BUZZ LIST: Southeast Asia Projects In The Pipeline 2025
UPDATED DECEMBER 31: The list below highlights noteworthy Southeast Asian film projects that were completed and premiered at international film festivals in 2025. Nationality of the director is in brackets after their names, but nationality of the projects is harder to determine as most are multi-territory co-productions.
AMOEBA
Dir: Siyou Tan (Singapore)
Cast: Ranice Tay, Nicole Lee, Lim Shi-an, Genevieve Tan, Jack Kao
Prods: Fran Borgia, Denis Vaslin, Antoine Simkine, Luisa Romeo
Prod Cos: Akanga Film Asia (Singapore), Volya Films (Netherlands), Les Films D'Antoine (France), Mariari Films (Spain)
Int’l Sales: Diversion
Synopsis: 16-year-old Choo befriends 3 rebellious classmates in their elite all-girls Chinese school. Their urge to resist authoritarian teachers and school doctrines drives them to discover the erased stories of mythical gangsters that ruled the streets of colonial Singapore. They decide to form their own gang. But how do you form a gang in modern Singapore, where even chewing gum is illegal?
Status: Completed, premiered in Toronto Discovery 2025
Contact: Fran Borgia, franborgia@akangafilm.com
THIS CITY IS A BATTLEFIELD
Dir: Mouly Surya (Indonesia)
Prods: Rama Adi, Anthony Chen, Tan Si En
Prod cos: Cinesurya (Indonesia), Giraffe Pictures (Singapore), Epicmedia Productions (Philippines)
Synopsis: Adapted from Mochtar Lubis’ novel A Road With No End about a war hero and a school teacher in Jakarta after the country has claimed independence from the Dutch and Japanese.
Status: Completed, premiered as closing film at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025
ELSEWHERE AT NIGHT
Dir: Marianne Metivier (Canada, Philippines)
Cast: Camille Rutherford, Garance Marillier, Amaryllis Tremblay, Kyrie Samodio, Victor Trelles Turgeon, Émile Schneider, Sue Prado, Enchong Dee
Prods: Geneviève Gosselin-G, Wilfredo Manalang, Alexa Rivero
Prod Cos: Le Foyer Films (Canada), Fusee (Philippines), Altamar Films (France)
Int’l Sales: H264 Distribution
Synopsis: Four women’s lives are transformed by an encounter and choose to close or open a new chapter in their lives.
Status: Completed, world premiered at Festival du Nouveau Cinema de Montreal (FNC)
Contact: info@lefoyerfilms.ca
FILIPIÑANA
Dir: Rafael Manuel (Philippines)
Cast: Jorybell Agoto, Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, Teroy De Guzman, Carmen Castellanos
Prods: Jeremy Chua, Bradley Liew, Bianca Balbuena, Alex Polunin, Rafael Manuel
Prod Cos: Potocol (Singapore), Epicmedia Productions Inc (Philipines), Film4 (UK), Deivós (UK)
Int’l Sales: Magnify
Synopsis: A golf club’s newly appointed ‘tee-girl’ feels strangely drawn to Dr. Palanca, the president of the country club where she works. But as she starts to piece together a more violent picture of what lies behind the country club’s pristine facade, she comes to realize that what began as an innocent infatuation with Dr. Palanca is rooted in a more sinister, shared history.
Status: Completed, premiering at Sundance 2026 in World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Contact: Magnify, international@magpictures.com
THE FOX KING
Dir: Woo Ming Jin (Malaysia)
Cast: Dian Sastrowardoyo, Idan Aedan, Amerul Affendi, Chew Kin Wah, Hadi Putra
Prods: Woo Ming Jin, Edmund Yeo, Chua Jin Xuan, Yulia Evina Bhara
Prod Cos: Sunstrong Entertainment (Malaysia), Greenlight Pictures (Malaysia), Da Huang Pictures (Malaysia), KawanKawan Media (Indonesia)
Synopsis: In a coastal Malaysian town in the early 2000s, two inseparable fraternal twins share a telepathic bond. They are forced to fend for themselves when their father abandons them after remarrying a younger bride, while the arrival of a new teacher tests their brotherly bond.
Status: Completed, premiered in Toronto Centrepiece 2025
Contact: Yulia Evina Bhara, nfo@kawankawan.media
HALABALA
Dir: Eakasit Thairaat (Thailand)
Cast: Chantavit ‘Ter’ Dhanasevi, Nuttanicha Dungwattanawanich, Anon Saisangchan
Prods: Ekalak Klunson, Anucha Boonyawatana
Prod Cos: BrandThink Cinema (Thailand)
Int’l Sales: Mokster Films
Synopsis: Inspector Dan leads a team of infirm police officers to hunt down a brutal escaped prisoner in the Halabala forest down south, only to discover that the dark secret inside the forest is turning against them.
Status: Completed
Contact: Mokster Films, hello@moksterfilms.com
LEVITATING
Dir: Wregas Bhanuteja (Indonesia)
Cast: Angga Yunanda, Anggun C. Sasmi, Maudy Ayunda, Bryan Domani, Chicco Kurniawan, Indra Birowo, Ganindra Bimo
Prods: Wregas Bhanuteja, Tan Si En, Siera Tamihardja, Iman Usman, Amalia Fitriani Rusdi, Tan Si En
Prod Cos: Rekata Studio, Momo Film Co
Synopsis: In a small suburban area where pleasure comes from being possessed by spiritual beings, 20-year-old Bayu aspires to be a shaman and later emerges as a critical figure to solve the area’s crisis in the face of an impending eviction.
