Fortissimo goes it 'Alone'
New Crowned Hope commission finds berth
Pic, starring Lee Kang-sheng and Chen Shiang-chyi, is a Malaysian-set tragicomedy that riffs on the theme of globalization.
"Sleep Alone" is one of seven features commissioned and partially financed by New Crowned Hope, the cultural extravaganza organized by opera maestro Peter Sellars and the city of Vienna to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.
Pic was produced by NCH, Bruno Pesery and Vincent Wang with Soudaine Compagnie and Homegreen Films.
"Sleep Alone," is the latest New Crowned Hope pic to find a home. French sales house Scalpel Films recently snagged rights to "Hamaca Paraguaya," the first pic to come out of Paraguay since Guillermo Vera's 1978 drama "Cerro Cora." It preems in Cannes' Un Certain Regard section.
Sellars believes opera was the cinema of its time, and he brought in former Rotterdam Fest topper Simon Field to commission pics from filmmakers in countries in a state of political and cultural transition.
Others in the NCH series include "The Last Symphony of the Kurds" by Bahman Ghobadi (Kurdish Iran); "Requiem From Java" by Garin Nugroho (Indonesia); "Intimacy" by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand); and "Daratt" by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad). After their bows, the films will play in repertory at the Austrian Film Museum.
Fortissimo previously repped Tsai's 2001 pic "What Time Is It There?"
