HAF PROFILES
» Cross Road p8
»Curious Grandmas: The Murder Of Annet Van Houten p8
» City Of The Lost Things p8 » Igna p10
» 1982 p10 » My Dictator p10 » The Seen And Unseen p10 » Another Country p14 » Tang Wong p14
» Flowing Stories p14 » Hangman p15
» (Un)Making The Betrayal p15 » Music And The Nation p15
Cross Road Dir Peng Tao Country of origin China
Displaying a strong sense of social critique in his first two features — the multi award-winning Little Moth in 2007 and follow-up Floating In Memory in 2009 — Peng Tao’s third feature will turn its attention to the human condition as he looks at the choices people face in their life and adventures. The film centres around a happily married father, who
takes advantage of a train crash to start a new life with a new identity. “Many people dream of escaping from the life that is forced upon them. But when an opportunity arises, will they choose to start afresh? And will the new life be as good as they dream of? This is the question I wanted to explore in the story,” explains Peng whose inspiration for the project came from a true story told to him by a friend of a woman who left her marriage and child behind to begin a new life. Visually, Peng plans to move away from his usual
documentary-inspired realism towards a more sophisti- cated style of cinematography, lighting and sound to intensify the dramatic effect of the film. Peng has previously sought funding via independent
film festivals or public soft money, but he is hoping to attract investors or co-production partners for this project, which is at the script stage and looks set to be more commercial in nature. Peng is producing for his company, New Youth Inde-
pendent Film Studio, together with Yang Na of Heaven Pictures which has put $50,000 towards the budget of the $1.2m project. They are hoping to secure cast and the remainder of the budget after HAF meetings.
Sen-lun Yu
Curious Grandmas: The MurderOf Annet Van Houten Dir Lucky Kuswandi Country of origin Indonesia
In a bid to appeal to older audiences — in particular his mother and grandmother — Lucky Kuswandi’s third fea- ture is an Agatha Christie-inspired whodunit combining the spirit of Francois Ozon’s 8 Women with the kitsch- ness of Indonesian soap operas. “It started with my own observations of the Indone-
sian film and TV scene in general. They actually use really young actresses to play older women. And I thought, ‘What happened to older 70s and 80s actresses?’” says Kuswandi, who plans to cast actors from his mother’s and grandmother’s generation who are now struggling to find work. The plot centres around four vacationing grandmoth-
ers who become sleuths when their socialite hotel owner is found dead in her pool. “It is a murder-mystery who- dunit but also a comedy. The way I envision this film, it’s more about the grandmas’ interaction and their relation- ships, and about their finding their self-worth again,” adds the Indonesian director, who plans to adopt the same tone as his debut feature Madame X, a transvestite superhero movie which combined a camp, action- packed style with a social conscience. The film screened last year at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and was nominated for two Asian Film Awards — for best supporting actress and best production design. Currently co-writing the script with Daud Sumolang,
Kuswandi has brought Sammaria Simanjuntak on board to produce for her new company The Fat Cocoon. The team is considering shooting around Java Island, but is open to other location partnerships and will be on the lookout for funds, co-producers and pre-sales at HAF. The cast will be mostly Indonesian, but the story also lends itself to foreign actors.
Jean Noh Cross Road
Budget $1.2m Finance raised to date $50,000 from Heaven Pictures Contact Peng Tao, New Youth Independent Film Studio
pengtao17@gmail.com
n 8 Screen International at Filmart March 20, 2012
Curious Grandmas: The Murder Of Annet Van Houten
Budget $500,000 Finance raised to date $50,000 through private funds Contact Sammaria Simanjuntak
sammaria@gmail.com City Of The Lost Things
Budget $6.67m Finance raised to date $3.34m Contact Chen Hsin-Hung, One Production Film Company
axinpower@gmail.com
City Of The Lost Things Dir Yee Chih-yen Country of origin Taiwan
Pitched as one of Taiwan’s biggest animation film projects in recent years, the $6.7m City Of The Lost Things will see a return to feature film-making for Yee Chih-yen, who has been working on TV dramas and commercials since 2005. His fourth feature will blend the idea of Buddhist re-
incarnation with recycling, centring around a 16-year- old boy and his adventures with a plastic bag. “We plan to create a style that is a hybrid between US
and Japanese animation. It will also be a mixture of 2D and 3D animation,” says the Taiwanese director, whose 2003 film Blue Gate Crossing was selected for Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. Yee says the biggest difference between this project
and conventional animation works will be his decision not to humanise objects in the film. “I want these things to have lives, through my story-
telling, but not to have eyes, arms or legs. I believe this is returning to the original spirit of animation,” says the director, who is now at the storyboard and character- setting stage of production. So far, half of the project’s production budget is in
place, courtesy of a Taiwanese cultural creative company, which wants to retain a low profile until the whole budget is secured. Actress-turned-producer Lee Lieh is producing for her outfit One Production Film Company, whose credits include Monga and Jump Ashin!. Yee intends to find gap financing for the remainder of
the budget, and ideally an international or mainland Chinese co-production partner.
Sen-lun Yu
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