How Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers captures the beauty of working-class Singapore

Singaporean director portrays ordinary folk with dignity in the final film in his ‘Growing Up’ trilogy with Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler

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Yeo Yann Yann (left) in a still from We Are All Strangers, the third film in Anthony Chen’s “Growing Up” trilogy. Photo: Giraffe Pictures

Published: 12:45pm, 21 Feb 2026

Art-house movie trilogies are rare beasts, and even rarer when they are unintended. “I think it was completely accidental,” says Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen of the 13-year odyssey to complete his “Growing Up” trilogy.

It began in 2013 with his debut Ilo Ilo, the sensitive tale of a boy’s bond with his domestic helper. The film won Chen the Camera d’Or at Cannes, the prize awarded for best first feature. He followed it six years later with Wet Season, in which a teacher finds herself drawn to her student.

Now comes We Are All Strangers, which premiered in competition earlier this week at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film centres on noodle hawker Boon Kiat (Andi Lim) and his directionless son Junyang (Koh Jia Ler).

While Junyang falls for a girl from a well-to-do family that he meets at a BTS concert, the widowed Boon Kiat finds his own romance with Bee Hwa (Yeo Yann Yann), a Malaysian immigrant who hawks beer for a living.

Singaporean director Anthony Chen at the photo call for the film We Are All Strangers during the Berlin International Film Festival on February 16, 2026. Photo: AP

(From left) Chen Tian Wen, Angeli Bayani, Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler in a still from Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo.

While We Are All Strangers and its predecessors share no characters or plot lines, the casting of Yeo and Koh bonds all three films. Koh was the child in Ilo Ilo, Yeo his mother, before reuniting as student and teacher in Wet Season. But Chen swears he never planned it this way.

How Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers captures the beauty of working-class Singapore

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Singaporean director portrays ordinary folk with dignity in the final film in his ‘Growing Up’ trilogy with Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler

Singaporean director portrays ordinary folk with dignity in the final film in his ‘Growing Up’ trilogy with Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler