‘Ridge’ producer developing film on US fighter who died in Syria

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Singapore fest to focus on Asian excellence for 30th edition

LOS ANGELES, Oct 22, (RTRS): David Permut, the Oscar-nominated producer of “Hacksaw Ridge” is going back to war with a new story about Levi Shirley, an American who died in Syria while fighting against ISIS.

 Permut has optioned the film rights to David Kelly’s Los Angeles Times article, “The Marines Wouldn’t Take Him, So Levi Shirley Went to War on His Own” along with the life rights of Susan Shirley, mother of Levi Shirley. Permut optioned the rights to the article along with Michael A. Alfieri’s Miantri Films and Sterling Macer, Jr’s, Clandestine Entertainment who will also produce.

 As a young man in Denver, Shirley had been desperate to be a US Marine, but an irreversible eye problem prevented him from enlisting. With no formal training, he joined the YPG, a Kurdish militia seeking volunteers to help them fight ISIS. He arranged to be smuggled into Syria to fight alongside the Kurds and was killed in Syria at the age of 24.

 His mother, Susan Shirley, whose character will be prominent in the movie, is a consultant on the film. She was interviewed on CNN recently in the aftermath President Trump’s recent decision to pull American troops from Syria, allowing Turkey to attack American Kurdish allies, including the YPG.

 “Levi had an incredible conviction to defend his country alongside the Kurds against the continuing threats of ISIS,” Permut said. “This profound, important, and timely story is as relevant as ever given the unfortunate circumstances occurring in Syria, and we hope to honor Levi’s sacrifice by telling his story and enlightening those who are unaware.”

 Permut recently produced the live-streamed, staged reading of Robert Schenkkan’s latest play, “The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts”, which centered around the counts of obstruction outlined in the Mueller Report. Permut is also in development on the recently announced reboot of “Face/Off” at Paramount.

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LOS ANGELES: For its 30th edition the Singapore International Film Festival has avoided programming novelty and instead focused on assembling excellence – mostly indie titles – from Asia and further afield.

The festival, which previously announced local filmmaker Anthony Chen’s second feature “Wet Season” as its opening night gala presentation, announced the balance of its programming on Tuesday. Other galas are set to include “Downton Abbey” and “Nina Wu”. Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “The Truth” was named as the closing film. The festival runs Nov 21-Dec 1.

The nine-film competition section includes: “Dwelling in The Fuchun Mountains”; Indian animation, “Bombay Rose”; Indonesia’s “The Science of Fictions” and “Verdict”, all of which have received favorable reception elsewhere on the festival circuit.

Prizes for the competition will be decided by a jury that includes India’s Anurag Kashyap, Indonesia’s Nia Dinata, Singapore’s Amir Muhammad, and Hong Kong’s Pang Ho-cheung.

One sidebar section includes Asia-Pacific festival favorites including “Balloon”, “A Girl Missing”, “Coming Home Again”, “Breathless Animals”, “No. 7 Cherry Lane”, “The Wild Goose Lake”, “Saturday Fiction”, “Babyteeth” and “The Lighthouse”.

From outside the region, presentations include “Monos”, “Les Miserables”, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and “The Two Popes”. A small midnight genre section includes “Deerskin” and Miike Takashi’s “First Love”.

A similarly small classics section includes Bong Joon-ho’s “Memories of Murder” and Hou Hsiao-hsien’s “Flowers of Shanghai”.

A total of 17 Singapore-made features and shorts find berths across the different sections.Chinese actress Yao Chen will receive a Cinema Icon award, and present her latest film “Send Me To The Clouds”. Singapore’s Yao Yann Yann, key performer in both of Anthony Chen’s “Ilo Ilo” and “Wet Season”, will receive an Inspiring Woman in Film Award. Miike will receive an honorary award.

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