Mojo, a romantic comedy featuring a cast of quirky characters including a viral cow, is the first film to come out of Sympatico, a UK-Malaysia co-production that launched last year.
The film is directed by Min Lim, who also heads operations at Simpatico. She already has extensive experience in writing, directing and producing live shows, including executive producing the multi-season Asian version of The Bridge, showrunner and director of the award-winning Malaysian version of the Malaysian drama Liar, and as co-director of the remake of the popular Malaysian sitcom Kopitiam.
The film revolves around an ambitious city boy who finds love and meaning in a simple country life. The screenplay is by Hany Ahmed (Motif, Saladin, Walinong Sari). Director Zahir Omar (Fly By Night, The Bridge) is on board as creative consultant. The film is a co-production between Sympatico and Mocha Chai Laboratories, with Michelle Chang of Mocha Chai set to produce alongside Sympatico’s Richard Jones (Shadow of the Vampire, The Liability).
The film will be largely produced on location in the scenic state of Perlis in northern Malaysia. The film is expected to be ready for release in June 2025.
UK-based SC Films International has been appointed as the film’s international sales agent. The company also currently represents Peter Facinelli’s action titles “On Fire” (US), Singaporean-Indonesian “Orang Ikan” and Australian fantasy horror film “Dusk”.
Simpatico brings Mojo to local and international audiences with a witty, romantic and honest angle that invites comparisons to Ted Lasso and The Best Exotic Margold Hotel. The official synopsis for the film reads: “Adi is a rising star at Mojo Magic Farms, boosting sales by turning a special-looking cow, Mojo, into a viral sensation and helping the company aggressively take over small rural dairy farms in pursuit of profit. But in the Kampung Samirah Padi (KSP) region, a small-time farmer, Atan, and his daughter, Ayu, are determined to encourage other farms to do the same. When Atan kidnaps Mojo as leverage, all sorts of chaos ensues. Adi travels undercover to KSP to retrieve Mojo (to whom he is actually very attached) and convince the villagers to sell, but nothing goes as planned. He ends up falling in love with the villagers and the simple farming life – and Ayu – and must choose between what he wants and perhaps what he really needs.”
Lim said:[‘Mojo’] It features wonderful and quirky characters as well as stunning backgrounds, along with universal themes like “fish out of water” and “David vs. Goliath.” [..] But at its core, it's a story about faith (of all kinds), sacrifice, doing the right thing for others, and working for the greater good rather than for our own personal success.
Simpatico is a production partnership between British company Argo Films and Malaysian company Double Vision. Last year, the company, which aims to cover film and television, unveiled a development slate of six projects that it says will be authentically Asian.
Double Vision is the production arm of Vision New Media Group with over 35 years of experience in films, series, sitcoms, reality game shows, magazine shows, documentaries, children’s programming and variety shows. Double Vision has in-house production and post-production facilities, and received an International Emmy Award nomination for its successful Malaysian-Filipino co-production “Kahit Isang Saglit” and was responsible for the Asian versions of the global hit drama series “The Bridge” and “Liar”.
