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Emperor

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A murder mystery wrapped in a fast paced Asian triad thriller. PAL version also available.

NTSC version.

For the PAL version go to: http://www.indieflix.com/Films/EmperorPALVersion

Based on the novel, EMPEROR is a murder mystery wrapped in an Asian crime thriller.

Poh Sin, Victor and Felix grew up in the shadow of a major Malaysian crime figure. Their lives get complicated as a series of events suck Poh Sin and Victor deep into the triad world while they struggle to protect Felix from a similar fate. A triad war erupts with Hong Kong gangs over lucrative international human trafficking contracts, while personal ambitions take their own toll. The Malaysian police hound Victor over an alleged string of sex crimes and matters spiral out of control.

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Production Notes

Emperor is penned by an Indian, based on ancient Chinese history, directed by a German, produced by a Malaysian and has a cast made up of every major ethnic group in South East Asia.

The big challenge therefore was language, or rather the reconciliation of multiple languages. In dealing with the multilingual smorgasbord of English, German, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay and Tamil, we paid careful attention to retain meaning that could have been lost in translation, without compromising on the authenticity of their deliveries. (This is going to take some getting used to by international audiences but English subtitles help.)

 

Director's Statement

It was December 2006 when I decided to stop waiting to be discovered. and take control over my filmmaking career. I was a foreigner in Asia with no script, no actors, no crew and no money.

But I decided to make a movie anyway.

I started with a short film on a shoe string budget, approaching the project as a practice run for bigger projects. We shot "Unsecured Loan" in 2007 with Malaysian talents and crew, and it helped me establish my own method of guerilla filmmaking.

By the end of 2007, I had a full cast and crew ready for my next venture. One of the luckiest breaks for me was the newfound collaborative partnership with Adrian Lai of The Factory Movie Studio, who came onboard during the production of "Unsecured Loan". He brings the skill-sets which completes our team such as Cinematography, Sound Design and staying calm when I lose it (on top of Financial Intelligence, which being genetically Chinese naturally bestows upon him).

'Unsecured Loan" helped us decide to make "Emperor", a gangster movie with a twist, which I affectionately pitch as a "Johnny To movie meets The Usual Suspects". It is a compelling story with strong visual language, a manageable genre of film to make as one's first.

It was around the time Braham Singh was winding up his research for the novel "Emperor" and putting it to paper. The story was perfect for us. He was excited to adapt it for the screen and we had our first full length feature film story.

 

Filmmaker Biograpy

Juliane is a graduate of the University of Art Braunschweig, Germany.

She has experience as an independent Creative Director in Germany since 2000, after which she came to Asia in May 2005 to pursue her interests in international independent cinema. Her feature film credits in Germany include producer, screenplay and art direction for the 30 minute independent short "Killerbus", released on DVD in Germany & Austria 2004.

She wrote, produced and directed the short "Unsecured Loan" in Malaysia 2007 which was screened at the KL International Film Festival, New Beijing International Movie Festival, Phoenix Film Festival and Culture Unplugged, East speaks here. In the beginning of 2008 she was selected out of thousands of applicants for the Berlinale Talent Campus and wrote and directed the short "It could happen to you" in the garage studio, a related hands on training.

Her first feature movie "Emperor", shot in Germany and Malaysia, premieres in August 2008 with the Portable Film Festival.