PETALING JAYA, Nov 8 — South Korean media entertainment company CJ Entertainment has picked up the worldwide sales rights for The Garden of Evening Mists (TGOEM), a joint production between Malaysian film producer Astro Shaw, HBO Asia and the National Film Development Corporation of Malaysia (Finas).

Sales for the film helmed by award-winning Taiwanese director Tom Lin, with screenplay by Scottish BAFTA-winning screenwriter Richard Smith,  have commenced at the American Film Market, one of the world’s largest film markets dedicated to the sale, finance and acquisition of films.

TGOEM boasts a star-studded international cast including Malaysian actress Sinje Lee (The Eye), Japanese actor Hiroshi Abe (After the Storm), Taiwanese actress Sylvia Chang (Love Education), British actor David Oakes (Cold Skin), Julian Sands (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Scottish actor John Hannah (The Mummy).

TGOEM is based on the 2012 critically-acclaimed novel of the same name by Malaysian writer Tan Twan Eng.

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Set over three different time periods — the Japanese Occupation, the early 50s and also the 1980s — the story highlights the different takes of the characters towards colonialism.

The book won the Man Asian Literary Prize and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2013, and was also shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize and was one of the eight finalists of the 2014 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

The film wrapped shooting in August and is in post-production now. It is set to be released in 2019.

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