2019

A psychic man must battle fate and foul-play to help an amnesiac ghost uncover the mystery behind her death.

Soul Searching is a supernatural crime comedy-horror set in present-day Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Our hero Visal is a student who feels cursed by his innate ability to see and hear ghosts. He struggles to cope with his ‘gift’, which so far has brought him nothing but misfortune. Visal’s family is in financial difficulty, so when a childhood friend offers to pay for Visal’s help to get rid of a stubborn, stalking ghost, Visal reluctantly agrees. He doesn’t realize what he has let himself if for. The young female ghost following his friend has completely lost her memory and finds herself stuck in the world of the living, cursed to wander forever unless she can resolve her ‘unfinished business’. Teaming up with a bumbling veteran-policeman ghost, Visal begins the search for the female ghost’s identity, her story, and the horrifying truth behind her death. Along the way, Visal will have to embrace his misfortune, face down his demons, and fight for what’s right. The journey will change him and his family forever.

When the idea of a story of a psychic came up, I thought it had to be further developed into an interesting story. Personally, I’ve come across people, in different points of life, who claim to certain extents, able to sense spirits or having the soul temporary leave the body, which I find fascinating. Often stories like these triggers our imagination to run wild, to go further than what our normal senses can detect, giving it an approach to create refreshing story ideas. ‘Soul-Searching’ is told from the point of view of our protagonist. It has a nice flow, plot-driven and a whimsical tone to it, which can be appreciated by many audience in the region, who more or less share common spiritual belief. A universal theme of the story is ‘Being at peace with oneself by embracing utilizing what we have.’ Taking our protagonist as an example through his soul-searching journey to embrace and make peace with his psychic ability, which he had all his life regarded as a curse. Meanwhile, touching on some social issues and other subtexts, without taking itself too seriously. From being involved with the story development to writing the screenplay, it’s allowed me to visualize and feel the story first-hand. I’d like to translate the screenplay into a movie that the audience can enjoy. The film will attract the attention of the audience with its intriguing, fascinating, eerie at parts, yet sprinkled with humors scenes. The film will go towards horror at times and then back to comedic scenes. Spirits will be shown in their default semi-solid forms, and an energy-demanding solid form that resembles their corpses. The latter is required before they could interact with the living world with their spiritual abilities, such as haunting and telekinesis.

A religious girl has to marry a guy that raped her in order to save her family name.

I’m writing about a religious girl, Zara, whose life is changing when she get raped by her friend, Gilang. Two months later, she finds out that she’s pregnant. She tells her family. She hopes her family will help her to report to the police, but that’s not what she gets. Her family forces her to marry Gilang in order to save her family name and get a birth certificate for the child. She’s a good daughter, so she agrees with it. Every day, she has to face the fears and overcomes her trauma. She tries to love Gilang. She finally accepts everything. 3 years later, Gilang comes home and says that he finds a woman that he really loves. He asks the permission to Zara if he could make her as a second wife. The other woman already agreed about that. After what she did, it really hurts for her. So she goes to the police one day to report what happened about the rape 3 years ago, but the cops don’t believe in her. Then she goes to her family because she wants a divorce. The family doesn’t agree and asks her to agree with the polygamy. Ana doesn’t have a choice, so she says yes.At the night before Gilang gets married, she enters the bedroom. She ties Gilang and cuts his penis and then runaway with her child.

The idea came from the writer’s teenage friend when she lived in Bandung. She recalled this memory during her study in New York Film Academy and started to develop the story. She tried to collect the information as much as possible, but because this subject is really hard to talk about, the information was very limited. Her friend got raped and then she had to marry the rapist because she was pregnant and her father asked her to. The father made that decision in order to save the family’s name. This kind of thing is not only happened to Zara, but also to thousands of women in Indonesia. Patriarchy always becomes a problem for women, not only in Indonesia, but all over the world. It has happened since people make patriarchy culture as foundation of our life values. The idea of this film is we can fight the patriarchy values and the culture if we do it together. Women have to stand side by side, support each other, in order to make it work. Because in the end things like religion or law can’t win over our love to each other.

An 8 year-boy, Sud, who was sold to a terrorist group due to family’s deep financial problems, suddenly returns home after three months. While secretly preparing for a suicide bomb attack, he also meets his first love.

