12 Jun – 31 Aug 2026
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Daily Screenings |  |
ArtScience Cinema, Level 4 |
Complimentary Admission (Registration required for some films)
Featuring a diverse line-up of award-winning films and documentaries, Sustainable Futures Film Festival 2026 celebrates stories of ocean science and environmental urgency through a cinematic lens.
From nature’s own solutions to more-than-human perspectives, these films offer new ways of understanding our rapidly changing world. Across marine discovery, climate resilience and underwater imagination, they trace how artistic explorations and scientific insight converge to reveal the interconnections between people and the wider ecology.
Running from 12 June to 31 August, the festival unfolds across three thematic strands: Uncharted Waters, spotlighting marine research and discovery; Deep Imagination, which traces the ocean’s influence on cinematic storytelling; and Hidden Connections, which reflects on ecological themes through documentaries and experimental forms.
Films screening in June: OceanXplorers, A Life Illuminated, How Deep is Your Love, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
Stay tuned for the July to August screening schedule, available on 12 June, 11am.
Exploring innovative solutions, youth activism and coastal restoration, these films highlight hopeful responses to climate change through stories of adaptation and action for the planet.
Free admission on drop-in, first-come-first-served basis, subject to venue capacity.
No registration required, admission on first-come-first-served basis.
Screening daily from 12 Jun – 5 Jul*
Mon to Fri: 10.30am, 3pm (Episodes 1 to 6)
Sun: 10.30am (Episodes 1 to 4)
From Avatar director (and National Geographic Explorer at Large) James Cameron, BBC Studios Natural History Unit (Blue Planet II) and OceanX comes the most ambitious ocean adventure ever filmed. OceanXplorers is a documentary series that follows scientists, filmmakers and explorers aboard the OceanXplorer research vessel as they investigate the planet’s oceans using cutting-edge technology.
All episodes are screened consecutively unless otherwise listed above:
Episode 1: Realm of the Humpbacks
Episode 2: Giants of the Deep
Episode 3: Jurassic Shark
Episode 4: Hammerhead Highway
Episode 5: Kingdom of the Polar Bear
Episode 6: Ice Giants
*No screenings on 13 Jun, 26 Jun and 4 Jul
Screening from Jul – Aug
Filmmaker Damon Gameau (2040, That Sugar Film) takes eight children who form a ‘Future Council’ on an epic road trip across Europe to explore practical responses to the climate crisis.
For this next generation of young leaders and thinkers, their mission is to better understand the planet’s predicament, explore solutions and, most importantly, take the conversation from the streets into the boardrooms of some of the world’s largest polluters and influential companies.
Future Council is a coming-of-age journey that dares to imagine a brighter future.
Singapore Premiere
Screening from Jul – Aug
Bringing together music, science and culture into a vibrant call to action, Blue Carbon is part love letter to our planet, and part investigation into one of nature’s simple solutions: blue carbon ecosystems.
Told through the eyes of Grammy-nominated DJ and marine biologist Jayda Guy and scored by Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and Seu Jorge, the film follows Jayda on a global adventure to uncover how coastal habitats such as mangroves, seagrass, and salt marshes store carbon, protect coastal communities from rising seas, and support biodiversity.
Travelling across continents, she meets communities restoring these habitats, revealing both the urgency of their loss and the promise of collective, hopeful action.
Spotlighting the people behind ocean research, and the marine life that have inspired them, these films follow intrepid scientists as they descend into little-seen worlds, illuminating the mysteries of the deep through curiosity and care.
Free admission, registration required
Asian Premiere
13 Jun (Sat), 7pm
Register here
More showtimes in Jul – Aug
A Life Illuminated follows trailblazing marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder as she descends 3,300 feet into the ocean’s darkest depths.
One of the first women in her field and one of the first humans to explore the ocean’s twilight zone, she has captured the sublime wonders of the deep sea, from the first-ever footage of the elusive giant squid to unveiling the glowing mysteries of bioluminescence. Now, Edie embarks on her most daring quest yet: to document a bioluminescent phenomenon that could forever change how we understand life on Earth.
