‘Malam’ is the first feature length film of award-winning Singapore-based director Leonard Yip.
Shot in both Singapore and Malaysia, the film is described as a perfect fusion of a mix of cultures including Chinese, Malay, Hokkien and Tamil. Its lead actors include UK-based Global Indian actor Vishnu Krishnan and female lead Jean Goh.
‘Malam’ will have its UK premiere at the 24th edition of the UK Asian Film Festival (UKAFF), when Krishnan will also be participating in a post-screening conversation about the complexities of his character.
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The director describes the film as “new and yet familiar”, “a dark sweltering fable of the immigrant experience”. It is a noir film, a thriller that the director relates to his own life, having been close to death on two occasions. He sets the characters on a path of struggle but also one of self-discovery. In the thriller, a gang of criminals operate out of an abandoned housing block in Singapore. The arrival of a newcomer leads to a long, hot night of betrayal, violence and seduction.
UKAFF, presented by not-for-profit organisation Tongues on Fire and founded by Dr Pushpinder Chowdhry MBE, is held annually to shine a light on cinema from South Asia. The 2022 edition is scheduled between May 4 and 15 in a hybrid format across London, Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry, Warwick, Bradford, Stockton and Glasgow, and also online via BFI Player and Modern Films.
Samir Bhamra, Creative Director of the festival, said: “The festival’s theme this year, Dare to Dream, speaks to the challenges of our time. In this era of reckoning, we ask are people free to dream?
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“Our festival facilitates the conversations that we need, but are prohibited from having. Year on year, we fight to enable storytellers to dream freely. It is their intense, powerful and thought-provoking films that allow our audience to see the world through new eyes and imagine a future where dreaming is no longer a risk.”
*Info: UKAFF
