Luang Prabang Film Festival Selects 10 Projects for 2017 Talent Lab
The Luang Prabang Film Festival (LPFF) has selected 10 projects from across Southeast Asia to participate in its 2017 Talent Lab, to be led by Tribeca Film Institute® (TFI). The Lab, which will focus on grant writing and project pitching, will be held during the opening weekend of the eighth annual festival, which will take place 8-13 December 2017.
LPFF is a yearly celebration of Southeast Asian cinema held in Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage town in northern Laos that lacks a single working movie theater. With inclusivity as core to its mission, all festival events are free and open to the public.
The 10 selected projects, which are in various stages of production, come from six countries from the ASEAN region: Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand. The pool is equal parts documentary and narrative features, with five projects of both genres participating. Attendees taking part in the Talent Lab will include directors, writers, and producers behind the films.
The participating projects include:
- Autobiography (Indonesia), represented by Makbul Mubarak (director) and Yulia Evina Bharas (producer)
- Bai Bibyaon, Lady Warrior of the Lumad (Philippines), represented by Cenón Obispo Palomares (director, writer)
- Cat Island (Philippines), represented by Siege Ledesma (director, writer) and Ang Alemberg (producer)
- Doi Boy (Thailand), represented by Nontawat Numbenchapol (director, writer)
- Going Straight (Philippines), represented by Kristoffer Brugada (director)
- It Wasn’t an Accident (Myanmar), represented by Soe Moe Aung (director)
- Luzviminda (Philippines), represented by Inshallah Montero (director)
- Raising a Beast (Laos), represented by Xaisongkham Induangchanthy (director, writer) and Abigail Lazaro (producer)
- Song of the Homeland (Thailand), represented by Preecha Srisuwan (director, cinematographer)
- Wilderness (Malaysia), represented by Nadira Ilana (director, scriptwriter)
Building off the first iteration of this Talent Lab in 2016, this year’s Lab will be expanded to two days, and include a pitching workshop and pitch forum with feedback from a panel of film professionals. A jury will select one project from the forum to attend the TFI Network market at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival® (18-29 April 2018).
Hosted annually by TFI, the industry market gives filmmakers the opportunity to build connections with a wide range of industry insiders who can potentially help them advance their projects.
TFI will then mentor the winning filmmaker or filmmaking team through the completion of the project. All participants in the Talent Lab will also receive preferential consideration for any of TFI’s grants.
In addition to the opportunity to attend TFI Network, participating filmmakers will have the chance to win a financial award to produce their film. Through the Aurora Producing Award, Singapore-based media investment firm Aurora Media Holdings will contribute $10,000 to one film project.
Founded by Justin Deimen, Terence Kong, and Jeremy Sim, Aurora Media is one of Southeast Asia’s leading media and entertainment asset incubation, investment and management specialists.
“We’re looking at the Talent Lab to bring new voices and vision to the filmmaking landscape in the region,” says Deimen, Group Managing Partner at Aurora Media Holdings. “Stories that challenge perceptions, yet with strong commercial leanings and an artistic core always interest us. Our hope is that we can support and create frameworks that will develop and grow this ecosystem.”
To read more about the Luang Prabang Film Festival, visit www.lpfilmfest.org.