Tasha Van Zandt is an award-winning director, cinematographer, and Emmy-nominated producer who has documented stories from the farthest ends of our polar regions to the depths of the ocean. Dedicated to stories that illuminate our human connection to the natural world, her work has been supported by The Sundance Institute, Sloan Foundation, Library of Congress, American Film Showcase, National Geographic Expeditions, and more.
Awards and Festival Highlights
Best Scientific Documentary | DOCVILLE 2026
Best Film: Environment | Banff Mountain Film Festival 2025
World Premiere | Toronto International Film Festival 2025
Southeast Asian Premiere
20 Jun (Sat), 7pm
Register here
More showtimes in Jul – Aug
With deep-sea mining looming, a group of intrepid biologists race to study and name the undiscovered species of the abyss that thrive in isolation.
But what could human exploration look like to deep-sea creatures? A poetic imagining of how human and animal perspectives might intermingle and reach a moment of pure connection, How Deep is Your Love considers the ocean from its inhabitants’ point of view, reversing the gaze and turning the human world into something strange and curious.
Eleanor is a documentary filmmaker from the UK whose work centres on re-imaginings of the world through unusual, hidden or overlooked perspectives. A directing graduate of the National Film & Television School (UK) and National Geographic Storytelling Fellow, she has made numerous commissions for galleries, publishers and TV & teaches filmmaking to community groups and in film schools. HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE is Eleanor’s debut feature and biggest filmmaking adventure yet, with support by Sundance Institute, Sandbox Films, BFI Doc Society and Rooftop Films.
Awards and Festival Highlights
World Premiere | True/False Film Festival 2025
European Premiere | CPH:DOX 2025
Underwater tales and aquatic life have long inspired wildly imaginative cinematic storytelling. Inspired by oceanic imaginaries, these films weave fantastical, dreamlike worldbuilding with deep emotional resonance.
Free admission, registration required
27 Jun (Sat), 6.45pm
Register here
More showtimes in Jul – Aug
An eccentric oceanographer sets out with his crew to hunt the elusive jaguar shark that killed his partner, in a deadpan marine adventure that blends grief, satire and absurdity.
A playful, visual homage to Jacques Cousteau, Bill Murray’s wry turn as the titular Steve Zissou anchors an all-star, classic Wes Anderson ensemble, including Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, and Willem Dafoe, in one of Anderson’s most elaborate and intricately designed (underwater) worlds.
Singapore Premiere
Screening from Jul – Aug
There is no one like Meebo, and no one who loves fish more.
A whimsical coming-of-age story about an aspiring fish expert navigating an unconventional life path, Shuichi Okita offers another tender portrait of an offbeat, empathetic character who connects deeply with the natural world.
Based on the memoir of Sakana-kun, an online celebrity ichthyologist in Japan, The Fish Tale gently unfolds through scenes of everyday encounters tinged with magical realism, blending moments of quiet marine wonder that articulate a gentle coexistence between humans and the sea.
Japanese filmmaker Shuichi Okita is an acclaimed filmmaker in Japan and internationally, known for his gently observational films that blend humor, eccentric characters and slice-of-life storytelling. His comedy The Woodsman and the Rain (2011) won the Jury Prize at the 2011 Tokyo International Film Festival, as well as the NIPPON CINEMA AWARD at the 2012 NIPPON CONNECTION Film Festival.
Awards and Festival Highlights
Best Actress, Nominee (Non) | Japanese Academy 2023
Official Selection | Hong Kong International Film Festival 2022
Official Selection | Kaoshiung Film Festival 2022
Screening from Jul – Aug
In the wake of her mother’s absence, a young girl named Shenxiu is swept into a fantastical undersea world during a violent storm, where she meets a motley crew of strange sea creatures and the ship’s eccentric captain, Nanhe. Together, they embark on an emotional journey toward the mythic “Deep Sea Eye” in search of healing and reconciliation.
