A Land Imagined


A Land Imagined is a 2018 neo-noir mystery thriller film written and directed by Yeo Siew Hua. A Singapore-France-Netherlands co-production, the film tells the story of a police investigator who uncovers the truth behind the disappearance of a construction worker.
The film premiered in competition on 7 August 2018, at the 71st Locarno Film Festival, and won the top prize of the festival, the Golden Leopard. At Locarno, Yeo also won the Junior Jury award and a Special Mention award. In December 2018, A Land Imagined played in competition at the 29th Singapore International Film Festival, where it was named Best Asian Feature Film by a jury led by Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan. It is the first time a Singaporean film has won the award. The film was released in Singapore theatres on February 21, 2019. It was selected as the Singaporean entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

Plot

The film revolves around Lok, a police officer who is investigating the disappearance of a Chinese migrant worker working at a land reclamation site. The investigation leads him to the disappearance of another Bengali worker, who was on good terms with the missing worker. As he retraces the steps of the missing worker, Lok gets a sensing of the plight of these workers as they happen to work for an unscrupulous employer.

Cast

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67%, based on 12 reviews. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Awards and nominations