General Manager of The Substation.
Her career in the arts is complimented by a decade in diverse media and communications roles as well as a solid foundation in retail management and customer experience.
Kuo Ming-Jung
Artistic Director
A film curator, Kuo Ming-Jung has spent much of her career in film festival management, programming and distribution. Her work as Programme Director for Taipei Film Festival, carried a balance of showcasing new talent as well as celebrating cinema heritage.
During her time at the Taipei Film Festival, Kuo had developed new programmes such as In Progress: VR and the workshop initiative Produire au Sud Taipei which emphasised script development, co-production and marketing strategies. She also edited special issue publications, Portuguese Cinema (2015) and Twenty in An Instant (2018).
Kuo has served on several juries and selection panels including for the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and International Film Festival Rotterdam, and was a Programme Consultant for SGIFF in 2017 and 2018.
Kuo is a member of Selection Committee for Locarno Film Festival Open Doors section and is currently the Programme Director for the Singapore International Film Festival.
Programming
Vess Chua
Programme Executive
Vess is the Programme Executive at the Singapore International Film Festival. She found her start at the festival as a participant of the Youth Jury and Critics Programme.
She recently graduated from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University with a Bachelor of Communication Studies (Hons)
During her undergraduate studies, she also worked with her university’s Perspectives Film Festival, first as a Programmer in 2018 and Festival Director in 2019. When she isn’t programming film, she’s actively looking out for films to produce.
Sara Merican
Programme Executive
Sara recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, with majors in Cinema Studies and English (Creative Writing), as well as a minor in Korean Studies.
She is an alumnus of SGIFF’s Youth Jury and Critics Programme 2015, later went on to join the Far East Film Festival’s film journalism programme in Italy and also completed a summer editorial internship with The Hollywood Reporter, in Los Angeles.
Sara is particularly interested in postcolonial and ecocritical approaches to cinema, and wants to help champion underrepresented voices in the regional film industry. She has also worked as a production assistant for several short films and music videos.
Vera Lau
Programme Assistant
Vera is the Programme Assistant at the Singapore International Film Festival. As a film lover, she found her start at the festival as a loyal film-goer at the festival since 2017.
She is currently an undergraduate at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. This year, she is also working on her university’s student-led film festival, Perspectives Film Festival. Outside of film, she also has experience in public relations and brand marketing in various sectors.
Business Development & Marketing
Jolyn Wu
Business Development Manager
Jolyn is the Business Development Manager at the Singapore International Film Festival. With eight years of experience in Marketing, she has run campaigns in both the U.S. and Singapore in a variety of sectors, including startup, theatre and non-profit.
She was most recently at Pangdemonium Theatre Company, heading Marketing and community outreach.
Kelly Phua
Marketing Executive
Kelly has two years of experience in marketing communications for the arts. She was previously at Broadway and West End productions that played at Marina Bay Sands including Disney’s Aladdin, Matilda the Musical and The Phantom of the Opera.
She holds a degree in Communication Studies from Nanyang Technological University, specializing in Broadcast and Cinema Studies and Journalism. Expanding on her creative pursuits during university, she took part in the 2016 Perspectives Film Festival as a graphic designer and produced a commissioned documentary on youth climate action leaders for HSBC and National Youth Achievement Award Council.
Connecting with her passion for the arts and interest in film, Kelly is currently the Marketing Executive at Singapore International Film Festival.
Hospitality
Mabelyn Ow
Senior Hospitality & Office Manager
Mabelyn Ow has been an active contributor to Singapore’s burgeoning film industry over the past 18 years. Starting as a production assistant on Army Daze, Mabelyn has gone on to work in various capacities in her career in film and television production.
Over the course of her career, she has worked with and produced for some of the most significant and groundbreaking film directors in Singapore, notably Eric Khoo, Royston Tan, Jasmine Ng and Kelvin Tong. In addition, she has also production-managed documentaries for Discovery Networks Asia and National Geographic Channel.
Her projects include Royston Tan’s 12 Lotus (2008) and Aaron Wilson’s critically acclaimed Canopy (2013). She continues her pursuit of nurturing film production in Singapore as an Adjunct Lecturer with the Puttnam School of Film at Lasalle College of The Arts.
Mabelyn spent her early years in the industry volunteering as well as being a part of the Singapore International Film Festival Secretariat during the mid 1990s. She is currently Hospitality & Office Manager of the Singapore International Film Festival.