It’s not every day that an indie film project goes to project markets with a fully fledged plan for a cinematic universe behind it. The team behind “Strange Root,” one of the projects under the Genre Film in Focus sidebar at this year’s Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), is betting that such an approach will endear them to co-producers.
Set in 11th-century Singapore, the film follows a demigod born from a yam root, abandoned by his worshippers after the arrival of a mysterious, shipwrecked beast.
Writing and directing duo Lam Li Shuen and Mark Chua described the genre project as a blend of Southeast Asian mythology with body horror.
“It’s a dark allegory for the world today, power and the cyclical nature of obsession,” said Chua.
“We are witnessing similar cycles of power, obsession and fear, and especially the fall from grace of this kind of old power,” added Lam.
The filmmakers are positioning “Strange Root” not merely as a standalone feature, but as the central hub of an expansive creative ecosystem.
The strategy involves a series of ancillary events that lean into the film’s shared mythology to build a broader brand, including video games, exhibitions and book publishing.
So far, the “Strange Root” shared universe has already appeared in a multimedia exhibition titled “Before and After the Unknown” at the Singapore Art Week in 2025, and in a visual performance piece at last month’s Berlinale, called “Born of the Yam.”
“This experiential perspective also drives the commercial angle. It reframes what is IP and how we can expand that to many mediums and different audiences.” said the duo, noting plans for art installations, short-form digital content and immersive experiences that will precede the film’s release to build an established world before audiences even step into the cinema.
Co-producer Tan Bee Thiam emphasized that this approach is essential for modern independent cinema to compete on a global scale.
“In this multiple space that is an expanded cinema, people go to the cinema nowadays to experience something that they cannot experience from, say, a Netflix film on the small screen,” said Tan.
Creating multiple audience touchpoints also enables the team to suss out potential partners with a low-risk approach.
“We work with some of these talents already in some of the short films or projects, to really test out the synergy and chemistry,” said Tan. “Making something along the way [allows us] to see whether these are the right collaborators that we are looking for and really enjoy working with.”
The shift toward such “elevated genre” projects reflects a broader trend within international film forums, which have historically favored traditional arthouse fare. When asked why financing platforms are now pivoting toward genre, the team noted a changing appetite among both distributors and audiences.
“Genre is something that can be culturally specific but at the same time also globally legible,” said Lam.
“I think we are worried that audiences don’t go to the cinemas anymore,” added Chua. “I feel like genre is that thing that we still want to go to the cinema and experience.”
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