Singapore debut 'Ah Girl' reaches Toronto for North American premiere
Singapore director Ang Geck Geck Priscilla is bringing her feature debut "Ah Girl" to the Toronto Film Festival for its North American premiere as a Centrepiece selection, Variety reported on 12 September 2026.
Toronto lists "Ah Girl" as a film from Singapore in its 2026 Centrepiece programme, a curated section that this year draws films from 50 countries, according to TIFF. The festival describes it as a bittersweet yet heartwarming story of a young girl working out what it means to become an adult, as noted by TIFF.
The story is told entirely through the eyes of a seven-year-old, IFFR reported. Ang based it on memories of her own childhood, according to IFFR.
That idea took more than a decade to reach the screen. The Ah Girl character first appeared in Ang's 2013 short "Broken Crayon," which won best short film at the Singapore Short Film Festival that year and grew into a trilogy with "Little Pigs" and "Happy Birthday," Variety reported.
"Ah Girl" had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2026. It picked up the Youth Jury Award there. The film was also among the titles featured at Malaysia's MIFFest.
Finding the lead took close to a year. Newcomer Ong Xuan Jing, aged nine, was cast after a long search. She spent three months playing games and building trust with Ang before cameras rolled.
The production moved through several regional development platforms. It was worked on at the Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab, where it won the Open SEA Fund Award, and through the work-in-progress section of the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion, plus the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum and Focus Asia at the Far East Film Festival in Udine. Producers are Aggregate Films, IFA Media and Kusu Films, alongside Charlyn Ng and Wendy Lie, with backing from Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority through its New SG Director Grant and from the Purin Film Fund. Editing was by Hoping Chen, winner of the best film editing prize for "Bel Ami" at the 61st Golden Horse Film Festival.
What makes this stand out is the patience behind it. One character. Three shorts. Ten years. Now a Toronto slot. For general viewers, it is a chance to see a new Singapore voice arrive on a large North American stage.
