Chinese sales agent Parallax Films has acquired international sales rights to Malaysian director Ming Jing Woo’s feature “Stone Turtle,” which world premieres in the Locarno Film Festival’s international competition.
Time-traveling movie “Stone Turtle” is produced by Edmund Yeo and Ming Jin Woo at Malaysia’s Greenlight Pictures and co-produced by Cheng Thim Kian and Yulia Evina Bhara at KawanKawan Media in Indonesia.
The story is about Zahara, a stateless refugee living on a remote island in Malaysia where she earns a living selling turtle eggs.
Samad, who claims to be a university researcher visits the island and wants to hire Zahara to show him around. As the day progresses, Samad and Zahara become involved in a dangerous dance between duplicity as well as deceit.
“’Stone Turtle’ is a metaphorical journey of a woman seeking justice, both personal and social, amidst systemic oppression. It’s also a preservation of my country’s long-forgotten folklores,”Ming Jin Woo is the director-producer.
A leading voice of the Malaysian New Wave, Ming Jin Woo’s previous films have garnered strong international interest. He is the first Malaysian director to represent Malaysia at the Olympics. ‘Big Three’ European festivals.
His feature debut, “Monday Morning Glory”Berlin was chosen for (2005). The second, “Elephant and the Sea”(2007). Won the Special Jury Prize in the Torino Film Festival. Woo’s “Woman on Fire Looks for Water ”(2009) was the second Malaysian movie to be selected for Venice Orizzonti Section. “Tiger Factory”(2010) was the third Malaysian movie officially selected to Cannes.
Parallax, Midnight Blur Films’ international film sales and distribution company, specializes in worldwide distribution of high-quality films and public relations at international film festivals. It has representatives in Paris, New York and Beijing.
“Definitely looking forward to our collaboration here, having been an admirer of Parallax Films’ catalogue for the past few years, like last year’s ‘New Old Play’ by Qiu JiongJiong. So we are, of course, happy to have ‘Stone Turtle’ as part of their ever exciting lineup,” producer Edmund Yeo toldVariety.