Locarno Winner Nelson Yeo’s ‘The Drought’ Boarded by KawanKawan Media

Indonesia’s KawanKawan Media has boarded Singaporean filmmaker Nelson Yeo‘s sophomore feature “The Drought,” it was announced at the Cannes Film Festival.

Yeo’s debut feature “Dreaming & Dying” debuted at last year’s Locarno Film Festival where it won the Golden Leopard – Filmmakers of the Present and Best First Feature awards.

A dystopian horror-dark comedy set in a time of an uninhabitable drought, “The Drought” follows Kai as he struggles with his retracting genitals and his wife, Ling, who demeans him for this impotency. Their widowed neighbor, Daming, grieves over the death of the last of his three sons, while his mother devises a secret plan for another grandson.

The project participated at the Philippines QCinema project market last year, where it won a prize.

Lead producers are Singapore’s Momo Film Co.’s Tan Si En and Sophia Sim who produced “Dreaming & Dying,” and Yeo’s award-winning shorts “Dreaming,” “Plastic Sonata” and “Mary, Mary So Contrary.” KawanKawan Media previously co-produced “Dreaming & Dying” alongside Momo. The companies also collaborated on Duong Dieu Linh’s “Don’t Cry Butterfly.”

Led by Yulia Evina Bhara, KawanKawan’s credits include Makbul Murabak’s Venice winner “Autobiography,” Amanda Nell Eu’s Cannes prizewinner “Tiger Stripes” and Woo Ming Jin’s Locarno winner “Stone Turtle.” The company is also a producer on Woo’s latest film “The Fox King,” which has just wrapped principal photography.

Tan is also a producer on Anthony Chen’s “Wet Season,” which premiered at Toronto, and co-produced Sorayos Prapapan’s “Arnold Is a Model Student” that was at Locarno. Earlier this year, the company unveiled a six-film slate at the Berlinale.