One day, a boy, Sud, who was sold to a terrorist group comes back home suddenly. His mother and sister welcome him but his father angrily tells him to go back. Tension escalates into a heated argument between Sud’s parents, and Sud leaves the house to follow the sound of children playing. He spots a girl, Chula, being bullied and decides to help her. They bond over the incident and quickly become friends. Sud’s father seeks the terrorist group to figure out why Sud was sent back home, only to realize that Sud is assigned to be the courier of a suicide bomb attack that is scheduled to take place the next day. The terrorists threaten Sud’s father not to disclose this information to anyone, or else his entire family would have to suffer severe consequences. Meanwhile, Sud’s mother goes to the market to buy food to celebrate her son’s return and finds out that a new school year at the local middle school will start the following day. She decides to send Sud to school instead ofsending him back to the terrorist. Sud’s sister also tries to escape from her small town but realizes that she’s not able to find any sustainable job there other than prostitution. All family members actively try to escape poverty but there’s nothing they can do. Sud is confident that he could trust Chula and shows her the bomb vest that he was provided by the terrorist group. He then tells her what he will be doing with it the next day. However, Chula seems like not to understand the meaning of death and tells him how cool the bomb vest looks on him. Next morning, Sud puts on his bomb vest and quietly leaves for the town marketplace to execute the suicide bombing. By the market’s entrance, Sud strares a Coca-Cola billboard ad where he sees a picture of Chula having dinner with her family. We learn that Sud did not have anyone to talk to regarding the suicide bomb attack plan, so he had made up a fake character who he could talk about his inner struggle. Sud runs towards the market with a bomb vest strapped to his body.

Sud’s family comes across an opportunity to confront the idea of being freed from poverty as their youngest comes back to them from the hands of the terrorist group. Each family member struggles to fight against the fierce reality of poverty but no one is able to escape from it. In contrast to the harsh reality that his entire family has been trying to overcome, Sud comes across a chance to fall in love with a girl of his dreams and spends a dreamlike day with her. However, we discover that the girl, Chula, was only a figment of his imagination, created by his traumatized young mind to avoid the unforgiving reality that he is unable to escape. Sud faces a series of events that are too overwhelming for such a young child to grasp, and suffers through severe PTSD in this film. We are forced to face a young boy grappling with a level of maturity more burdensome than even the other older characters in the film must encounter. In the film, we cannot predict the reason why Sud could commit a suicide bombing. We see the characters obsession with Western culture and products, and how difficult it is for the characters to reconcile their impoverished lifestyle with slick idealized ads and globalization they are inundated with. I also sympathize with the conflict of how it must be to lose people fighting for a cause, one that is not entirely acceptable to others, even within our character’s own family. I want to portray how our world’s pursuit for money and an idealized material lifestyle has effects that echo through society in harsh and consequential ways, in some societies more extreme by far. Through this film, I would like to depict the inhumanity of man to show victims of capitalism and the toxic effects of greed as it collapses a family submerged in poverty.

When a lonely garment factory worker, troubled by her conflicted childhood and emotional insecurities, establishes the bond with a girl with financial problems, their relationship of love and hatred is created which is redefined and destroyed along the way.

San Kyi's (19) father passed away when she was young. Her mother, Ei Ei Khin (45) left the country and worked as a maid to support the family. San is left with her parental grandmother. Failing her matriculation exam twice, San joined the garment factory as a tailor. After long years abroad, Ei came back and worked as the maid agent.
Meanwhile, San gets to know a new worker Theint Theint Oo (25) at the factory and the friendship is initiated by the latter and established. San who is an introvert and never has any friend, starts taking the friendship more and more seriously. Theint was the mistress of the supervisor at the brick factory and supported her big family. When the supervisor’s wife accused her by the Special Marriage Law, she lost her job. She managed to find the employment at the garment factory where San works. Theint wants to hide her past and tries hard to make her ends meet by any possible way. Although she feels the trust and friendship by San, she cannot reciprocate San's obsession. Their friendship gradually drifts into a darker dimension of emotional torture.
On the other hand, San’s mother Ei wants to make her daughter’s future secured by the traditional arranged marriage to an older man with financial stability. San is in hesitation. But things take a different turn for her when her grandmother passed away and Theint made the decision to work abroad and leave her.

