Lelaki Harapan Dunia will compete at the 67th edition of the festival next month
LELAKI Harapan Dunia (Men Who Save The World), written and directed by Liew Seng Tat, will compete in the Concorso Cineasti del Presente (Filmmakers Of The Present) section vying for the Nescens Prize at the 67th Festival del Film Locarno in Italy (Aug 6-16).
The Concorso Cineasti del Presente is dedicated to emerging directors from all over the world and devoted to first and second features. Selection is very competitive, and only 15 feature films from around the world are selected each year.
Founded in 1946, the film festival is one of the oldest film festivals in the world, alongside Venice and Cannes. It has established itself at the forefront of world cinema and launch-pad for young directors.
Many acclaimed filmmakers including Stanley Kubrick, Paul Verhoeven, Mike Leigh, Chen Kaige, Edward Yang, Jim Jarmusch, Abbas Kiarostami, Gus Van Sant, Kim Ki-Duk and many others were first spotted at Locarno.
WORLDWIDE FUNDING SUPPORT
Liew’s much anticipated second feature film’s former working title was In What City Does It Live?. The film has received worldwide funding support including from the Ministry Of Communication And Multimedia Malaysia, Torino Film Lab (Italy), Hubert Bals Fund (The Netherlands), Netherlands Film Fund, World Cinema Fund (Germany), Visions Sud Est (Switzerland), Fondation Groupama Gan pour le Cinema — Cinefondation (France), Prince Claus (The Netherlands), Sundance Institute | Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, Sundance Institute Feature Film Programme and the Doris Duke Foundation (US).
He developed Lelaki Harapan Dunia at the Cannes Director’s Residence — Cinefondation and participated at the 2011 Sundance Screenwriters Lab. His debut film, Flower In The Pocket (2007), swept multiple awards and prizes at numerous international film festivals including Pusan, Rotterdam, Fribourg, Deauville and Pesaro.
CO-PRODUCTION PROJECT
Lelaki Harapan Dunia follows a series of wild mishaps that befalls a Malay village, leading to misunderstanding, false accusations and hilarious situations. The film has a stellar cast of actors led by Wan Hanafi Su and includes Harun Salim Bachik, Soffi Jikan, Jalil Hamid and Azhan Rani.
It is produced by Sharon Gan and is a co-production project between Everything Films (Malaysia) and Volya Films (The Netherlands), Flying Moon Filmproduktion (Germany) and Mandra Films (France).
Lelaki Harapan Dunia will hit Malaysian cinemas on Nov 27. For latest updates regarding the film, follow www.facebook.com/lelakiharapandunia