Director Yeo Siew Hua will adapt Jesse Ball’s novel “Silence Once Begun” as his subsequent function, with Singapore’s Akanga Movie Asia securing the rights and saying the mission on the Cannes Film Market.
Producer and Akanga founder Fran Borgia is growing the movie as a wide-ranging co-production spanning Singapore, Japan, and companions throughout Asia and Europe – the identical framework Akanga used for Chie Hayakawa’s “Renoir” (Cannes 2025) and Tan Siyou’s “Amoeba” (Toronto 2025). Yeo is at the moment engaged on the variation, with manufacturing scheduled for 2028.
Set in Japan, Ball’s novel follows a journalist whose spouse immediately falls silent. The journalist turns his consideration to Oda Sotatsu, a person who has admitted to a string of disappearances however refuses to talk one other phrase after surrendering to police. Everybody across the suspect has accounts to supply – however Sotatsu, going through the dying penalty, won’t.
“I am really drawn to this story about what it means to keep one’s silence and also in keeping to our commitments, especially in a world so full of noise and distractions. We all know about the power of words, but what of the value of silence? I find the novel by Jesse Ball profound and mysterious, and it is going to be a real pleasure for me to adapt these intriguing interrogations of the human heart onto screen,” Yeo stated.
“I wrote ‘Silence Once Begun’ as a novel of social critique in which that which is visionary in the human is given only one outlet: silence and refusal. That tale is even more timely now than when it was written, and I am delighted to see the marvelous talents of Siew Hua bring the book to cinema. This is a bleak tale, but it is one of love, and, I think, of hope,” Ball added.
“We were captivated by the cinematic potential of Jesse’s characters. Our goal is to build a robust international co-production that honours the book’s atmosphere while creating a film that speaks to the power of silence,” Borgia stated.
Yeo and Borgia beforehand collaborated on “A Land Imagined,” which claimed the Golden Leopard at Locarno in 2018. Yeo’s most up-to-date function, “Stranger Eyes” (2024), was the primary Singaporean title to earn a Venice competitors berth.
Ball is an American novelist, poet and educator whose books embody “How to Set a Fire and Why,” “Census” and “The Repeat Room.” He’s represented by Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. and CAA. Amongst Borgia’s different latest producing credit is Rima Das’ “Not A Hero,” which premiered at Berlinale 2026.
