Singapore Brings Over 20 Feature Film Projects To Cannes Film Market2 min read

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The Media Development Authority (MDA) will be leading a contingent of eight local production companies to promote a slate of over 20 film projects at Cannes Film Market (13 — 24 May). The eight companies participating under the Singapore Pavilion at Cannes are Akanga Film Asia, Axxis, gsmprjct média, Hot Cider Films, Infinite Frameworks, Monsoon Pictures, Oak3 Films and Upside Down Concepts.

Among the slate promoted at Cannes is Ho Tzu Nyen’s HERE, which is being screened in the recognises the Best First Feature of the festival.  HERE is produced by gsmprjct‚°média, M’GO Films, Akanga Film Asia, Oak3 Films and Tzulogical Films. Its screening at Cannes will mark the film’s world premiere and is the fifth consecutive year that at least one Singapore film is selected for showcase or in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. HERE’s theatrical release in Singapore is scheduled for this June.

The Singapore Film Commission (SFC), an agency under MDA, will also be promoting the nine film projects green-lit last year under its New Feature Film Fund. These include the recently completed Blood Ties , which marks the directorial debut for Chai Yee Wei.  The thriller stars talented newcomer Joo Yee Leong and veteran Hong Kong actors Cheng Pei-Pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and Kenneth Tsang (Memoirs of a Geisha) along with local actors David Leong (Painted Skin), Vincent Tee (Singapore Dreaming) and Maggie Tan (Becoming Royston). The film, is tentatively scheduled for theatrical release in September 2009.

The Singapore film slate also includes Amphibious, the first stereoscopic 3D film to be developed out of Singapore, which will be directed by world-renowned fantasy filmmaker Brian Yuzna and will star Bosco Francis (My Magic) as a fanatic Elvis Presley fan sea captain who battles a gigantic sea scorpion in a visual effects-laden action-adventure tale.

Another title is Freedom Formula: Ghost of the Wasteland, based on the comic book series created by Edmund Shern, about a futuristic genetically engineered racer who learns that his bloodline has the power to change society.  The film is the first Singapore intellectual property to be developed into a tent-pole film franchise by Hollywood’s New Regency studio. It will be co-produced by Bryan Singer’s production company Bad Hat Harry Productions and will be developed as a potential directing vehicle for Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns).  Barry Levine, founder of Radical Publishing, is attached to produce with Jesse Berger and Michael Zoumas (Coraline, Mimic) attached as executive producers.