Vietnamese director and writer Le Bao and Singapore-based producer Lai Weiji, who is based in Toronto, who have successfully collaborated on “Taste” (2021), are coming together for the title of Busan’s Asian project market “The Sea is Calm Tonight.”
“Taste”, Le’s film debut, had a big run at festivals and won awards in Berlin, Singapore, Taipei and the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
In “The Sea Is Calm Tonight,” Vietnamese people on boats 40 years ago met current Rohingya refugees on their parallel sea voyages to find peace.
When my mother was pregnant with me, my parents lived on a barge in the middle of a big river. Whenever a strong gust of wind blew or boats crossed the river, the surface of the water would pile up in waves, like sea waves. When I was younger, my parents told me they wished my name was Lê Biển, which means sea. He told me that the idea of this other life with a different identity remains in my mind diverse.
During the post-production phase of ‘Taste’, I began to imagine mysterious encounters in the middle of the vast ocean, around which I would like to base the film’s central story. The film begins with ‘touch’, one of the five human senses (after ‘Taste’ – my first feature film). ).
Then I thought of a meeting between the souls of Vietnamese people on boats 40 years ago and Rohingya refugees fleeing the present. In both cases, generations of people have been displaced, communities driven by the desire to find peace and the chance of life with their loved ones. to find a home.
My approach to this film is a strong belief that such encounters can happen in the past, now, and in the future. It is not an illusory belief, instead, it starts from an inner belief. My role is to capture the sensations of these encounters,” adds Lu.
Lay said diverseIt was a natural progression from working together on ‘Taste’. There was real generosity with everyone involved in this movie, and I Wow Bao trust and respect each other tremendously. We’ve been talking about this since the time we were shooting ‘Taste’ “.
“The Sea is Calm Tonight” is produced by Lai and Elizabeth Wijaya’s E&W Films, who also produced Zurich Award-winning Kirsten Tan’s Sundance, Rotterdam and Pop Aye (2017) and co-produced Edwin’s Locarno Golden Leopard award-winning Vengeance Is Mine, All others are paid in cash ”(2021).
“There are many exciting projects taking place in Southeast Asia, and many filmmakers that I respect a lot. I am cautious about what I can do, and I am more comfortable participating in projects where I feel I can make a real and meaningful contribution. Lay says of the process. The Rise to His Project: “I love working on projects where there is a little bit of ambiguity in the process.
Lay, who was previously a programmer at the Singapore International Film Festival, has a full list coming up. Chiang Wei Liang’s “Mongrel,” developed at Cannes Residence, Talents Tokyo, and TorinoFilmLab ScriptLab, is in pre-production. He is also co-producing some films: “Cu Li Never Cries” by Pham Ngoc Lan, currently in production; In pre-production, “Vietnam and Sleep” by Truong Minh Quy, “Unfortunately at Dawn” by Sevarog Kongsacul and “The Gospel of the Beast” by Shiron Dyuk.
“Cangrejos” by Zurich Chan is in development and an animation project is in development.
“I would like to take this opportunity to understand and explore more possibilities of co-production and cooperation within Asia,” says Lai. APM, especially this year, felt like the perfect place and time to follow up. We were lucky to be in the selection.”
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