KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 — Malaysian film Stone Turtle will be competing at the 75th Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland next month.
The film, produced by Greenlight Pictures, is competing in the Concorso Internazionale (Main Competition) and it will be the first Malay language film to be selected for Locarno’s main category.
According to Harian Metro, the film stars local actor Bront Palarae and Indonesian actress Asmara Abigail, both of whom are in the running for Best Actor and Best Actress awards at the festival.
Aside from that, its director, Woo Ming Jin who’s competing for the Golden Leopard award, is also in the running for Best Director award.
"I'm very proud that the hard effort of our entire team has resulted in a film that we're very satisfied with, and that a top-tier film festival like Locarno has selected this film for its Main Competition section.
"This is our World Premiere, so it is the beginning of our film's journey. We are looking forward to presenting our film alongside other great filmmakers in the world at the festival.
"We made this film with some of the great talents from different countries, and to preserve some of the memories of our long-forgotten local folklore," he said.
Stone Turtle is a dramatic thriller that mixes live action and animation; it is a time traveling tale of a woman living on the east coast, who gets entangled with a man in a dangerous dance of duplicity and deception.
The film, which also features performances from Amerul Affendi, Maisyarah Mazlan, Samara Kenzo and Alison Khor, was shot in Terengganu in January this year and wrapped up filming in the same month.
The production included a British animator who has worked with the prominent Studio Ghibli, who worked on the animation parts for the film.
The Locarno International Film Festival began in 1946 and is considered as one of the major international film festivals worldwide.
Throughout the eleven days festival, Stone Turtle will get its screen time at the prestigious Piazza Grande Locarno which can cater up to 8,000 viewers.
The film stars as well as its director are expected to be present at the festival which is taking place from August 3 to August 13.
