THE latest feature film by Malaysian director Chong Keat Aun, Pavane for an Infant, is set to premiere at the upcoming 37th Tokyo International Film Festival, reported China Press.
The movie, a story of a 24-hour baby hatch in Kuala Lumpur, will be shown between Oct 28 and Nov 6 at the festival and stands a chance to win the Asian Future Best Film Award category.
It took Chong two years to complete his script due to the challenges which arose from researching the sensitive topic.
Chong said he had to go through many obstacles in gathering source material as Malaysia is a conservative society, with many unwilling to speak on the topic.
Some people even claimed that baby hatches encouraged sexual depravity, which made Chong more determined to highlight the plight of those working at such institutions.
The film stars 20-year-old Hong Kong actress Natalie Hsu who plays a young woman facing discrimination in society after getting pregnant.
> Chinese actress Jia Ling silenced detractors who claimed she had gained weight by wowing audiences at a fashion show in Milan, Italy, reported Sin Chew Daily.
The Prada brand ambassador looked stunning in a suit and a white skirt, and looked as slim as when she lost 50kg starring in the sports drama Yolo.
Jia was seen sitting next to actor Li Xian, also an ambassador for Prada, with many Internet users commenting they looked like siblings.
It was earlier reported that Jia, who weighed around 80kg at the start of filming Yolo, put on an additional 20kg to play protagonist Du Leying. Over the one year of filming, she kept up a strict training regimen and stuck to a diet to lose close to 50kg to play someone forever changed by her passion for boxing.
The film grossed US$479.4mil (RM2.25bil) worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of 2024 and highest-grossing Chinese film in 2024.
> A man from China was found wearing shackles at the border town between Thailand and Myanmar on Aug 29, and was later discovered to have escaped from traffickers in Myanmar, reported China Press.According to the 29-year-old man, he took a job offer to work in Myanmar.
However, when he refused to perform some tasks, he was punished by having both his feet shackled to each other.
Before he could be punished further, the man managed to run away.
● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.
