Volos Films is betting big on genre-bending storytelling with new releases at Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF), marking the production company’s pivot to scripted drama series alongside feature films.
Founded by Italian-Taiwanese producer Stefano Centini, the Italian-Taiwanese team is bringing three projects to TCCF that transcend borders and formats, from a nostalgic coming-of-age adventure to a supernatural thriller to a high-stakes wedding drama.
Leading the pack is “The Game Never Over,” a feature-length adaptation of Sean Chuan’s best-selling comic “Taiwanese 80s Diary,” which has been translated into French, Italian, and German. Set in the 1980s, this adventure tells the story of 13-year-old Chuan, a self-proclaimed class loser, and his sociopathic friends who discover a magical arcade that grants wishes. When an arcade suddenly closes, the teens embark on a journey to recover a mysterious game console and ultimately learn that “the real magic lies in the courage to choose your own path.”
Chuan co-wrote the script with Shimin Ho, whose credits include director Rene Liu’s “Us and Them” and the Netflix drama “Forget You Not.” The film will be produced by Hoon Sung-joo (Volos), with Centini and Chuti Chan serving as executive producers.
Producer Hoon said, “This film is a nostalgic, funny, and heartwarming youth adventure about courage, friendship, and the experiences that shape us.” “Through the eyes of a group 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 marketing the supernatural thriller series “The Fundamentals,” which marks Volos’ second collaboration with Singaporean director Yeo Shu-fa. The director’s feature film Stranger Eyes premiered in Venice and was nominated for six Golden Horse Awards. The series, set in a remote mountain village in Taiwan, was selected for this year’s Series Mania Institute Serial Bridge Asia Program.
The series, created by Yeo and co-written with Taiwanese screenwriters Wang Jen Fang, Ting Chi-Wen and Rebecca Chen, has an all-Taiwanese cast and is co-produced with Singapore’s Akanga Production Company. This project will be Volos’ first series development, but the Italian division of the company is also taking on the challenge of “Korean Wave” dramas, which are currently selected for the Series Mania Institute’s Apollo program.
“As we continue to focus on groundbreaking, director-driven films, we increasingly recognize the need to diversify our content strategy and embrace new forms of narration and storytelling,” Centini said. “This is why we decided to take on the challenge of developing a drama for the first time with Akanga and director Yeo.”
Rounding out the list is Never the Bride, a series created and produced by Liza Diño-Seguera set in the stressful world of lavish weddings in the Philippines. The show follows cynical wedding planner Sofia Alagaon and her dysfunctional team as they navigate diva brides, nightmarish families, and glittering explosions, all while quietly falling apart behind the scenes. The series, set in the Philippines, Taiwan and France, is co-produced with France’s Ghost City Films and will be screened at TCCF’s If Romance Comes Again session.
Mr. Centini highlighted the company’s commitment to bridging the European and Asian markets through a dual infrastructure structure. “We strongly believe that stories that are universal and appealing to audiences, but also culturally specific and true to their creators, have the potential to blend ideals and work in both markets,” he said.
The company recently pitched projects developed in Italy at the Asian Project Market in Busan, TIFFCOM in Tokyo and MIA in Rome, demonstrating its continued expansion into both continents.