From the start of our production, we strongly believe that we need the cinema to reveal our own local world with the truth and idiosyncrasies so that it could cross over to become universal. “Fruit Gathering” depicts the hope and dream of different generations of low-middle class Burmese women, struggling with life and reconciling the conflicts within themselves, in a country that has just gone through the social and political change to catch up with the rest of the world.
We are looking for the training on the script, story structure as well as for pitching. And for international exposure such as networking with filmmakers, film business professionals and potential collaborators, etc. Professional feedbacks from various groups such as producers, script experts and filmmakers which would open up the new perspectives on the project. It would be helpful on the preparation for future development and fundraising for the project.

Arkadia, a Philippine mythological Aswang leader, gives away her supernatural powers to settle down with a mortal lover. Her retirement is disturbed by a new priest who violates an ancient peace pact and leads a mass execution against her aswang sisters.

The aswang are shapeshifters who can turn into powerful werebeast-like creatures that can move in incredible speeds. For centuries, they have been servants and protectors of the Filipino people (then Maharlikans) in 1800s Philippines. The aswang and Spanish priests who oversaw the city of Cagayan de Misamiz made a pact to protect a hidden treasure and keep the peace. However, the Head Priest, Father Jaime, has died and his successor, Father Nicolas, aims to find this treasure for his own interests. Arkadia, the aswang leader, intends to finally settle down and live with her lover, Gau, a local shaman, and their daughter and heir to the aswang clan, Sehana. Arkadia is forced to set these plans aside in order to confront Father Nicolas who has accused the aswangs as malicious and evil. A mass execution ensues and all suspected aswang are killed. Arkadia escapes with Gau and her heir, Sehana. However, it would be only a matter of time before Father Nicolas catches up with them and kills Gau and Sehana. With nothing left for her in this world and in a desperate attempt to get even with the evil priest, Arkadia unleashes her wrath upon Father Nicolas with a dark magic curse that requires her to sacrifice herself and a life bound to her by blood; her unborn child.

With this film, I want audiences to see that people can be more monstrous than the monsters they condemn. I want them to take a second look at our history and see how our views of the Aswang (considered the Filipino version of Europe’s witches and vampires combined) and Babaylan (witch doctor and wise man) culture were unjustly demonized by the Church in order to push Christianity among the people. I want them to see the execution of the Aswangs and Babaylans not as justice served but rather as acts of martyrdom. I want to ask the audience the question, “Who is the real monster then?” In this film, I want to showcase Cagayan de Oro and its epic landscapes. The river is also a big symbolic location and central to the story. I want to show all these landscapes in their full glory while only using mostly natural lighting as much as possible. The film is very quiet as I intend to give the audiences a certain feeling of dread and mystery to tension and anticipation.

An eccentric old man, who claims he can see ghosts, starts preparing for his funeral after he has a vision that he will die in 7 days. When his granddaughter is forced to look after him, they form an unexpected bond during their journey to complete his bucket list.

Grandpa Richard claims that he can see and talk to ghosts. Since his wife’s death two years ago, he has been wandering around alone, talking to imaginary friends. One day, he has visions of his own death, which will happen in 7 days. He starts planning his funeral and gets very excited to see his wife again in the afterlife. His son Mark has always questioned Richard’s outrageous ghost stories. Mark assigns his teenage daughter Kimmy to look after Richard, since it’s her school vacation. Kimmy is unwillingly dragged along as the eccentric Richard goes on a journey to complete his bucket list: Buying a coffin, arranging his funeral, eating junk food, and taking selfies with invisible ‘friends’. They have trouble getting along. They meet a woman whose daughter committed suicide at a rooftop. The woman breaks down in tears after Richard reveals intimate details about her dead daughter. Kimmy starts to wonder if Richard is telling the truth. Richard continues to have visions about his death. He starts sleepwalking and wakes up in the middle of the street. A car knocks him down. Richard survives but his near-death experience gives him a wake-up call. He confesses to Kimmy that he actually lost his ‘third eye’ after Grandma died. He cannot locate her and doesn’t want to ‘cross over’ alone. Having now formed a bond with grandpa, Kimmy must fulfil the last item on his bucket list: Visit the opera-house where he first met Kimmy’s grandmother. Can he find closure?

