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Amanda Nell Eu’s Tiger Stripes, which premiered during Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival this week, was hailed as a strong female directorial debut and the highest of any Malaysian director in any Cannes section. first movie.
The story focuses on a small group of 11 or 12 year old girls. When one of the friends hit puberty, she noticed unexpected changes in her body. Her relationships with friends and family also began to change. Eu’s finished films straddle the metaphorical drama and body horror genres.
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“Tiger Stripes” is also a triumph of the now highly developed global network of project marketplaces, talent development programs, script and production studios (often referred to as “labs”) and funding programs. These are designed to encourage diversity and foster filmmaking talent in countries where filmmaking talent is scarce or where commercial films crowd out more experimental art films.
In addition to cash and training, many project marketplaces offer a speed-dating-like environment where dozens of one-on-one meetings with potential co-producers, financiers, distributors and festival selectors can be arranged in as little as two or three days .
Twenty years ago, when the project market was dominated by Rotterdam’s CineMart, Hong Kong’s HAF, Busan’s PPP and a handful of others, and grants were even more scarce, project companies considered themselves lucky to get an offer or two. Now, hundreds of film festivals have sprouted the function of “industrial support”, and it is common for a popular film to stop three or four stops.
With at least seven project development credits, “Tiger Stripes” is officially an eight-territory co-production involving Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Indonesia and Qatar.
type Know that “Tiger Stripe” has participated in: Open Doors program of the Locarno Festival; the Asian Fantastic Film Network at the BiFan Fantastic Film Festival in Korea (it won another genre film festival, Sitges); the Talents Tokyo event (it won the Talents Tokyo Award in 2018 and NMSP Project Development Fund in 2019; Winner of the Hubert Bals Foundation Bright Future Award at the Rotterdam Festival; the Less is More campaign backed by France’s Le Group Ouest, designed by Italy’s Ties that Bind and the (now defunct) Thailand’s SEAFIC Lab.
“When we started, my producer and I were new to the industry. It was also a big step from short to feature, production and co-production. So, when I first pitched it to her, We plan to hold workshops and learn as much as possible,” Eu told type.
“We didn’t even know what the end goal was. It was basically learning every step and applying it to everything so we could gain more knowledge. I needed to learn how to write good scripts. Hence, Script Lab. And then I’m trying to figure out how to do co-productions. So, Producer Labs. And stipends.
“Everything came step-by-step. Like, let’s do Script Lab, and then we’ll do Project Marketplace. And eventually we’re there with a finished film. Of course, through that experience, you end up building a network And understand film funding.”
Eu previously attended film school in the UK, where she spent much of her teenage years, but says academic study is no substitute for practical experience. “What I learned was [at school] Is the basis of the camera and actors. But all this big world stuff comes from actually being there to experience it, go to festivals and learn more,” Eu said.
Eu said the film’s Cannes debut was significant. “Actually, they mean a lot to me. Not specifically the first female director, but it’s been a long time since Malaysia was represented at Cannes. The last time was probably 13 years ago. So, to be able to represent Malaysia to go there It’s very exciting.”
That in itself is an important step for Eu, who says she is unsure of her bicultural, biracial Malay-British identity. It was only when she returned to Malaysia and started making short films as an independent that she found her voice and identified what she wanted to say.
“A big inspiration for the film was folk tales and fairy tales. We have a lot of these scary folk tales in Southeast Asia. Another inspiration was the ugly duckling.” [concept]. the ugly duckling that is growing, everyone is projecting, [then] Realized that she was a beautiful swan. That makes it instinctive to set it in this remote, remote countryside. “
“Fairy tales often talk about patriarchy. So, the way I talk about adults in the film is very much from a kid’s point of view. The grown-ups in school are almost caricatures. That’s how I felt when I was a kid. You don’t think teachers are People. You see them as these authority figures.”
Research and script development was a painstaking process and a flashback to an old time, Eu said. “During the research period, we would sit incognito and listen to school assemblies. Sometimes, I didn’t even have to write [fresh] dialogue. Literally word for word. “
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