Tommy Ng Kai Chung’s directorial debut, Another World, started life as a 14-minute short that got so much attention at international festivals in 2019 that he was able to get funding for a feature-film version. The animated movie, based on Naka Saijo’s novel Sennenki, won the Golden Horse (Chinese-language cinema’s most prestigious film award) for Best Animated Feature, and became Hong Kong’s highest-earning animated film of all time. It will open in North American cinemas on June 5.
The first trailer for Another World, released Thursday, is more impressionistic than narrative. It showcases two figures, a girl and a masked spirit, moving through an unearthly realm full of haunting beauty, melancholy, desperation, and violence. The synopsis from New York-based distribution company GKIDS, which is handling the theatrical release, makes the narrative playing out in that trailer much clearer:
Gudo is a Soul Keeper, a spirit who guides human souls into their next life. When he befriends a young girl named Yuri, he discovers that her untimely death has left her cursed with unresolved rage and regret. As Yuri’s soul teeters on the edge of annihilation, Gudo embarks on a dangerous journey to stop her from unleashing horrible destruction on both the human world and the spirit realm. Another World is a dark fairytale that explores forgiveness and reconciliation in the face of hatred and despair.
The film, a global collaboration that brought together artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, France, and the Philippines, will play in theaters in Cantonese, with English subtitles. GKIDS has not yet announced a physical or digital release date.
