Indonesia’s KawanKawan Media has wrapped principal photography on feature “Tale of the Land,” it was revealed at Hong Kong rights market FilMart.
KawanKawan is the production company behind Makbul Mubarak’s Venice winner “Autobiography” and Amanda Nell Eu’s Cannes-winning “Tiger Stripes.”
“Tale of the Land” participated at FeatureLab Torino Film Lab in 2017, followed by the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the project market that operates concurrently with FilMart, in 2018, the Busan Asian Project Market in 2021 and QCinema Project Market in 2023.
The film is produced by Yulia Evina Bhara and Amerta Kusuma for KawanKawan. It is co-produced by the Philippines’ Cinematografica (“Whether the Weather Is Fine,” “Aswang”), with Armi Rae Cacanindin serving as co-producer.
“Tale of the Land” unfolds in the island of Borneo, drawing inspiration from the lives of the indigenous people amidst changes in their own land. It revolves around May, an indigenous Dayak girl, who is haunted by the trauma of her parents’ death in a land conflict, rendering her unable to set foot on the land. She lives in a floating house with her grandfather Tuha.
The coming-of-age film with fantasy elements is written and directed by Loeloe Hendra, marking his directorial debut. He previously made short “Onomastika,” which was a Berlinale 2015 selection. For Hendra, May’s character serves as an allegory reflecting the challenges faced by the indigenous people around the world where their homeland is changing due to the pressures of the modern world, the filmmaker said.
The cast is led by Shenina Cinnamon and Arswendy Bening Swara. Cinnamon featured in Yosep Anggi Noen’s 2023 Busan and Red Seas title “24 Hours With Gaspar,” slated for a global release on Netflix. Swara, awarded best actor at the 2022 Marrakech International Film Festival for “Autobiography,” reunites with Cinnamon after both played leads in Garin Nugroho’s “Badrun & Laundry” (2023).
Indonesian stars Angga Yunanda and Yusuf Mahardika are in the film’s featured cast. Yunanda is set to lead the upcoming Taiwanese-Indonesian co-production “Malice,” by Lim Lungyin, co-produced by Tydal Production and KawanKawan. Mahardika is set to star in “Borderless Fog,” an upcoming film by Edwin.
Filipino filmmaker Carlo Francisco Manatad (Locarno winner “Whether the Weather Is Fine”), who edited “Autobiography” and “Tiger Stripes,” is performing that function on “Tale of the Land” as well. Filipino composer Teresa Barrozo (Brillante Mendoza’s “Kinatay”) has also boarded the project. “Tale of the Land” is in now in post-production.
— Variety (EXCLUSIVE)