21 Mar - If a film by the name of "Guang" sounds familiar to you, that's because it was previously a short film that won the BMW Shorties 2011 short film competition. The 14-minute story by filmmaker Quek Shio Chuan about a young man with autism had won numerous awards from film festivals in Italy, Spain and Taiwan amongst others, and has now been picked up as a full-length feature film to be distributed by mm2 Entertainment. The Reservoir Production Mandarin-language film stars the short film's original actor Kyo Chen, who will return to play Wen Guang, a young man with autism who has a passion for musical pitches produced by glassware. He struggles with everyday situations like maintaining a job and social interactions, and has a tense relationship with his younger brother as both of them try to make ends meet. Also starring in the film is Ernest Chong and Emily Chan, the former who has starred in the 2012 film "Paper Moon" and the latter who has starred in the 2014 film "Kaki Kitai".
Just like the short film, the feature film is loosely inspired by Quek's real life as he also has an older brother with autism whom is able to identify musical tones with ease. Unveiled with a short teaser trailer at the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market, "Guang" is currently in the post-production phase and a representative from mm2 Entertainment has confirmed to Cinema Online that the targeted release date for the film in Malaysia is sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. Due to its artistic cinematography and socially conscious storyline, the film would also be targeted for film festivals abroad.