The responses in the cinema were overwhelming! Tiger Stripes, the winner of NAFF Sitges PitchBox Award in 2019 world premiered last Wednesday, May 17, at Cannes Film Critic's Week. The story about the struggles of 12-year-old girl Zaffan with puberty is the film debut of Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu. Asked how she experienced the screening she said she was: “happy, overwhelmed… crying a lot basically.”
Her previous work, the short film
It's Easier to Raise Cattle was invited to the Venice Biennale’s competition section in 2017, where it received the jury’s special mention. It also was invited to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, to the San Diego Asian Film Festival, the Singapore International Film Festival, the Prague Short Film Festival and many more.
When Tiger Stripes was still in early stage Amanda Nell Eu was invited to BIFAN’s NAFF Project Market. About her experience there she said: “The project started out with just Fei and me, and we were both aware that we needed to learn more about development and international co-productions. … NAFF was a great introduction to the genre market for us. … It was great to be able to connect with so many genre focused people in the industry and to see the many possibilities that we had within that market”. Finally
Tiger Stripes was realized as a co-production between Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Indonesia and Qatar.
¡ã Winning the PitchBox Award at NAFF Project Market in 2019 (from left to right) Mike HOSTENCH, former Co-director, Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, producer Fei LING FOO, and director Amanda NELL EU
BIFAN’s program director Ellen Y.D. KIM praised Tiger Stripes as an “amazing film debut”. She added: “The key is the connection between a girl’s process of coming of age and the motif of transformation. And especially the young main actresses’ acting is really excellent.” Asked how she managed to evoke such great acting talent Amanda replied: “…not just the lead three girls, but also for the girls that played classmates, bullies and other characters in the film I wanted an environment where they all felt confident to talk openly and also to express themselves freely without any fears or insecurities.” And she added: “I’m so proud of all of them, and it’s amazing to see them now grown into such strong and intelligent women.”
Cannes Film Festival Critic's week is organized by the French Union of Film Critics. It invites first or second time directors. The candidates will compete for the Grand Prize, the French Touch Prize of the Jury among many other awards. The Korean movie Sleep by director Jason Yu was also invited. This year's Cannes Film Festival will close coming Saturday, May 27th.
The 16th B.I.G. NAFF Project Market will be held from June 30 to July 3, 2023. The 27th BIFAN will run from June 29 to July 9. The festival will center around Bucheon City Hall with the two of the main theaters located inside, and lots of the festival’s facilities located outside the building. Screenings will also take place at the CGV Sopung, the Korean Manhwa Museum and the Megabox Bucheon Starfield City. Online screenings will be available on Wavve. The audience can get immersed into BIFAN’s XR section Beyond Reality at Bucheon Art Bunker B39. Carnival in July, three-day public event for citizens of Bucheon from June 30 to July 2, will take place at and around the Lawn Square behind Bucheon City Hall and on Sohyang-ro street.