Singapore-Malaysia co-production La Luna premieres at Tokyo International Film Festival
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SINGAPORE – The Singapore-Malaysia co-production La Luna will have its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival on Oct 24.
It will be screened in the Asian Future section, which is a competitive segment that showcases films from rising Asian film-makers who have made not more than three feature films.
The festival runs from Oct 23 till Nov 1.
La Luna is a Malay-language comedy written and directed by Singaporean M. Raihan Halim, 40. It opens in Singapore cinemas on Nov 16.
It features a cast of mostly Malaysian actors – like Shaheizy Sam and Sharifah Amani, who starred in the romantic comedy Sepet (2005) from the late Malaysian film-maker Yasmin Ahmad – and was filmed in Kuala Kangsar, a town 25km from Ipoh.
La Luna tells the story of a woman (Sharifah) who moves to the fictional sleepy village of Bras Basah, where she opens the eponymous lingerie shop. Despite support from the villagers, she runs into opposition from a conservative village leader played by veteran Malaysian actor Wan Hanafi Su (from Singapore director Boo Junfeng’s 2016 drama film Apprentice).
The film is produced by Singapore-based labels Clover Films and Papahan Films and Malaysian company Act 2 Pictures, with support from various bodies, including the Singapore Film Commission and Malaysia’s Ministry of Communications and Digital (KKD).
La Luna is Raihan’s second feature film. He began his career making shows for television and is still active in series and television movie work, for which he has won several awards.
His first feature, the sports comedy Banting, was released in 2014 and travelled to the Hawaii International Film Festival.
In a press statement, the writer-director said it was a “true honour” to have La Luna premiere at the Tokyo festival.
“I am excited to begin sharing our little film with everyone, starting in my favourite city in the world,” he says.
In the statement, Mr Lim Teck, managing director of production company Clover Films, adds that he is “so happy for Raihan, the amazing cast and the entire team that La Luna is competing at Tokyo”.