Status: Completed, premiering at Sundance 2026 in World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Contact: siera@rekata.co
MAGELLAN
Dir: Lav Diaz (Philippines)
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Angela Azevedo Ramos, Amado Arjay Babon
Prod Cos: Rosa Filmes (Portugal), Black Cap Pictures (Philippines), Andergraun Films (Spain), El Viaje Films (Spain), Lib Films (France), Volos Films (Taiwan)
Synopsis: Magellan is a navigator rebelling against the power of the King, due to his humanism and belief in justice. But once he is finally in command of the Spice Fleet, in which he will make the first circumnavigation of the Earth, what will his journey unravel about himself?
Int’l sales: Luxbox
Status: Completed, premiered in Cannes Premiere 2025
MOONGLOW
Dir: Isabel Sandoval (US, Philippines)
Cast: Arjo Atayde, Isabel Sandoval
Prods: Alemberg Ang, Isabel Sandoval, Josette C. Atayde, Maria Sophia Atayde-Marudo, Jackol Kao, Takahiro Yamashita, Bobo
Co-Prods: C.K. Hugo Chung, Carlo Velayo
Prod Cos: Daluyong Studios (Philippines), Momo Film Co (Singapore), Yaman Films (Japan), Nathan Studios (Philippines), Dasun Pictures (Taiwan)
Synopsis: In corruption-ridden 1970s Manila, a jaded female police detective, unknowingly the mastermind behind a successful heist, teams up with an obsessively truth-seeking detective partner to crack the very crime she orchestrated.
Status: Completed, premiering at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2026 in the Big Screen Competition
Contact: Alemberg Ang, alem@daluyong.ph
MORTE CUCINA
Dir: Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Thailand)
DoP: Christopher Doyle
Cast: Tadanobu Asano, Nopachai Chaiyanam, Bella Boonsang, Kris Srepoomseth
Prods: Soros Sukhum, Conor Zorn, Manuel Chiche, Alexandra Hoesdorff, Freddie Yeo Soo Teck, Darryl Yeo, Stefano Centini
Prod Cos: 185 Films (Thailand), Little River Entertainment (US), The Jokers Films (France), Deal Productions (Luxembourg), Gorylah (Singapore), Volos Films (Taiwan)
Int’l Sales: Goodfellas, CAA
Synopsis: A talented young female chef has a chance encounter with a man who sexually abused her when she was a teen. Using her talents in the kitchen, she sets her plan of revenge in motion.
Status: Completed, premiered in San Sebastian International Film Festival 2025
Contact: Eva Diederix, Goodfellas
MOTHER BHUMI
Dir: Chong Keat Aun (Malaysia)
Cast: Fan Bingbing
Prods: Wong Kew Soon, Stefano Centini
Prod Cos: Janji Pictures (Malaysia), Volos Films Italia (Italy)
Int’l Sales: Rediance
Synopsis: In the late 1990s, in a northern Malaysian village where Chinese, Malay, and Siamese communities coexist, a widowed farmer, Hong Im, lives a minimalist yet tranquil life with her children after the death of her husband. By day, she works in the paddy fields; by night, she heals the villagers from illness and misfortunes as a ritual healer. Amid intensified land disputes and consecutive strange events, the mystery surrounding her husband’s death resurfaces. Confronted with the emerging truth, Hong Im must resist inner turmoil to find solace and resolution for herself and her children.
Status: Completed, premiered in main competition of Tokyo International Film Festival 2025
Contact: contact@volosfilms.com
RENOIR
Dir: Chie Hayakawa (Japan)
Cast: Yui Suzuki, Hikari Ishida, Lily Franky
Prods: Eiko Mizuno-Gray & Jason Gray, Keisuke Konishi, Christophe Bruncher, Fran Borgia
Prod Cos: Loaded Films (Japan), Happinet Phantom Studios (Japan), Ici et La Productions (France), Akanga Film Asia (Singapore)
Int’l Sales: Goodfellas
Synopsis: A quirky and sensitive 11-year-old girl deals with her terminally ill father and stressed out working mother over one summer in Tokyo in 1987, while each of them thirsts for human connections.
Status: Completed, premiered in Cannes Competition 2025
SKIN OF YOUTH
Dir: Ash Mayfair (Vietnam)
Cast: Tran Quan, Vo Dien Gia Huy, Pham Thi Kim Ngan, Inoue Hajime
Prods: Tran Thi Bich Ngoc, Ash Mayfair, Fran Borgia, Yuji Sadai, Kayo Yoshida
Prod Cos: An Nam Productions (Vietnam), Dong A Films (Vietnam), Akanga Film Asia (Singapore), Bitters End (Japan), Mayfair Pictures
Int'l sales: Diversion
Synopsis: In 1990s Saigon, San wants to have enough money for a sex-change operation that will fulfil her dream of living in a woman’s body. San’s lover, Nam, must work as an underground dog-cage fighter to support this dream.
Status: Completed, released in Japan in March 2025 & screening in New York Asian Film Festival in July 2025
A USEFUL GHOST
Dir: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (Thailand)
Prods: Cattleya Paosrijaroen, Soros Sukhum
Co-prods: Karim Aitauna, Tan Si En
Prod Cos: 185 Films (Thailand), Haut Les Mains (France), Momo Film Co (Singapore)
Synopsis: March, mourning his wife Nat who has recently passed away, discovers her spirit has returned by possessing the vacuum cleaner. Though happy to reunite, March’s family rejects their unconventional human-ghost relationship. As they try to win over his family, Nat offers to help rid the factory of an unpleasant ghost. To prove her worth as a useful spirit, she must first get rid of the useless ones.
Status: Completed, won Grand Prize in Cannes Critics Week 2025
Contact: info@185films.co
