Ananda Everingham, Bront Palarae and Jennis Oprasert have been revealed as the cast of Thai horror The Cursed Land, on which WME Independent is handling international sales at Cannes.
Written and directed by Panu Aree and Kong Rithdee as their directorial fiction feature debut, the film follows a widower and his daughter who travel to Thailand’s deep south to seek help from a Muslim witch doctor after unleashing a djinn in a rundown house. A first look at Ananda in the film can be seen above.
Ananda is best known for his role in Thai breakout hit Shutter and more recently the Khun Pan film franchise, while Malaysian actor Bront has credits including Stone Turtle and Indonesian film franchise Satan Slave. Jennis is a former member of Thai girl group BNK48 and is also a rising actress known for Where We Belong, directed by Kongdej Jaturanrasamee.
Producer is Nonzee Nimibutr and the feature is backed by Thailand’s Neramitnung Film.
Shooting wrapped last week on the film, which was mostly shot in Narathiwat province and the adjacent rainforest, Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary. Bordering Malaysia in the southernmost of Thailand, it is an area with distinct cultural heritage, but largely unexplored by Thai cinema as it is inaccurately perceived as a zone of unrest, according to the two directors.
Panu and Kong have co-directed documentaries about Muslim identity such as The Convert and Gaddafi. Panu is also general manager of Neramitnung Film, while Kong is deputy director of the Thai Film Archive.
The project previously won awards from various project markets, including from the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), Far East Film Festival’s Focus Asia in Udine, and Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival’s NAFF project market in South Korea.
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