Lelaki Harapan Dunia

Selected for

TORINO FILM FESTIVAL, ITALY

The 32nd Torino Film Festival kicks off today and will run till 29 November offering a selection of 197 titles, including 65 first and second feature films, 45 world premieres and 23 international premieres. The opening film is a French comedy, Gemma Bovary by Anne Fontaine, starring Fabrice Luchini and Gemma Arterton.  Jean-Marc Vallee's Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, will close the festival. One of the most eagerly awaited films this year includes Woody Allen's romantic comedy, Magic in the Moonlight. Eddie Redmayne, star of The Theory of Everything is one of the festival honourees this year.

Lelaki Harapan Dunia (English title: Men Who Save The World) is in the TorinoFilmLab selection, which will present nine titles backed by the international workshop.  Linked to the Torino Film Festival, TorinoFilmLab is a year-round, international laboratory that supports emerging talents from all over the world through training, development and funding activities. Lelaki Harapan Dunia participated in the TorinoFilmLab in 2010 and was one of the recipients of the production award that year.

Lelaki Harapan Dunia follows a series of wild mishaps that befalls a quaint Malay village which lead to misunderstanding, false accusations and hilarious situations. The film has a stellar line up of Malaysian actors led by Wan Hanafi Su. It stars Harun Salim Bachik, Soffi Jikan, Jalil Hamid and Azhan Rani among others. Directed by Liew Seng Tat, it is produced by Sharon Gan and is a co-production project between Everything Films Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia) and Volya Films (The Netherlands), Flying Moon Filmproduktion (Germany) and Mandra Films (France).

Lelaki Harapan Dunia had its world premiere at the Locarno International Film Festival in August 2014. In September 2014, it had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival followed by Asian Premiere at Nara International Film Festival in Japan. Its festival run continued in October at Vancouver International Film Festival and Busan International Film Festival. This month it  has participated in two other festivals; Kolkata International Film Festival (10 - 17 November 2014) and Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (6-21 November 2014).

This highly anticipated film hits Malaysia cinemas on 27 November 2014. For latest updates regarding the film, follow us on www.facebook.com/lelakiharapandunia

Film Synopsis

In a quaint Malay village, the villagers unite to help Pak Awang to physically carry an abandoned house from the jungle into the village as a gift for his daughter who is getting married.  Coincidentally an illegal African immigrant who is on the run found the house by accident and decided to hide in it.  When the village drug addict, mistook the black shadow he saw in the house as a ghost, the villagers fear that the relocation of the house has enraged the devil. The relocation of the house comes to a halt much to the distress of Pak Awang. A series of wild mishaps befall the village lead to false accusations, hillarious situations and 'ingenious' actions to protect the village from 'danger'.

Torino Film Festival

The Torino Film Festival (also called the Turin Film Festival, TFF) is an international film festival held annually in Turin, Italy. Held every November, it is the second largest film festival in Italy, following the Venice Film Festival. It was founded in 1982 by film critic and professor Gianni Rondolino as Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani or the Festival of Young Cinema. The festival's directors have included Alberto Barbera, Stefano della Casa, Giulia d'Agnolo, Roberto Turigliatto, Nanni Moretti and Gianni Amelio.

Do check it out!