Interchange
Credits: Danny Lim © Apparat 2016

The 27th Singapore International Film Festival has announced its opening film, Interchange, which will screen on 23 November 2016. It will be the Asian premiere of the noir fantasy thriller by Dain Iskandar Said, one of Malaysia’s most celebrated filmmakers.

Interchange marries Dain Iskandar Said’s love of noir films and his interest in traditional folklores. Being an Indonesian-Malaysian collaboration, the cast features well-known actors from both countries such as Shaheizy Sam from Malaysia and Nicholas Saputra from Indonesia.

The film is inspired by a true incident in central Borneo a century ago, when Norwegian explorer Carl Lumholtz took a photo of a group of tribal women bathing in a river to cleanse themselves of the evil effects of being photographed. Interchange will delve into folklores of an ancient tribe from Borneo and a series of macabre ritual murders that occurred in a contemporary Malaysia setting.

“It is exciting to hear and be near the waters closer to home, where after all the story of Interchange took root; shaped by the voices and stories that we all share in the Nusantara region, from Borneo to Singapore,” said Dain Iskandar Said.

“SGIFF has always championed Southeast Asian cinema. Interchange, this year’s opening film, combines Dain Iskandar Said’s skill for genre story-telling with a distinct Southeast Asian flavour to produce a unique thriller that could not have originated from anywhere else,” explained Yuni Hadi, the Executive Director of SGIFF.

 
The 27th Singapore International Film Festival will run from 23 November to 4 December 2016.
Ticket sales will start on 28 October 2016.