FilMart Hong Kong: Horror, Animation and Creatures Abound as 108 Media Boards Three International Titles

FilMart Hong Kong – 108 Media, the Singapore-based global content development and distribution company with offices in Toronto, Japan and Hong Kong, announces fresh titles to its multi-title co-production partnership with Aurora Media Holdings, one of Southeast Asia’s leading media & entertainment asset incubation, investment, and management entities. 

 

The firms will co-produce the highly anticipated Southeast Asian horror-mystery feature film Eerie, a Philippines-Singapore co-production with ABS-CBN’s Star Cinema and Media East Productions. The film will be produced by Micah Tadena and helmed by Mikhail Red (Birdshot, Neomanila), the director behind Birdshot, winner of the top prize of the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival's Asian Future Section and the Philippines' official entry to the 2018 Academy Awards. Eerie is currently in production with some of the biggest names in the Filipino film industry attached such as Bea Alonzo, Charo Santos-Concio and Jake Cuenca. 

 

Set in the 1990s, the film centres on a clairvoyant counsellor who investigates a murder in a Catholic school where the only witness is the ghost of a suicide victim.

 

Also included in the latest slate is the animation film Schirkoa, written and directed by visionary Indian filmmaker Ishan Shukla. The feature-length project is currently in pre-production with a budget of USD1.5m, and is based on the lauded short film of the same name that bagged the Best of Show award at SIGGRAPH Asia 2016 and Best Animated Short Film at the Sydney World Film Festival 2016.  

 

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’, only to realize there is an alternate bohemian society full of such anomalies. 

 

The final film to be included in the slate will be the adrenaline-fueled multicultural and intergenerational creature-feature Mogwai, based on the critically acclaimed and award-winning short film “The Fisherman”. The USD6m project is currently in financing with the script penned by Spain’s Alejandro Suarez Lozano & UK’s Gary Young (Harry Brown, The Tournament), and will be directed by Alejandro Suarez Lozano. 

 

Mogwai dives into the world of Dan Brooks, 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. 

 

“Together with 108’s keen market sense, we’re looking at producing a roster of the best Pan-Asian films and talents for both regional and international audiences. These exceptional projects and filmmakers fit the bill. Aurora’s looking forward to bringing them to market and extend creative bridges to buyers, co-producers and platforms in all corners of the content sphere,” said Justin Deimen, Managing Partner of Aurora Media Holdings.

 

Aurora Media’s recent feature film productions and investments include the Los Angeles/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; the Australian-Hollywood co-pro Storm Boy, with Geoffrey Rush and Jai Courtney; the Swiss-French-Singaporean The Song of Scorpions starring Irrfan Khan and French star Golshifteh Farahani as well as legendary Indian actress Waheeda Rehman. They are currently in pre-production for The Long Walk with 108 Media, Screen Division, and Lao Art Media, the Laos-Singapore-Switzerland co-production directed by Mattie Do, one of Asia’s most dynamic female directors as well as for the Indonesia-Singapore-French feature Abracadabra by writer-director Faozan Rizal with Indonesian megastar Reza Rahadian in the lead.

 

The partnership first announced at the Asian TV Forum / ScreenSingapore in November 2017 saw both companies joining together to acquire and develop into original content and third-party IPs. Together they are financing, producing, distributing and licensing 10 to 15 projects annually in both feature motion pictures and television series across various genres for the global market. 

 

Abhi Rastogi, CEO of 108 Media said - “We are very excited to bring these new projects to our already robust slate with Asian media powerhouse Aurora Media. Strong partnerships like these will help us transform the media landscape and give a voice to the visionary creators involved.“

 

108 Media’s partnership with Aurora Media continues to expand on their core goal of bridging the East/West content gap. Using their well-established distribution partnerships around the world, 108 Media will provide sales and licensing opportunities for all finalised content. 108 Media will also, in conjunction with Aurora Media, raise financing for both development and production of all projects.