SINGAPORE — Local auteur Eric Khoo will fly our nation’s cinematic flag proudly at various film festivals across the world with three of his films: The highly anticipated new film In The Room, the telemovie Wanton Mee and short film Cinema, his contribution to the SG50 film anthology, 7 Letters.

In The Room, Khoo’s “high concept erotic drama” will have its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, which runs from Sept 10 to 20, at Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema section.

The S$1 million film, which comprises six stories set in the same hotel room, begins with the surrender of the British in the 1940s and continues over the next few decades. It also boasts an eclectic cast that includes Singapore-based actors George Young, Daniel Jenkins and Koh Boon Pin, along with Korea’s Choi Woo-shik and Kim Kkobbi, Thailand actor Aeaw, Japanese adult film actress Shou Nishino, Malaysia’s Lawrence Wong and Hong Kong’s Josie Ho.

In The Room will also travel to Spain for the 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival, an annual event originally intended to honour Spanish-language films, but has since established itself as one of the most important movie festivals in the world. The film will be shown in the non-competitive Zabaltegi section, which focuses on some of the most diverse and evocative projects of the current international film scene.

The film will also have its Asian premiere at this year’s Busan Film Festival in October (in the A Window on Asian Cinema section, a showcase for new films by Asian film-makers with a diverse point of view and style) and lastly, a showing in England for the 59th BFI (British Film Institute) London Film Festival, in the Love section of the fest, which is also the United Kingdom’s largest public film event.

Joining In the Room at San Sebastian is Khoo’s short film Wanton Mee, an ode to Singapore’s hawker food. It will be featured in the Culinary Zinema section of the festival, competing against a selection of gastronomy-related films accompanied by themed dinners for a prize award of €10,000 (S$15,790).

When asked if he thought he stood a chance of bagging the prize, Khoo quipped: “It’s a matter of taste.”

First shown on MediaCorp’s Okto channel in March this year — it’s also showing on Singapore Airlines’ inflight entertainment programming — Khoo also said there are plans to release Wanton Mee on DVD locally.

Meanwhile, Cinema, Khoo’s contribution to the critically acclaimed SG50 anthology 7 Letters, will be screened this Sunday (Sept 6) at the Telluride Film Festival (TFF) in Colorado. TFF has gained a reputation for debuting key Oscar award contenders and is a well-known platform for festival favourites.

“It’s really insane - the timing of all these festival selections for all my films. It’s really been nothing short of ‘wow’,” said Khoo. “I’m excited for all the festivals but perhaps I’m most thrilled for In The Room’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“It’s wonderful and a great honour.”