Copyright Variety
Volos Films is betting big on genre-bending storytelling as it unveils a new slate at Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF), marking the production company’s pivot into scripted drama series alongside its feature film slate. The Italy-Taiwan outfit, founded by Italian-Taiwanese producer Stefano Centini, is bringing three projects to TCCF that span borders and formats — from a nostalgic coming-of-age adventure to a supernatural thriller and a high-stakes wedding dramedy. Leading the pack is “Game Never Over,” a feature adaptation of Sean Chuang’s bestselling comic “80’s Diary in Taiwan,” which has been translated into French, Italian and German. The 1980s-set adventure follows 13-year-old Chuang, a self-described class loser, and his band of misfit friends who discover a magical arcade that grants wishes. When the arcade suddenly closes, the teens embark on a quest to retrieve the mysterious game machine, ultimately learning that “the real magic is hidden in the courage to choose one’s own path.” Chuang penned the screenplay alongside Shi-Ming Ho, whose credits include Rene Liu’s “Us and Them” and Netflix drama “Forget You Not.” Volos’ Hung Sung-Ju produces, with Centini and Chuti Chang executive producing. “This film is a nostalgic, funny, and heartfelt coming-of-age adventure about courage, friendship, and the experiences that shape who we become,” said producer Hung. “Through the eyes of boys growing up in 1980s Taiwan, audiences are invited to revisit that fragile yet powerful moment when we first begin to understand ourselves and others.” The company is also pitching “The Fundamentals,” a supernatural thriller series marking Volos’ second collaboration with Singaporean director Yeo Siew-Hua, whose feature “Stranger Eyes” competed at Venice and earned six Golden Horse nominations. Set in a remote mountainous village in Taiwan, the series was selected for this year’s Series Mania Institute Serial Bridges Asia program. Created by Yeo and written with Taiwanese scribes Wang Jen Fang, Ting Chi-Wen and Rebecca Chen, the series features an all-Taiwanese cast and is co-produced with Singapore’s Akanga production house. The project represents Volos’ first series development, though its Italian division is also venturing into drama with “Hallyu,” currently selected for the Apollo program at Series Mania Institute. “As we keep our focus on director-driven and ground-breaking cinema, we are more and more aware of the need to diversify in the content strategy, and open to new forms of narration and storytelling,” said Centini. “This is the reason why we decided to venture into our first drama development with Akanga and director Yeo.” Rounding out the slate is “Never the Bride,” a series created and produced by Liza Diño-Seguerra set in the high-stress world of Filipino luxury weddings. The show follows cynical wedding planner Sofia Aragaon and her dysfunctional team as they navigate diva brides, nightmare families and glitter explosions while quietly falling apart behind the scenes. The series, set across the Philippines, Taiwan and France, is co-produced with France’s Ghost City Films and will be pitched in TCCF’s If Romance Comes Again session. Centini emphasized the company’s commitment to bridging European and Asian markets through its dual-based structure. “We strongly believe that there is a convergence of ideals and a possibility to perform well in both markets for stories that are universal, engaging for the audience and at the same time unique to their culture and true to their creators,” he said. The company recently pitched projects developed in Italy at Busan’s Asian Project Market, Tokyo’s TIFFCOM and Rome’s MIA, signaling its continued expansion across both continents.
