PURIN PICTURES ANNOUNCES
GRANT RECIPIENTS FOR spring 2025

may 1, 2025 - Bangkok

Bangkok-based film fund Purin Pictures has finalized the grantees for the Spring 2025 session.  After evaluation and discussion of the submissions, the reading committee chose one fiction and three documentary projects for production support and one fiction and one documentary project for post-production support.

A total of 160,000 USD will be given out this session to the following projects:

Production Grants (30,000 USD for fiction films, 15,000 USD for documentary films)

TO LEAVE, TO STAY(Cambodia, France, Singapore, Indonesia)
Director: Danech San, Producer: Daniel Mattes, Davy Chou, Production Company: Anti-Archive
Bored of her island life, Mera travels with her friend Bopha to visit a soldier she met online.  Weeks later, Mera goes missing and Bopha’s search begins.

ARTS CENTRE (Singapore)
Director: Tan Pin Pin, Producer: Tan Pin Pin, Production Company: BFG Media Pte. Ltd.
Four artists in a shared space push creative and social boundaries, revealing the unseen labor, struggles, and transcendence behind their craft.

WOVEN BAMBOO NEIGHBOUR (Indonesia)
Director: Gama Triono, Producer: Tonny Trimarsanto, Production Company: Rumah Dokumenter
Ludruk Irama Muda is an arts group of 35 transwomen who preserve ludruk in Tobong, a building with bamboo walls, a rusty zinc roof, and a dirt floor.

AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED (Vietnam, Singapore)
Director: Nhan Tran, Producer: Lai Weijie, Production Company: E&W Films 
The crossed destinies of three Hmong women whose dreams are tied to migration to a city, but drawn back by the weight of their obligations.

POST-Production Grants (50,000 USD for fiction films, 35,000 USD for documentary films)

LEVITATING (Indonesia)
Director: Wregas Bhanuteja, Producer: Siera Tamihardja, Production Company: Rekata Studio
Bayu aspires to become a shaman for the trance parties in Latas Village, a central figure to solve the crisis of an impending eviction.

BABY JACKFRUIT, BABY GUAVA (Vietnam)
Director: Quang Nong Nhat, Producer: Trang Dao Thi Minh, Production Company: Flaneur Films 
A personal documentary about a conservative mother, mentally ill daughter, and gay son as they prepare for the arrival of a baby into the family. 

Says Purin Pictures co-director Aditya Assarat “This Spring 2025 session we received many strong documentary projects.  Vietnam in particular seems to be set up well with solid training programs, doc-focused production companies, and experienced mentors.  And the result of this ecosystem can be seen in many interesting new films over the past several years.”  And the Mountains Echoed by Nhan Tran follows three generations of Hmong women as they navigate life between village and city.  Baby Jackfruit, Baby Guava by Quang Nong Nhat, which previously won a Purin production grant, is a personal documentary of his family during and after the birth of his nephew, nicknamed baby Guava.  Other projects to be funded this round are a mix of established and new names.  Arts Centre continues veteran documentarian Tan Pin Pin’s exploration of the Singaporean identity while Levitating continues Wregas Bhanuteja’s rise as one of Indonesia’s most interesting filmmakers. Finally, Danech San, director of To Leave, To Stay, has honed her craft on award-winning shorts while Gama Triono, director of Woven Bamboo Neighbour, comes to filmmaking through development and social work. 

The call for entries for the Fall 2025 session opens on August 1, 2025.