“Repossession“, co-director/writers Goh Ming Siu and Scott C. Hillyard's subtle, topical story of one man's inexorable psychological collapse at the hands of market forces, will screen at six film festivals during the close of this Northern Hemisphere summer into fall, commencing with its Southern California premiere at the prestigious Dances With Films festival, unspooling August 28 and 31 online in Los Angeles, and concluding (for now) its Fall festival run October 23 at the Chicago Southland International Film Festival.
While the film sits astride psychotronic genres, its real horror, according to Singapore's Sinema News, “…ironically – mainly comes in the form of the societal realities of cut-throat Singapore.” On this COVID-19 tainted planet, “Repossession”‘s characters' surprisingly swift downward journeys could mirror that of many others' worldwide.
In “Repossession,” 50-year-old Jim (Gerald Chew, “Apprentice“, Un Certain Regard Cannes Film Festival 2016) loses his high-flying job in status-conscious Singapore, but his ego and pride compel him to hide this from his wife (Amy J Cheng, “Crazy Rich Asians“) and daughter (Rachel Wan, “No Catalogue”). His only confidante is his best friend (Sivakumar Palakrishnan, “A Yellow Bird”, Semaine de Critiques, Cannes Film Festival 2016). Desperately clinging to the material symbols of his past success, Jim awakens a hibernating malevolent force, with sinister roots in long-buried secrets. As his dream life crumbles around him, worlds collide, the lines between then and now become increasingly blurred, and Jim descends into a waking nightmare. “Repossession” is an understated, quietly bold, genre-bending film, with an ever-evolving, haunting soundscape from Golden Horse Award-winning composer Teo Wei Yong (2018 Locarno Film Festival Golden Leopard Winner “A Land Imagined“).
“As the film moves towards international distribution, these upcoming virtual and in-person screenings will give audiences worldwide a chance to preview our movie,” said director Goh Ming Siu. “Coincidentally or otherwise,” adds co-director Scott C. Hillyard, “after its initial festival run, we've seen that the universality of Jim's story is stronger than ever in today's world, with implications from Singapore to the States and beyond.”
For example, “Repossession”‘s Dances With Films screening is available worldwide, with a live Q&A following the August 28 screening. The film played several prestigious festivals in 2019, making its US premiere at Cinequest in San Jose, CA, USA in March 2019 and the Five Flavours Asian Film Festival in Warsaw in November 2019.
A survey of REPOSSESSION's upcoming Festival appearances include:
23rd Dances With Films 2020 (Los Angeles, California, USA) – In Competition (27-31 Aug)
1st First Coast Film Festival 2020 (Jacksonville, Florida, USA) – In Competition (4-6 Sep);
11th Horrible Imaginings Film Festival 2020 (Santa Ana, California, USA) – Official Selection (6 Sep)
11th Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival 2020 (Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia) – Official Selection (9-13
Sep)
XXI Semana Internacional de Cine Fantástico de la Costa del Sol (Costa del Sol, Spain) – Official
Competition (11 Sep)
3rd Chicago Southland International Film Festival 2020 (University Park, Illinois, USA) – Feature Film
Showcase (23 Oct)
Monkey & Boar Presents: REPOSSESSION
Genre: Drama/Horror; Running Time: 96 minutes; Rating: NR
Languages: English, Mandarin, Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien
Writers/Directors: Goh Ming Siu and Scott C. Hillyard
Director of Photography: Chow Woon Seong
Principal Cast: Gerald Chew, Amy J Cheng, Sivakumar Palakrishnan, Rachel Wan, and Matthew Loo
