Following its World Premiere at the 2024 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Film Movement Will Release the Genre Thriller This July to VOD, Leading Digital Outlets and the Home Entertainment Marketplace on its Omnibus Entertainment Label
Merging horror with Malaysian culture, tradition and politics, INDERA is set against the backdrop of a real-life standoff between the government’s police forces and villagers deep in rural Malaysia, where spirits and demons are as dangerous as guns and knives. The latest film from Woo Ming Jin (Stone Turtle, Tiger Factory), one of the leading voices of the Malaysian New Wave, INDERA has been acquired for North America by New York-based distributor Film Movement; it’s slated for release this July to VOD, all leading digital platforms and the home entertainment marketplace on its Omnibus Entertainment label. The announcement was made by Michael Rosenberg, President, Film Movement and Cao Liuying, co-founder of Parallax International Sales.
With 1985’s Memali Incident in the background, involving a fatal raid by police against villagers accused of fundamentalism, INDERA centers on Joe (Shaheizy Sam), a handyman doing his best to raise his young daughter Sofia (Samara Kenzo) in the wake of his wife’s tragic death. Penniless and evicted, he takes on the position of caretaker for an older Javanese woman (Ruminah Sidek), raising three young orphans in a remote rural village. The locals give the woman a wide berth for mysterious reasons, while Joe and his daughter experience strange visions. “Fans of supernatural cinema should find plenty to be impressed with here, with top-notch performances from the main cast members…it puts an intriguing local flavor on matters, and Woo directs with a fine sense of building mystery and delivering chills,” says Joseph Perry of Horror Fuel, while Niikhiil Akhiil of Film Fest Report writes, “Indera is rich in traditions and culture, offering a chance to discover horror from a political standpoint that makes it unique in its own way,” and Panos Kotzathanasis of Asian Movie Pulse says, “the finale is truly impressive, with the brutality of the events and most of all, the shocking ending, concluding the movie in outstanding fashion.”
In addition to the acquisition of INDERA, Film Movement has also recently acquired THE WAILING, director Pedro Martin-Calero’s unsettling horror film in the vein of It Follows, Sean Devlin’s ASOG, executive produced by Adam McKay, Alan Cumming and Joel Kim Booster, Sook-Yin Lee’s PAYING FOR IT, based on alternative-cartoonist Chester Brown’s best-selling graphic novel, HAPPY HOLIDAYS from Oscar nominee Scandar Copti, Leonardo Van Dijl’s tennis drama JULIE KEEPS QUIET, which debuted in Critic’s Week at the Cannes Film Festival and was Belgium’s Official Oscar Entry for Best International Film, THE SPARROW IN THE CHIMNEY, the latest provocative family drama from the Zürcher brothers, which premiered in Locarno, and MY SUNSHINE, Japanese director Hiroshi Okuyama’s touching Cannes Un Certain Regard drama. Current releases include AN UNFINISHED FILM, directed by Lou Ye, which recently won the top prizes at the Golden Horse Film Festival, the restored 4K version of Jim McKay’s 1996 landmark film GIRLS TOWN from McKay and IndieCollect, and the acclaimed Cuban/Italian co-production OCEANS ARE THE REAL CONTINENTS, directed by Tommaso Santambrogio.
