Archive - 12th Five Flavours Film Festival
Folklore: Toyol
Awards and festivals
Film description
Strange plague have struck the small fishing town in Malaysia. Wave upon wave of dead fish wash up onto the shores and if the solution is not found quickly the local economy will collapse. Leading politician is trying to cut away from his father's inglorious past and solve the problem as fast as possible. His advisors suggest that the plague was brought through the intervention of black magic, so they convince the politician to hire a shaman in secret. Not only I does not help, but also the truth reaches the news, politician faces the scandal and parliament disciplinary procedures. One day he runs into a mysterious woman, who seems familiar. She offers to solve all his problems, politician eagerly agrees. However there is always a price to be paid.
In "Folklore: Toyol" Ho Yuhang is not only presenting a story based in old Southeast Asian legends and horror tales, but also comments on contemporary Malaysian society. It also goes into direct dialogue with Dain Said's "Dukun": main theme revolves around the connection between politics and black magic and "Folklore: Toyol" includes cameo appearances from director Dain Said himself and Umie Aida, who played the shaman in "Dukun". Ho Yuhang’s episode in HBO Asia series stands out as very contemporary in relation to recent changes in Malaysian politics but also goes down into the history of the horror genre, visually and narratively referring to such classics as “Tales from the Crypt”.
More about Folklore series
Maja Korbecka
Ho Yuhang
Born and raised in Petaling Jaya, just outside the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. He took a degree in engineering at Iowa State University in the US, but upon returning to Malaysia he started working in TV production. His debut fiction feature, "Min" (2003) won the Special Jury Prize at the Festival des 3 Continents in Nantes, France. His subsequent features and shorts have been invited to Rotterdam IFF where he received NETPAC Award and the Tiger Award for Best Short for "Sanctuary" and "As I Lay Dying" respectively. His next full-lenght feature, "Rain Dogs", became the first Malaysian film to enter the Venice Film Festival in 2006. Recently he completed "Mrs K" (11th Five Flavours New Asian Cinema competition), a Malaysia-Hong Kong co-production starring the cult action cinema actress, Kara Hui, who he often collaborates with as Hong Kong cinema had a huge influence on him as a director. Ho Yuhang and producer Lorna Tee run Paperheart production company, supporting the growth of mainstream genre as well as arthouse cinema in Malaysia.
2000 Semangat insan - Masters of Tradition (dok.)
2003 Min
2004 Sanctuary
2006 Bezpańskie psy / Tai yang yu / Rain Dogs
2009 Sham moh / At the End of Daybreak
2009 15Malaysia (fragment "Potong Saga")
2016 Pani K / Mrs K
2018 Folklor: Toyol / Folklore: Toyol (serial HBO Asia)
