Fans and followers of Terracotta crowd not worry following the lack of film festival activities this year. The group has still been busy on other ends, so including working on its distribution of old school kung fu DVD classics in the U.K., and it just so happens they’re stepping up into the world of film production as well.
Announcing their debut on Monday at the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Form for the new film, Breathing, Terracotta joins up-and-coming new generation indie filmmaker, Gilette Leung for a story centered on Magdelena, a weight-conscious advertising brand manager who loses her job and hits rock bottom before turning to Muay Thai as a means for self-improvement. The plot thickens as things develop between her and her strict Muay Thai coach, Kin, before she leaves to Thailand on a journey of self-discovery that takes her deep into a professional fighting career leading up to her final bout with a five-time Hong Kong champion.
The plot itself in Terracotta’s announcement reads as a multi-layered character study that branches out quite nicely with romance, action and drama, which seems pretty fitting for Leung whose own career has taken various shapes in music and shortfilms up to her 2012 directorial debut, Love Me Not, in addition to gaining inspiration from her own personal life experiences. “…Once someone who nearly ever did any sport, I started practising Muay Thai boxing by chance.” she said. “The extreme, intense training was very harsh for a beginner like me. But as time passed, I started to appreciate the positive influences that sport brings. Other than the benefits of healthier body functions, sports also have positive effects on calming human emotions and strengthening the will to overcome all obstacles as well as the will to persist. It is almost like a philosophy.”
She then added, “Since then, I have gained a great respect for all athletes. This realisation stimulated me to make a movie about sports. In addition to those dynamic Muay Thai boxing training and action-packed competition scenes, I also enrich the story with common worries of love and career troubling modern day women, as well as the frustrations that all of us have to face in life one day or another. I am hoping to encourage the audience to overcome all sorts of challenges in life by connecting to the fighting spirit of sports.”
There’s no word yet on who will star but in all certainty, Leung and Terracotta’s own Richard Geddes have a great thing going for themselves with this project that audiences around the world may appreciate. Think Eat. Pray. Love. by way of Dante Lam’s Unbeatable. Or something.
BREATHING, a filmmaking collaboration brought about by Terracotta Far East Film Festival (TFEFF) has been chosen as one of twenty-eight projects for this year’s Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), Asia’s premier project market.
Producer Richard Geddes (product manager and programmer at Terracotta Distribution) joins writer / director, Gilitte Leung in Hong Kong this week to meet with prospective partners on their upcoming film project. Richard and Gilitte first discussed working together when she came to London to present her second film, LOVE ME NOT at Terracotta Far East Film Festival in 2013.
BREATHING tells the story of a Hong Kong woman’s struggle with the pressures of modern city life and her reinvention through Muay Thai Boxing.
This is a first step into feature film production for Terracotta Distribution, after hosting seven Asian film festivals in London and releasing films from Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia and Vietnam via UK cinemas and home entertainment platforms.
Joey Leung, Terracotta Distribution Founder says: “This is a natural evolution for us to move from festival and distribution into production, given our love for Asian film and our close relationships built up with Asian filmmakers. BREATHING is an exciting first project and we have had lots of enquiries and are already part funded – a very encouraging start!”