Years ago, I lost someone very close to me. Death is taboo in our society. It’s something we don’t really discuss and plan for. It was a difficult time dealing with something so unexpected. I’ve since asked myself this question: How much time do I have on earth, and would anything change if we knew when we were going to die? While filming my last movie, I met a crew member who claims he can communicate with ghosts and has the ability of the ‘third eye’. All throughout his life, few people believe him. Even his mother tries to avoid the topic. Inspired by my experience, I decided to write this comedy Basketcase. It is a buddy movie between an old man who claims he can see ghosts, and a young teenager who doubts the existence of the afterlife. Basketcase is a story about ghosts, but it’s not a horror movie. It doesn’t show any ghosts and spirits. Do ghosts really exist? I don’t know the answer, but making this film is on my bucket list. Hopefully it can provide answers to other important questions about love, mortality and treasuring our loved ones.

Two migrant workers discover their emotional desire when stuck in a surreal moment in the nations border,
but they are confused with the rapid changing home in Malaysia, as well as their identity.

A serious office clerk Ann meets Ben, a new clumsy, easy going machine operator, this two young workaholic. Malaysian works in a Singaporean machinery company, traveling back and forth between the nation borders of Causeway daily. They didn't talk much to each other until the day when their company announces bankruptcy, and even worse when their journey back to Malaysia becomes endless. A tiger escaped from the Malaysian zoo causing the immigration custom closure and stuck Ben & Ann in the Causeway. Together with few other Malaysian workers, they all prohibited to enter both sides until further notice. These workers spend their night in this bridge but finally can breathe relaxingly, enjoying to sing and dance, setting up campfires within. Ben & Ann are ties up the bond and explore their own desires besides earning money. Their happiest dreamy moment ends up at dawn when thousands of workers from Malaysia are waiting to cross it. Borders are reopens again, the jobless Ben & Ann slows down their rhythm to observe their homeland in Malaysia. Old buildings, cemeteries are being torn for the new development in Johor Bahru. When they try to escape from the chaos, they fell into another trap of spending their money in the new rise commercial buildings. As their pockets are empty again, they still choose to work in Singapore, with three times bigger currency than the Malaysian ones, and crossing their most familiar Causeway.

The film explores young people pursuing their carrier so hard but often forgets about their own emotional desire, identity and value of life. Today migrant worker & nations border issues becomes globally, although the background of Causeway is regional, but we hope the story can relate to everyone. Through exploring the character’s personality & sensual emotions, we are aiming to create an art house film that is reflecting many people’s real life.

A young girl’s reality is intruded when her father who has been away for almost a decade suddenly comes home as an animated doodle figure.

Set in the early 2000s, nine-year old Judy lives in a small apartment in Manila with her mother Eden, her older brother Tonton, and her grandma Sene. Her father has left home ever since Judy can remember. Now that he comes back as an animated doodle figure, will Judy finally get to know her father in the course of his one-month stay in the country, or will his longtime absence take its toll on their family’s relationship?

In 2017, the Philippine Statistics Authority estimated that approximately 2.3 million Filipinos worked or resided abroad. Poor employment and economic conditions push Filipinos to look for jobs outside their own country. My father is one of them. I grew up not having a father by my side, both on normal days and sometimes on special ones. The phenomenon of the Filipino diaspora will be tackled in our film Judy Free, viewed from the eyes of a child left behind.

After her husband dies, an 80-year old woman considers joining him in death. But when their home is slated for demolition, she feels that she must try to save it.

Charlotte and Charlie have been married for more than 60 years yet are just as loving and deeply affectionate towards each other. But straddled with medical bills and rising costs of living, the couple goes out to work by collecting cardboard boxes. When Charlie gets into an accident, Charlotte struggles to take care of him and he eventually dies. Heartbroken at being left behind, she is determined to be reunited with him. However, the impending demolition of their homes inevitably affects the residents’ lives. Aaron, the officer assigned to the project, befriends a little girl Frankie to win the affections of her sister Faith, and gets more than he bargained for. But Charlotte, now armed with a newfound purpose, embarks on a journey to save the home that she and her husband had built a lifetime of memories in.

The romantic stories of childhood sweethearts in love for their whole lives are timeless. But what happens when one dies and the other gets left behind? Through this story, I want to explore the concept of love – its definitions, limitations, and eternality. In a city more known for its competitive economy, there are beautiful stories of love that stand the test of time. Set in Singapore with a growing aging population, the story centres around the struggles of growing old alone in a world where the past easily gets destroyed to accommodate the new, the young and the exciting. As a Singaporean who has had to struggle with stagnant salaries amidst rising costs of living, witnessing historical buildings demolished for more economically viable structures, and increasing divorce rates in the country, this is a critical story of love in a time of loss, in more ways than one. Contrasting between the past and future of Singapore are younger supporting characters who also struggle with the rising costs of living, as they question the structure they’ve grown accustomed to and start to navigate a balance between their professional and personal lives. Just as important are the stories of women across ages and backgrounds as central characters that are interesting, complex and memorable

In a corrupted southern Thai town struggling with its major environmental damage, a young Muslim woman is facing an inner struggle against the imposing wall of her cultural and religious background, as she develops a relationship with a female artist from out of town.