An immersive adventure into a dreamlike seascape, Tian Xiaopeng’s kaleidoscopic feature is worldbuilding at its animated finest. Seven years in the making, the film pioneers a “particle ink” technique inspired by traditional Chinese ink painting, using millions of digital particles to translate the fluidity of brushstrokes – rendering the ocean as a canvas of colour and light.
Tian Xiaopeng is among the pioneering Chinese artists working in 3D computer graphics. His feature-length debut, Monkey King: Hero Is Back, became both a landmark achievement for Chinese animation and a major box-office hit.
Awards and Festival Highlights
International Premiere and Nominee for Best Feature (Generation Kplus International Jury) | Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) 2023
Best Visual Effects for Animation, Winner | Golden Panda Awards 2023
Best Animated Film, Nominee | Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2023
Best Animated Film, Nominee | Catalan Film Festival 2023
Intimate and thought-provoking, these films invite slow observation as a way of sensing hidden relations between people and landscapes. Blending documentary and experimental forms, they explore ecological ideas through gesture, sound, and texture.
Free admission, registration required
Asian Premiere
Screening from Jul – Aug
Seven climate scientists meet in a godforsaken meeting room to engage in circle therapy about their shared climate anxiety.
A humorous, inventive and serious experiment by director of the critically-acclaimed I Am Greta (2020), Nathan Grossman engages therapist Richard Beck with a challenging and delicate task – encouraging the scientists, who are much better at talking about natural disasters, at expressing their own personal emotions about the climate crisis. Can emotional honesty be part of the solution?
Nathan Grossman is an award-winning Swedish documentary director known for his focus on social and environmental issues. "Climate in Therapy" is his third feature-length documentary, following his critically acclaimed debut "I Am Greta" (2020) and "Debt Fever" (2024).
Awards and Festival Highlights
Best Mid-Length Documentary Winner | Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2025
World Premiere | CPH:DOX 2025
Screening from Jul – Aug
An journey through caves, tunnels and submerged spaces in Japan, Kaori Oda’s Underground is a sensuous exploration of how memories and gestures continue to reverberate beneath the surface. Filmed on 16mm, the terrain is at once tactile and contested, bearing witness to the interconnected histories of both people and land.
Oda experiments with overlapping projections and soundscapes throughout the film, orbited by two human presences - dancer Yoshigai Nao who embodies the ‘shadow’, gliding through caves and touching rock faces to slip through past and present, and tour guide Mitsuo Matsunaga, who recounts the fates of civilians during the battle of Okinawa in 1945.
Through images and sounds, Kaori Oda‘s works explore the memories of human beings. She lived in Sarajevo for three years from 2013 and completed the Doctor of Liberal Arts in filmmaking under the supervision of Bela Tarr in 2016. Her feature, TS’ONOT/Cenote (2019) shot in underwater caves in Yucatan Mexico, premiered in Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020, and her films have been screened at MoMA Docfortnight, Cinéma du Réel and Festival du ciné-ma de Brive(Jury SFCC de la Critique).
Awards and Festival Highlights
World Premiere | Tokyo International Film Festival 2024
International Premiere | Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) 2025
Daily
Fill your world with wonder in a purpose-built screening room dedicated to films that will inspire, challenge and transform.
6 Jun – 1 Nov 2026
Into the Ocean: Journey Beneath is a collaboration between ArtScience Museum and OceanX, making its world premiere this June. It invites visitors on a descent through the depths of the sea, from the sunlit surface waters to the darkest reaches of the ocean.
Forms of Life Ticket
In 2026, ArtScience Museum presents a year-long season of exhibitions and programmes that explore the wider ecology of life beyond the human, attending to the multispecies worlds, systems, and intelligences that shape the planet alongside us. Rather than centering the human as the primary actor, Forms of Life: Beyond the Human considers how life is co-shaped by other living entities.