LOGLINE
11th-century Temasek (early Singapore). Akshat, a demigod born of a yam, grapples with the loss of his place on the famine-crippled island. The arrival of a shipwrecked beast has aroused a frenzied lust for its meat amongst the islanders, who cease eating Akshat. Forsaken, he is pulled into a nightmarish descent into madness and jealousy.
The Want (Keinginan)
COUNTRY/REGION : Singapore
GENRE : Art-Horror, Fantasy, Period
LANGUAGE(S) : Malay, Mandarin
TOTAL BUDGET : USD 607,656.50
INTENDED COUNTRY(S) OF CO-PRODUCTION : France, Indonesia, Netherlands, The Philippines, Singapore
PARTICIPATION IN OTHER LABS/ EVENTS :
2023 Talents Tokyo
Mark Chua, Lam Li Shuen
Director & Scriptwriter
Mark CHUA and LAM Li Shuen are a Singaporean filmmaker and artist duo. Their films often employ absurdist imagery, thinking on place, histories and the peculiarity of human desire. Their films have screened at international film festivals including the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2023, New Directors/New Films 2023 and BFI London Film Festival 2021. With their short film A Man Trembles (2021), they were awarded Best Southeast Asian Director at the Singapore International Film Festival.
Lam is a participant of Talents Tokyo 2023 with the duo’s feature in development, The Want.
Tan Bee Thiam, Looi Wan Ping
Producer
Tan Bee Thiam and Looi Wan Ping (Lei Yuan Bin) are founding members of 13 Little Pictures, a Singapore-based film collective that creates films with unique directorial visions.
Tan has produced films including Demons (Berlinale 2019) and box office hit Revenge of the Pontianak (2019). His films are award-winning and have been distributed commercially in theatres and on Netflix, Disney+, MUBI. An alumnus of Berlinale Talents and Rotterdam Lab, his projects have been selected at the co-production markets of Berlin, Rotterdam, Busan and Hong Kong. Looi produced Baby Queen (Visions du Réel 2023) and co-produced Tiong Bahru Social Club (2020).