'Ilo Ilo' director Anthony Chen launches new film project, new company
Award-winning Singaporean director Anthony Chen on Friday unveiled a new film company and a new movie project that will see him collaborate with other directors from Asia.
Best known his debut feature film "Ilo Ilo", which won the Cannes' Camera d'Or in 2013, Chen unveiled on Friday "Distance", a three-part omnibus film to be directed by Singaporean Tan Shijie, China's Xin Yukun and Thailand's Sivaroj Kongsakul.
The film will explore the themes of love, friendship and family, and will also star up-and-coming Taiwanese actor Chen Bolin, who will take on three distinctly different roles.
As he has ongoing collaborative film projects in the U.S. and Europe, the London-based Chen said he would take the role of executive producer and creative director for "Distance", although he approved the film's title, themes and overarching concept.
"I've told them I don't want anything too sentimental," he said at a global press conference at the ArtScience Museum on Friday morning. "The scripts (the three directors) have come up with are very complex and I do think these are stories that audiences around the region will be keen to watch."
Chen said the directors of "Distance" spent six days camping out at Chen's London apartment working intensively on the script for the feature, which will start filming in China, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore from January next year.
His new film company, Giraffe Pictures, founded in partnership with "Ilo Ilo" executive producer Huang Wenhong, will be behind "Distance" and two other feature-length films in the next two years. "A Yellow Bird" and "Popeye" will be directed by local filmmakers K. Rajagopal and Kirsten Tan, respectively.
"(Giraffe Pictures is) a home for filmmakers where they are completely protected to have their own voices," said Chen of the new company, adding that he hopes to be able to see repeats of his own global success with "Ilo Ilo", which not only won at Cannes but also got accolades in many film festivals. "I'm glad to be in a position to help support, nurture and develop these voices."
