A first: Taiwan, Malaysia to adapt Chinese-Malaysian novel into film

Kuala Lumpur, Jan. 29 (CNA) Taiwan will collaborate with Malaysian filmmakers this year to produce the Southeast Asian country's first film adapted from one of its Chinese-language works of literature.

At a press conference to promote the project in Kuala Lumpur on Dec. 14 last year, the Malaysian producers announced the adaptation of Malaysian-Chinese novel "The Age of Goodbyes" (告別的年代) into a feature film.

The Age of Goodbyes was written by Malaysian writer Li Zi Shu (黎紫書), a frequent winner of Malaysia's most prestigious Chinese writing award, the Hua Zong Literature Award (花蹤文學獎).

Li's writing has also been featured and recognized in Taiwan, with accolades from literature awards organized by the nation's United Daily News and China Times.

Speaking to CNA at the end of last year, the film's producer Lai Chaing Ming (賴昌銘) said the Taiwan-Malaysian coproduction will feature a cast made up of actors from Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong to reflect the multilingual backgrounds of most Malaysians.

Of the adaptation, project consultant Tang Ah Chai (陳亞才) and Malaysia Chinese Writers' Association chairperson Fan Pik Wah (潘碧華) both said it will be the first time since Malaysia gained independence in 1957 that it has made a movie adapted from a work by a Chinese writer in the country.

Post-independence, Malaysia has adapted its own Chinese works of literature into television shows but never into a movie.

The plot of the movie itself will be set in the late 1960s in Ipoh, the capital city of the Malaysian state of Perak, and will center around two storylines involving a young man and a lady.

"The movie will intertwine and blend the two stories together," Lai said. "[The film] will have love and also suspense in its storytelling."

The film's director Edmund Yeo (楊毅恒), whose mother is a native of Ipoh, said aside from a love story, the movie is also a coming-of-age tale that also has elements of a detective mystery.