Bradley Liew of Epicmedia Productions (Philippines), Stefano Centini of Volos Films (Taiwan/Italy) and Singapore’s Huang Junxiang have reunited to launch two style tasks on the Busan International Film Festival‘s Asian Contents and Film Market.
The trio beforehand teamed on Sundance Midnight hit, “In My Mother’s Skin” by Kenneth Dagatan, which was just lately ranked quantity six on Variety’s Best Horror Movies of 2023. The movie was acquired by Amazon Studios and can stream on Prime Video from Oct. 12.
The producers are backing Dagatan’s “Molder,” a body-horror supernatural thriller set in a sleepy Italian city the place an aged Filipino immigrant scuffling with indicators of early onset dementia, grapples with the sudden disappearance of his spouse and the mysterious younger man who claims to have positioned a curse upon them. The movie goals to mix each Filipino folklore primarily based supernatural horror with the experiences of the Filipino diaspora in Italy. It shall be shot within the Philippines and Italy with Filipino and Italian actors. The movie is at the moment in superior improvement and early financing phases. It is because of start manufacturing on the finish of 2024 or early 2025.
The fifth characteristic movie of director Carlo Catu (“Aria”), “Hold My Gaze” is designed as a high-tension thriller thriller set in Taiwan. Through lies, deceit and homicide, three broken souls search to fix by way of the love of one other. But nobody is ready to maintain the gaze of their lover, beneath the shadow of the ever-present third. Catu’s work seeks to discover the trauma surrounding the Philippine household, the normalization of LGBTQ+ centric-stories and the balancing each creative and commercially viable works.
The movie shall be shot primarily in Taiwan, in each Mandarin and Filipino language with Filipino and Taiwanese leads. The challenge just lately gained the TAICCA Award on the the Malaysia’s MIFFEST Project Market and shall be offered on the 2023 TCCF (Taiwan Creative Content Fest) Script to Screen Pitching this November in Taipei. In addition to Liew, Centini and Huang, the movie will even be produced by April Batican (“Mina-Anud”) of Epicmedia and Chiu Ping-Yu of Volos. The movie, which is at the moment within the financing stage, has been presold to Japan beneath Harakiri Films (Taro Imai) and slated for manufacturing on the finish of 2024.
Liew stated: “Epicmedia would like to express its absolute delight and excitement to reunite with both Stefano Centini and Huang Junxiang. Our first collaboration together was the hugely successful Sundance hit, ‘In My Mother’s Skin,’ it was one of the best coproduction experiences where each producer (and country by extension) brought out the best of the project and really elevated the film to an international level. We feel that our shared vision of creating auteur driven genre stories from a Southeast Asian perspective is the way forward in creating demand for content originating from our region, to the world. And now we look to further expand this scope of stories with two Filipino films set abroad, one in Italy and the other in Taiwan.”
Centini added: “We all share a strong dedication to creating one-of-a-kind, genre-bending stories that encompass borders and continents. Our past success with ‘In My Mother’s Skin’ has been a testament to that, and we’re enthusiastic about carrying this forward with ‘Hold My Gaze’ in Taiwan, and to open new possibilities through our new Italian branch, Volos Films Italia, on ‘Molder.’ With these films, we aim to offer a new perspective to audiences worldwide, merging Filipino storytelling with the unique landscapes of Taiwan and Italy, creating new models of coproduction for independent cinema.”
Huang stated: “It is always a pleasure to work with filmmakers who share a commitment to telling great stories. ‘Hold My Gaze’ and ‘Molder’ are two films which possess the potential to make a cultural impact across Asia. Both deal with social issues that our Asian societies grapple with and are packaged with a strong market angle. It’s sufficient excuse to reunite with trusted friends.”
Epicmedia-produced movie, Lav Diaz’s “Essential Truths of The Lake” was at Locarno and is enjoying at Busan.
Volos’ “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” by Jow Zhi-Wei made its debut on the Berlinale, and “The Settlers” by Felipe Galvez premiered at Cannes. Volos Films Italia coproduced “Essential Truths of the Lake.”
Huang produced 2018 Berlinale title “Ramen Teh,” 2020 Busan movie “Tiong Bahru Social Club” and has additionally served as producer for HBO Asia anthology collection “Folklore” (2018) and “Food Lore” (2019).
