SINGAPORE – After recently winning the Fedeora Award for Best Film at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, and now announced as a nominee for six awards, including the Best Feature Film at the 53rd Golden Horse Awards, The Road to Mandalay (2016) (再 瓦城) by Myanmar-born, Taiwanese director Midi Z (趙德胤) will premiere in Singapore as part of the 27th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF).The film will make its Singapore premiere as one of the Festival’s Special Presentation Films on 1 December 2016 at the Marina Bay Sands.
The Road to Mandalay is a powerful and tragic love story that follows two illegal immigrants from Myanmar on a journey to Thailand seeking a better future. Starring Taiwanese actor-singer and Best New Actor at the 48th Golden Horse Awards Kai Ko (柯震東) and Best Actress at the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia in Tokyo Wu Ke-Xi (吴可熙), the film examines the exploitative conditions and experience of millions of Burmese migrants who crossed their country’s border into Thailand looking for work and fleeing the civil war in recent years.
Following its world premiere at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, The Road to Mandalay continued its festival circuit run at the 41st Toronto International Film Festival. The recipient of ARTE International Prize at the 2015 L’Atelier of Cinefondation of Festival de Cannes will also be screened at the 21st Busan International Film Festival this month, and as the closing film of the upcoming Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival on 24 November 2016, before its premiere in Singapore.
“This year we are proud to host Midi Z, one of the rising stars of Asian cinema. The Road to Mandalay, his latest award-winning film, is a poignant drama that provides an insight into the immigrant experience facing many Myanmar people today. With strong performances by leads Kai Ko and Wu Ke-xi, this co-production between Taiwan, Myanmar, France and Germany, and filmed entirely in Thailand, attests to the international and regional co-operation that is driving the new generation of Asian cinema,” said Yuni Hadi, Executive Director of SGIFF.
Born in Myanmar and based in Taiwan, writer-director Midi Z has developed a unique style for his intimate and authentic portraits of people struggling with displacement and poverty on the margins of the Myanmar society. A rising talent in international cinema, he was selected to participate in the Taipei Golden Horse Film Academy under the tutelage of auteur Hou Hsiao-Hsien in 2009. His third feature Ice Poison (2014) – Taiwan’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 87th Academy Awards – also won the Best Film award at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and earned him the Best Director Award at the Taipei Film Festival. He will also receive the Outstanding Taiwanese Filmmaker of the Year at the 53rd Golden Horse Awards.
On the premiere of his film in Singapore, Midi Z shared, “I am very happy to premiere The Road to Mandalay at the Singapore International Film Festival. This movie was filmed in Thailand and tells the love story between two immigrants from Myanmar – a universal theme yet culturally specific experience that many Southeast Asians can relate to.
The 27th edition of SGIFF, which runs from 23 November to 4 December 2016, will take place across various venues, including Marina Bay Sands, which returns this year as Presenting Sponsor. A fervent supporter of the arts, Marina Bay Sands is lending support to the Festival for the third consecutive year. As part of Sands for Singapore, the integrated resort’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme, Marina Bay Sands aims to provide a distinguished platform for Asian filmmakers through its world-class venues. The other screening venues are National Museum of Singapore Gallery Theatre, Shaw Theatres Lido, National Gallery Singapore Auditorium, The Arts House Screening Room, Filmgarde Bugis+ and Objectifs Chapel Gallery. Ticket sales for SGIFF will begin on 28 October 2016.
The SGIFF is an event of the Singapore Media Festival, hosted by the Info-communications Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA). SGIFF’s Official Sponsors include Presenting Sponsor, Marina Bay Sands and Official Festival Time Partner, IWC Schaffhausen.
