Six unbiased movie tasks from throughout Southeast Asia will share $160,000 in manufacturing and post-production help from the Purin Movie Fund, the Bangkok-based nonprofit introduced for its spring 2026 session.
4 tasks acquired manufacturing grants. On the fiction aspect, “Expensive Son An,” directed by Kim Quy Bui and produced by Le Diem Ha and Mai Nguyen Zeitmet for Vietnam’s AT Sound Studio, focuses on a nine-year-old boy who drifts between religion and fantasy as his mom, a single mom with most cancers, prepares for his absence; and “Little Phnom Penh,” directed by Chheangkea Ieng and produced by Daniel Mattes for Anti-Archive, follows a Cambodian lady’s want to seek out house and belonging – from post-Khmer Rouge Phnom Penh to early 2000s California – as her old flame resurfaces over time. Grants for fiction manufacturing are valued at $30,000 every.
The 2 beneficiaries of the documentary manufacturing are “Sisters in Warfare,” directed by Thida Lay and produced by Thida Lay and Maya Newell for Burmese-Australian firm Lavender Manufacturing, which follows two sisters who put aside their roles as dutiful daughters to affix the combat towards the nation’s navy junta; and “As soon as, Right here” (working title), directed by Pabelle Manikan and produced by Manikan and Kristoffer Brugada for the Philippines’ Papaya Movie Manufacturing, which follows a fisherman and his spouse who cling to one another and their recollections after international ships take over the waters that when supported them. Documentary manufacturing grants quantity to $15,000 every.
Two documentary tasks acquired post-production help. “Araro Ariraro,” directed by Gogularaajan Rajendran and produced by Kumanavannan Rajendran and Elizabeth Wijaya for Malaysian firm Om Sakthi Movies, makes use of Tamil people songs from Malay colonial plantations as a window via which a household remembers and reimagines their faceless, unvoiced ancestors; and “The Folks Exterior,” directed and produced by Jewel Maranan for Cinema is Incomplete within the Philippines, follows a filmmaker into the Pacific coast mountain ranges of rural Philippines seeking the forces fueling a deep-rooted battle that has persevered for many years. The documentary post-production grants are price $35,000 every.
“This spring 2026 session, now we have as soon as once more damaged the report for the variety of purposes. Whereas it’s encouraging that unbiased movies proceed to be made within the area, the variety of funding businesses stays the identical, making the surroundings more and more aggressive. Initiatives actually need to face out from the group,” mentioned co-director Aditya Assarat.
Based in 2017 below the aegis of the Purin Basis and managed by filmmakers Anocha Suwichakornpong and Assarat, the fund focuses on unbiased cinema in Southeast Asia, spanning manufacturing, exhibition and schooling. Purposes for the autumn 2026 session open on August 1.