Danny and Oxide Pang’s supernatural crime thriller “The Mage,” starring Josie Ho, is being introduced to international buyers at the Busan International Film Festival‘s Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) as the film opens in its first Asian territories.
Southeast Asian distributor Abnormal Studios will meet with buyers at the market and connect interested parties with 852 Films, which produced the title and will take charge of subsequent sales inquiries and rights deals for territories that remain open.
Conroy Chan produced the Cantonese-language feature for 852 Films, which sees the Pang Brothers once again sharing directing duties. The pair are known internationally for genre fare such as “The Eye,” “Bangkok Dangerous” and “Re-Cycle.”
Ho plays Lan Pui Ching, a one-time spirit medium turned scavenger who gathers cast-off objects she is convinced hold the spirits of those who met sudden deaths, and who tries to guide those souls toward reincarnation. She keeps turning up at the scenes of deaths that look suspicious, which puts her on the radar of police officer Wong Ming. As the investigation uncovers a string of killings linked to a strange ritual, the two are pushed into working together, facing down otherworldly threats as well as unfinished business from Lan’s past.
Iman Taheri, Carlos Chan, German Cheung, Kathy Yuen and Sabrina Ng round out the cast. The film fuses horror and crime with Hong Kong spiritual folklore, and is aimed at fans of midnight movies and cult cinema.
“The Mage” world premiered in July at South Korea’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN). It then opened the Midnight section of the Bangkok International Film Festival and is set for its European premiere in the Sitges Collection strand at Spain’s Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival. Ho, who co-founded 852 Films, picked up the Fantastic Icon Award at BIFAN’s 30th edition, honoring her body of work in genre film.
Two Asian deals are already in place. Edko Films took Hong Kong and Macau, and CJ ENM Hong Kong has Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The film opened in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan on Oct. 8, with Singapore to follow on Oct. 15 and Thailand on Oct. 29. Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam are due in November.
Abnormal Studios, a subsidiary of Westec Media Limited, has been acquiring and releasing films since 2020 across Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Mongolia and Nepal, among other markets. Its releases include hits “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” and “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.” The company has handled more than 400 titles to date and now takes around 100 films to market each year.
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