Lights, camera, time travel! REWIND – France & Singapore: A Reel Connection takes you on a fascinating journey back through more than a century of cinematic exchanges between France and Singapore. Long before The Violinist made waves at Annecy by claiming its top prize, cinema was already bringing the two countries together. Curated by filmmaker and film historian Raphaël Millet, the exhibition uncovers this enduring connection through rare archival photographs, original film posters, historical documents and cinema memorabilia.

The journey begins with Singaporean filmmakers making their mark on the international stage. From Eric Khoo and Anthony Chen to Boo Junfeng, K. Rajagopal and Yeo Siew Hua, discover how French film festivals such as Cannes, Annecy and Clermont-Ferrand have celebrated Singaporean cinema and introduced its stories to audiences around the world. Beyond the red carpet, explore the creative collaborations, artistic affinities and French-Singaporean co-productions that have brought filmmakers, talents and ideas together across borders.

Rewind further to a Singapore in the making. In the 1950s and 1960s, French filmmakers captured the island during a period of profound political and social transformation. From Serge Bourguignon's L'Étoile de mer (1959) to Bernard Toublanc-Michel's Five Ashore in Singapore (1967), their films offer rare glimpses of Singapore on the cusp of self-governance and in the early years of independence. Travel further back to the 1910s, when Pathé and Gaston Méliès documented colonial Singapore, preserving images of a city vastly different from the one we know today.

The journey culminates at the dawn of cinema in Singapore, when moving pictures first flickered across local screens and French entrepreneurs and travelling exhibitors helped introduce audiences to this revolutionary new art form.

More than a celebration of cinema, REWIND – France & Singapore: A Reel Connection reveals how moving images have connected cultures, documented a nation's transformation and preserved memories across generations.

Ready to rewind? Step into the stories behind the screen and discover a cinematic connection more than a century in the making.