Shati is a young muslim woman in Songkhla, south of Thailand. She is a published poet currently struggling with a writer’s block. One day, on a once-sandy beach which is now completely replaced by artificial concrete seawalls, she meets Fon, an artist from Bangkok in town for her arts exhibition about coastal erosions – an ongoing environmental crisis in the region. The relationship between the two women progresses – in parallel to Shati’s nostalgic recalls of childhood tales she has been told by her beloved grandmother, who is currently lying in a coma. As Shati slowly realizes the gravity of her feelings for Fon, she cannot avoid facing an inner struggle between her own desires and what she has been taught to believe in her culture to be sinful. The condition of Shati’s grandmother gravely deteriorates, and she is removed from the life support machine.
During the darkest hours of Shati’s life, Fon mysteriously disappears, leaving her suspended in a limbo of longing — until they reunite in a clash of emotions that results in the liberation and acceptance of both their identities. Following the abandonment of Shati’s religious belief, a series of ominous and otherworldly events start to occur – strangely resembling her grandmother’s old folklores. A hail of meteors fall from the sky. Dark shadows permeate the town. Reality and faith seem to collide and become inseparable. Monsoon season arrives, a moment for Shati to fight her internal turbulence and choose between reconciling with her faith, or continuing on her own path.

I remember it vividly, the moment I heard the Songkhla mayor was killed.
I had been spending a lot of time in the south shooting documentaries about coastal erosion – a controversial problem in the region where a lot of tax money was spent in building endless artificial seawalls, permanently destroying the city coastline. The city mayor was the only official trying to stop the corruption, and he paid a heavy price. A lot of my friends in the south also became my inspiration for the screenplay. Many of them are Muslim and gay. While there is no official persecution, they always have to remain vigilant not to cross the invisible line. Despite Thailand’s liberal image, discrimination is shockingly real and apparent.
I piece together these various notes and life experiences from: my filmmaker and social activist background, my own experience receiving prejudice and discrimination, my personal loss of someone I was close to, and the old tales and folklores my grandparents used to tell me in my childhood – and combine them with those of my friends’ I hope, as in my character Shati’s trajectory, my film can play its part in tearing down artificial walls, and opening eyes.

Young and lowborn Trinh comes to Saigon with only one thing in her mind: to earn enough money for her abortion. Jealousy and competition from other struggling migrant workers in the big city get in her way.

Trinh (17), a village minority girl from Dak Lak, arrives in Saigon with a bag of meager belongings and a roll of cash she religiously protects. However, Trinh’s savings are not enough for the abortion. Trinh seeks work. After a few setbacks, Trinh gets a job at a humble eatery, where she works and lives with another two waitresses. Trinh keeps things to herself, does her job, and adapts to the devastating boredom of a poor migrant. Yet, her secretiveness only raises doubts in Vi, her tougher colleague. After Trinh gets robbed of the eatery’s shopping money, followed by other offences that Trinh commits, Vi turns hostile and isolates her. Anh, the other malleable waitress, tries to stay neutral to both. As Vi’s own home problem grows, the tension between Trinh and Vi also escalates at work. Finally, one day, Vi accuses Trinh of stealing her money. Refusing to explain herself, Trinh gets fired. Huy, a friend from work, finds Trinh on the street and brings her home. At Huy’s house, living with his sister and grandfather, Trinh’s life seems put together again. She’s ready to start a new chapter with her new family and promise of a new job. But the rumor of her thieving soon reaches and takes away her new home, and wrecks the last chance of Trinh’s abortion.

We cast mostly, if not all, non-actors who have similar backgrounds with characters in the film. These people will bring their own elements, stories, and understanding of the world into our development discussions with the writers & directors. We believe in participatory approach and collective intelligence during the creative process and therefore welcome their active participation. Therefore, the script will be continually modified and improved during the rehearsals and shootings with the inputs of our non-actors.