Taiwanese actors King Jieh-wen and Hsueh Shih-ling and Indonesia’s Angga Yunanda are set to star in “Malice,” a multinational Asian thriller that will shoot next year.
The film’s producers, actors and government backers presented the fully-assembled package to press and industry on Monday at the Busan International Film Festival.
The film, pitched as “a road movie at sea,” is a dark tale of three men who put out to sea in search of a particular, large swordfish that had been rumored to have died out.
The three – a deep sea fishing veteran, his son and a mysterious youngster – each have different and clashing motivations for embark on what appears to be a dangerous, possibly hopeless, mission. While the father is a proud mariner, the son has no interest in the sea and would prefer to sell the boat. The youngster is reputed to be an excellent harpoon fisherman, but may also carry a curse according to which someone will die on every boat he sails on.
Worse, the natural environment throws up challenges, and, with two against one at every turn, the mission carries additional risks.
The film is to be directed by Taiwan’s Lim Lungyin, who says his purpose in addition to entertainment is to ask whether human society, conventions and civilization put us at odds with nature.
“Malice” is a $2 million co-production that involves production companies from four territories. Production, in Chinese and Bahasa Indonesia, is scheduled to start in April 2024.
Production is by Ivy Shen Yu-Hua (Taiwan’s Tydal Productions), Malaysia’s Kuek Shee Heng (Aview Images), Czech producer Michal Sikora (Lonely Production) and Indonesia’s Yulia Evina Bhara of KawanKawan Media (“Autobiography,” “Tiger Stripes”).
The project has been in development for more than two years through the Euro-Asian labs and project market system. Stops along the way included TAICCA x Ties That Bind, Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), Locarno’s Match Me! and Berlinale Talents Tokyo. Its funding comprises roughly $1 million of soft money, including a $400,000 from the Taiwan government.
No sales agent has yet been attached as the producers are looking for both representation and a company that brings a slice of gap finance, Shen told PvNew.
King is a seasoned Taiwanese actor with credits in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s “Goodbye South, Goodbye” and “Good Men, Good Women.” He was also nominated for best actor at the Taipei Film Awards for director Lim Lungyin’s first feature “Ohong Village” in 2019.
Hseuh is a singer and actor who won the best actor prize and the Golden Bell Awards for his 2021 role in Gold Leaf and this weekend won at the Asian Contents Awards in Busan for his supporting role in Taiwan Crime Stories.
Yunanda is a singer-actor and model with acting credits that include “Stealing Raden Saleh” and “12 Cerita Glen.”
