Aamir Khan will receive the Screen Icon Award at the 37th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), which will run from October 21 to November 1, 2026. The Indian star will also join filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker for a special presentation marking 25 years of Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India. Meanwhile, the festival will open with Hur Jin-ho’s The Assassin(s), bringing together a major cast led by Lee Min-ho, Yoo Hae-jin and Park Hae-il.
The honour adds another milestone to Aamir Khan’s long association with cinema. At SGIFF, his recognition will be accompanied by a return to Lagaan, the 2001 sports epic he produced and starred in, with Ashutosh Gowariker directing. The film went on to earn a nomination for Best International Film at the 2002 Academy Awards, making its 25th-anniversary presentation a notable moment in the festival programme.
Lagaan remains particularly significant because its anniversary brings Aamir Khan and Ashutosh Gowariker back together around a film that became an important part of Indian cinema’s international story. SGIFF’s presentation will offer audiences an opportunity to revisit the film on the big screen while marking a quarter-century since its release.
Hur Jin-ho will attend the opening gala with cast members Shim Eun-kyung and Park Sung-hoon, giving the Singapore presentation a direct connection to the film’s creative team. Their presence also adds context to a film that has already travelled from Toronto to Singapore in a short span. For audiences, the opening offers a chance to encounter the thriller close to its international festival launch and alongside its principal creators.
The festival’s opening film brings a very different period of Asian history into focus. Directed by Hur Jin-ho, The Assassin(s) stars Lee Min-ho as a rookie reporter, Yoo Hae-jin as a police detective and Park Hae-il as a veteran newspaper editor. The historical thriller revisits the August 15, 1974, assassination attempt against South Korean President Park Chung-hee, during which First Lady Yuk Young-soo was killed.
The film has also arrived at SGIFF after a strong response at the Toronto International Film Festival. Following its world premiere at TIFF 2026, The Assassin(s) was named second runner-up for the International People’s Choice Award. That recognition adds a recent festival milestone to the film’s opening-night status in Singapore.
SGIFF is also entering its 37th edition on a changed calendar. Traditionally held in late November and early December, the festival has moved to October, with the organisers saying the earlier window provides better opportunities for independent films to reach Singapore audiences without competing directly with the year-end slate of major Hollywood blockbusters. The 2026 edition will therefore take place more than a month earlier than the previous year’s November-December dates.
Another major name joining the programme is Hirokazu Kore-eda, who will receive the Cinema Honorary Award, SGIFF’s recognition for exceptional and enduring contributions to Asian cinema. His latest film, Look Back, will have its Southeast Asian premiere at the festival. The 2026 film is a live-action adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s acclaimed one-shot manga and marks Kore-eda’s move into a different kind of storytelling while retaining his interest in intimate human relationships.
The festival’s wider programme reinforces that regional focus, placing established names beside newer works and giving the edition a clear connection between cinematic history and current filmmaking across Asia and its neighbours.
With Aamir Khan’s Screen Icon Award, the 25th anniversary of Lagaan, The Assassin(s) opening the festival, and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s honour and new film, SGIFF 2026 brings several generations and forms of Asian cinema together. The programme connects celebrated filmmakers and performers with films rooted in different histories, making the upcoming edition a broad meeting point for audiences and contemporary cinema.
