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Emperor
96 minutes Action & Adventure / Foreign / Female Filmmakers / IndieFlix Official Selections
A murder mystery wrapped in a fast paced Asian triad thriller. PAL version also available.
Intended Audience: Mature
NTSC version.
For the PAL version go to: http://www.indieflix.com/Films/EmperorPALVersion
Based on the novel, EMPEROR is a murder mystery wrapped in an Asian crime thriller.
Poh Sin, Victor and Felix grew up in the shadow of a major Malaysian crime figure. Their lives get complicated as a series of events suck Poh Sin and Victor deep into the triad world while they struggle to protect Felix from a similar fate. A triad war erupts with Hong Kong gangs over lucrative international human trafficking contracts, while personal ambitions take their own toll. The Malaysian police hound Victor over an alleged string of sex crimes and matters spiral out of control.
It was December 2006 when I decided to stop waiting to be discovered. and take control over my filmmaking career. I was a foreigner in Asia with no script, no actors, no crew and no money.
But I decided to make a movie anyway.
I started with a short film on a shoe string budget, approaching the project as a practice run for bigger projects. We shot "Unsecured Loan" in 2007 with Malaysian talents and crew, and it helped me establish my own method of guerilla filmmaking.
By the end of 2007, I had a full cast and crew ready for my next venture. One of the luckiest breaks for me was the newfound collaborative partnership with Adrian Lai of The Factory Movie Studio, who came onboard during the production of "Unsecured Loan". He brings the skill-sets which completes our team such as Cinematography, Sound Design and staying calm when I lose it (on top of Financial Intelligence, which being genetically Chinese naturally bestows upon him).
'Unsecured Loan" helped us decide to make "Emperor", a gangster movie with a twist, which I affectionately pitch as a "Johnny To movie meets The Usual Suspects". It is a compelling story with strong visual language, a manageable genre of film to make as one's first.
It was around the time Braham Singh was winding up his research for the novel "Emperor" and putting it to paper. The story was perfect for us. He was excited to adapt it for the screen and we had our first full length feature film story.
- Directed by: Juliane Block
- Written by: Braham Singh
- Produced by: Juliane Block & Adrian Lai
- Run Time: 96 minutes
- Release Date: 2008
-
Country:
Malaysia
- Intended Audience: mature
- Website Emperor
Written by Braham Singh
Produced by Juliane Block & Adrian Lai
Cast
Sam Yap:
Adrian Lai:
Alfred Loh:
Wong Meng Kitt:
Cheryl Lee:
Sean Yap:
Nina Sharil Khan:
Vicky Balasundran:
JD Menon:
Chilee Kung:
Aleko Oneg:
Hoong Bee Lim:
Yuri Wong:
Aliff Zulkifli:
Emperor is penned by an Indian, based on ancient Chinese history, directed by a German, produced by a Malaysian and has a cast made up of every major ethnic group in South East Asia.
The big challenge therefore was language, or rather the reconciliation of multiple languages. In dealing with the multilingual smorgasbord of English, German, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay and Tamil, we paid careful attention to retain meaning that could have been lost in translation, without compromising on the authenticity of their deliveries. (This is going to take some getting used to by international audiences but English subtitles help.)