Hong Kong’s Golden Scene has picked up international sales on “Valley of the Shadow of Death,” starring local legend Anthony Wong. Pic, co-directed by emerging Hong Kong talents Jeffrey Lam Sen and Antonio Tam, bowed at the Tokyo International Film Festival last October.
“Valley of the Shadow of Death” is a drama about no less than the ancient struggle between sin and punishment. Wong stars as church pastor who is forced to give sanctuary to the man who caused his daughter’s death.
In an interview with Variety, Lam and Tam said the script was written in an era of profound anger and unease.
“As the tension between hatred and forgiveness continuously tugged at us, we pondered how humanity should move forward. ‘Valley of the Shadow of Death’ appears on the surface to be a typical revenge story, but it takes the opposite path, telling a tale of forgiveness.”
The movie has a strong religious theme — Lam’s father is a pastor, and Tam has been attending church since the age of three.
“Our upbringing has been inseparable from religion, so we are particularly interested in the theme of conflict between faith and human nature. When crafting the script, we were drawn to the moral dilemmas within it.”
The helmers believe “Valley of the Shadow of Death” is a relatively rare item in the Hong Kong canon.
“I hope that filmmakers from abroad will discover it at FilMart and feel intrigued, thinking, ‘”’So, Hong Kong has movies like this too,’” said Lam.
The movie’s producer Jacqueline Liu described the current filmmaking environment as difficult to predict.
“We are in an era of high demand for content; audiences have plenty of choices. As filmmakers, what we can do is to do our best in filmmaking, create works that are able to connect with audiences, and then find a way to release them,” she said.
Technology means the language barrier is no longer what it was and projects are moving in multiple directions.
“In terms of the local market, Hong Kong’s young and new filmmakers tend to explore rather niche topics or subject matters with a strong identity. At the same time, the co-production market is developing rapidly in parallel. Overall, my impression is that the new generation of filmmakers is more adaptable and prepared for the international market,” she said.
