“Interchange” fantasy thriller to open Singapore Film FestSeptember 21, 2016 - 13:01 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - “Interchange”, a noir fantasy thriller by Malaysia’s Dain Iskandar Said, will be the opening film of the Singapore International Film Festival. The film premiered last month in Locarno and traveled to Toronto. The Singapore screening on Nov. 23 will be its premiere in Asia. The SGIFF runs until Dec. 4. “’Interchange,’ combines Said’s skill for genre story-telling with a distinct Southeast Asian flavor to produce a unique thriller that could not have originated from anywhere else,” said Yuni Hadi, executive director of SGIFF. “Choosing it as SGIFF’s opening film shows our commitment to celebrating our own voices, highlighting the capability of our creative industry, and welcoming a wider audience to the promise of Southeast Asian cinema.” The story which is part detective thriller, part shamanistic fantasy, is inspired by real events a century ago when a Norwegian explorer traveled through central Borneo and took photographs of tribal women bathing in a river. The cast includes Malaysian TV personality Shaheizy Sam, (“Songlap”) Indonesia’s Nicholas Saputra, rising star Iedil Putra and Indonesian actress Prisia Nasution (“Sang Penari”.) “Interchange” is the third feature by Said, who previously directed “Bunohan: Return to Murder,” which won eight awards at the 25th Malaysian Film Festival and was selected as Malaysia’s entry for Oscars. Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | European Parliament to discuss repression in Azerbaijan The European Parliament will discuss repression of civil society in Azerbaijan on April 24 PACE wants concessions from Azerbaijan to accept Baku back A PACE co-rapporteur said that Azerbaijani authorities must make certain concessions so that the country can return to PACE. Cyprus parliament honors Armenian genocide victims Acting House President Zacharias Koulias noted that April 24 marks the “black anniversary” of the Armenian genocide. Armenia PM, France envoy discuss regional matters Issues related to the consistent development of Armenia-France cooperation were discussed. |