The list below highlights noteworthy Southeast Asian film projects that were completed and premiered at international film festivals in 2023. Nationality of the director is in brackets after their names, but nationality of the projects is harder to determine as most are multi-territory co-productions.
ANDRAGOGY
Dir: Wregas Bhanuteja (Indonesia)
Prod: Adi Ekatama, Ridla An-Nuur S, Willawati, Tan Si En
Prod cos: Rekata Studio, Kaninga Pictures, Masih Belajar Project, KG Media (Indonesia), Momo Film Co (Singapore), Hwallywood Media and Arts (Singapore)
Synopsis: A middle-aged schoolteacher gets trolled online after her angry video goes viral.
Status: Completed, premiered in Toronto International Film Festival 2023
DREAMING & DYING
Dir: Nelson Yeo (Singapore)
Prods: Tan Si En, Sophia Sim
Prod cos: Momo Film Co (Singapore), KawanKawan Media (Indonesia)
Synopsis: At what is supposed to be a secondary school reunion, only three used-to-be good friends turn up at the chalet gathering.
Status: Completed, premiered in Locarno Concorso Cineasti del presente 2023 [won Best Film & Swatch First Feature Award]
ESSENTIAL TRUTHS OF THE LAKE
Dir: Lav Diaz (Philippines)
Prods: Bianca Balbuena, Bradley Liew, Jean-Christophe Simon, Joaquim Sapinho, Marta Alves
Prod cos: Epicmedia Productions (Philippines), Films Boutique (France), Rosa Filmes (Portugal)
Synopsis: Prequel to Lav Diaz’s When The Waves Are Gone. Police lieutenant Hermes Papauran, one of the best investigators of the Philippines, continues his struggle to find resolution to a 15-year-old case around a volcanic ash laden landscape and an impenetrable lake.
Status: Completed, premiered in Locarno International Competition 2023
IN MY MOTHER’S SKIN
Dir: Kenneth Dagatan (Philippines)
Prods: Bradley Liew, Bianca Balbuena, Huang Junxiang, Stefano Centini
Prod cos: Epicmedia Productions (Philippines), Zhaowei Films (Singapore), Volos Films (Taiwan)
Synopsis: Stranded in the Philippines during World War II, a young girl’s duty to protect her dying mother is complicated by her misplaced trust in a beguiling, flesh-eating fairy.
Status: Completed, premiered in Sundance Midnight Section 2023
INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL
Dir: Pham Thien An (Vietnam)
Prods: Tran Van Thi, Jeremy Chua, Le Quynh Anh, Marie Dubas
Prod cos: JK Film (Vietnam), Potocol (Singapore), Deuxième Ligne Films (France)
Synopsis: Thien, a careless man, reluctantly starts his search for his long lost brother into the mystical landscape of Vietnam, after delivering his sister-in-law’s body back to his hometown, only to discover something else in the end that questions his faith.
Status: Completed, premiered in Cannes Directors Fortnight 2023 [won Cannes Camera d’Or]
LAST SHADOW AT FIRST LIGHT
Dir: Nicole Midori Woodford (Singapore)
Prods: Jeremy Chua, Shozo Ichiyama, Bostjan Virc, Tomohiko Seki, Jermyn Wong
Prod cos: Potocol (Singapore), Fourier Films (Japan), Studio Virc (Slovenia), cogitoworks (Japan), Prism Pictures (Japan)
Synopsis: Upon the discovery of old recordings of her long dead mother, Ami confronts her father who is in denial about what happened. Determined to follow the path in her visions, she leaves Singapore for Japan to connect with the only person who knows her mother’s last known whereabouts – a cynical taxi-driving uncle who has moved to Tokyo.
Status: Completed, premiered in San Sebastian New Directors 2023
MORRISON
Dir: Phuttiphong Aroonpheng (Thailand)
Prods: Mai Meksawan, Chatchai Chaiyon
Prod cos: Diversion (Thailand), CG Cinema (France)
Synopsis: A Thai-American former pop star returns to his hometown in northeastern Thailand, a place still haunted by ghosts of American GIs from the Vietnam War.
Status: Completed, premiered in Busan 2023
OASIS OF NOW
Dir: Chia Chee Sum (Malaysia)
Prods: Lee Yve Vonn, Fran Borgia, Xavier Rocher
Prod cos: Afternoon Pictures (Malaysia), Akanga Film Asia (Singapore), La Fabrica Nocturna (France), theCommonist (Malaysia)
Synopsis: In Kuala Lumpur, a Vietnamese door-to-door apartment housekeeper makes her ends meet while secretly meeting her daughter who lives with locals, until a Malay stranger mistakes her as his family during an immigration raid.
Status: Completed, premiered in Busan New Currents 2023
SNOW IN MIDSUMMER
Dir: Chong Keat Aun (Malaysia)
Prods: Wong Kew Soon, Chow Wai Thong, Gene Yao, Jennifer Jao
Prod cos: Janji Pictures (Malaysia), August Pictures (Singapore), Swallow Wings Films (Taiwan), Southern Islet Pictures
Synopsis: In 1969, post-election tensions gripped Kuala Lumpur while the Cantonese street opera Snow In June was being staged. Amid a riot, Ah Eng and her mother sought refuge with the opera troupe, losing contact with her brother and father.
Status: Completed, premiered in Venice Days 2023
SOLIDS BY THE SEASHORE
Dir: Patiparn Boontarig (Thailand)
Prods: Mai Meksawan, Chatchai Chaiyon
Prod cos: Diversion (Thailand), Error Brothers (Thailand)
Synopsis: Two young women meet on a once-sandy beach. Shati is a local Muslim woman from a conservative family. Fon is an activist-turned-visual artist, in town for the opening of her new art exhibition. The deeper they get to know each other, the bigger Shati’s internal conflict with her traditional roots becomes.
Status: Completed, premiered in Busan New Currents 2023
TIGER STRIPES [Pictured above]
Dir: Amanda Nell Eu (Malaysia)
Prods: Foo Fei Ling, Patrick Mao Huang, Fran Borgia, Juliette Lepoutre, Jonas Weydemann, Ellen Havenith, Yulia Evina Bhara
Prod cos: Ghost Grrrl Pictures (Malaysia), Flash Forward Entertainment (Taiwan), Akanga Film Asia (Singapore), Sill Moving (France), Weydemann Bros (Germany), PRPL (Netherlands), KawanKawan Media (Indonesia)
Synopsis: An 11-year-old girl reaches puberty when her body begins to morph at an alarming and horrifying rate. In fear of being labeled as a demon, she struggles to maintain being normal at school by trying to conceal her grotesque self… that is until she decides that she no longer wants to hide from the world.
Status: Completed, premiered in Cannes Critics Week 2023 [won Grand Prize]
TOMORROW IS A LONG TIME
Dir: Jow Zhi Wei (Singapore)
Prods: Fran Borgia, Jeremy Chua, Stefano Centini, Xavier Rocher, Ico Costa
Prod cos: Akanga Film Asia, Potocol (Singapore), Volos Films (Taiwan), La Fabrica Nocturna (France), Oublaum Filmes (Portugal)
Synopsis: The relationship between a middle-aged widower and his sensitive teenage son slowly becomes unbearable in the densely-packed spaces of contemporary Singapore.
Status: Completed, premiered in Berlin film festival’s Generation 14plus 2023