A first trailer has been unveiled for debutant filmmaker Jow Zhi Wei’s “Tomorrow is a Long Time,” which will have its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival’s Generation 14plus strand.
The film follows sixteen-year-old Meng for whom life is not the most fulfilling, with him lounging at home with his grieving father on a daily basis, being excluded from his family’s past and forced into bullying other kids at school. Everything changes when he is thrown into a life-altering adventure that propels him into an exciting unfamiliar landscape.
The cast includes Taiwanese filmmaker and actor and Golden Horse award winner Leon Dai, emerging Singaporean actor Edward Tan making his screen debut, Jay Victor, Julius Foo and Lekheraj Sekhar.
Producers include Fran Borgia (Locarno winner “A Land Imagined”), Jeremy Chua (Venice winner “Autobiography”), Stefano Centini (“In My Mother’s Skin”), Xavier Rocher (Locarno winner “The Sacred Spirit”) and Ico Costa (Coimbra Caminhos do Cinema Portugues winner “Alva”)
The film is a Singapore-Taiwan-France-Portugal coproduction between Akanga Film Asia, Volos Films, La Fabrica Nocturna Cinéma, Potocol and Oublaum Filmes in association with Tiger Tiger Pictures, with the participation of the Singapore Film Commission, Taiwan Creative Content Agency, L’aide Aux Cinemas Du Monde, Centre National Du Cinema Et De L’image Animée, Institut Francais, Kaohsiung Film Fund and Department Of Cultural Affairs Taoyuan.
The project was developed at Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film Lab and presented at Berlinale Talents Project Market, Talents Tokyo and Golden Horse Film Project Promotion.
“That there is an indelible, almost metaphysical but concrete link between parent and child is a belief deeply ingrained in the Asian family. The actions of one determines the fate of the other. The next life of a parent is their child. This became an intimate starting point to put against the backdrop of a contemporary, economically driven society, where progress and survival are the essential components of modern life. In today cities, we often see startling images of beautiful lights and skyscrapers but what has often been forgotten are the people working to sustain these ‘images,’” Jow said in his director’s statement.
“Chua and Meng, the father and son of my film exist in a social context where in the mass of steel and concrete spaces, they are underpinned by very fragile lives. Chua, the father, is struggling on the periphery, while Meng, a callow youth, is searching for his identity in a displaced society. This is a personal portrait of the massive dichotomy of economic progress and the people who maintain it, a working class lost in the wilderness of survival in the modern world,” Jow added.
Pluto Film is handling international sales and will represent the film at Berlin.
(摘自 Leon Dai in Berlinale Pick ‘Tomorrow is a Long Time’: Watch Trailer – Variety)