Finance and distribution companies, 108 Media and Aurora Media have teamed to back a trio of new film projects from South East Asia.
Headlining the additions to their slate is “Eerie,” by cult Filipino director Mikhail Red. Others are Indian animation “Schirkoa” and thriller, “Mogwai.”
Red shot to prominence with “Neomanila” and “Birdshot,” which was rewarded with the Asian Future prize at the Tokyo festival and was The Philippines’ Oscar selection last year. The new film centers on a clairvoyant counsellor who investigates a murder in a Catholic school where the only witness is the ghost of a suicide victim.
Produced by Micah Tadena as a Singapore-Philippines co-venture, production credits go to ABS-CBN’s Star Cinema and Media East Productions. Local stars, Bea Alonzo, Charo Santos-Concio and Jake Cuenca take the lead roles and are now shooting.
“Schirkoa” tells the story of an intellectually confused bag-head who works as a senator in the dystopian city of Schirkoa where the perceived perfection and sleaze turns him into a suicidal anomaly. However, he discovers an alternate bohemian society full of such anomalies. The film is written and directed by Ishan Shukla, based on his own short film which won the best in show prize at SIGGRAPGH Asia in late 2016.
108 Media now joins Aurora on “Mogwai,” in which an expat American teenager in Hong Kong who inadvertently finds himself trapped on a rickety fishing boat with Wong, a cranky old local fisherman who’s on his way to battle a sea monster in the middle of the South China Sea. The script which won a prize at the 2016 NAFF project market in Bucheon, Korea, is written by Spain’s Alejandro Suarez Lozano and the U.K.’s Gary Young.
Aurora is a Singapore-based financier headed by Justin Deimen. Its investments include Los Angeles and Cebu-set sports drama “100 Yards,” with Sean Patrick Flanery and Rebecca Lim being sold by 108 Media; the Hollywood feature “Stano,” featuring Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara; Australian-Hollywood co-production “Storm Boy,” with Geoffrey Rush and Jai Courtney; and festival favorite “The Song of Scorpions,” starring Irrfan Khan and Golshifteh Farahani. 108 pitches itself as a content development and distribution company with offices in Toronto, Japan and Hong Kong. The two firms announced their agreement to partner on a slate of titles in December last year.
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