“Derek Kong, Private Detective: The Crimson Lipstick Bytes”, written by Amina Jindani and Gavin Yap triumphed over two other nominated American screenplays to take home the “Feature Screenplay” award.
Their win marks Malaysia as the only Asian nation represented among all winners and categories at the 2024 festival.
“We are obviously utterly delighted as it feels like we are making waves in the international community. I really appreciate how Moondance International Film Festival is so open to unique stories from around the world,” Amina told FMT Lifestyle.
The event, renowned as the “Film Festival Without Borders,” showcases the best independent films from the US and across the globe.
“Derek Kong, Private Detective: The Crimson Lipstick Bytes” follows the eccentric private detective Derek Kong as he navigates a seemingly straightforward case of an extra-marital affair.
The investigation soon spirals into a surreal exploration of love, fantasy, betrayal, and ultimately, redemption, forcing Kong to confront his own perceptions of these fundamental human experiences.
According to Amina, the Derek Kong stories started as radio scripts, in a project created by local collective Theatre of The Mind, who created the radio play alongside MoOne Drama and MO1 Productions.
A pilot episode was launched in 2022, with Yap providing the voice of the title character, alongside a cast comprising local actors Sharifah Amani, Anita Woo, Douglas Lim, Radhi Khalid, Natasha Mohdali, and Caleb Ng Kah Lok.
Spurred by the positive reception to the episode, Amina and Yap started writing more and more scripts, which started winning accolades from film festivals all around the world.
“This is now our 23rd celebration of a film festival placement. After our seventh or eighth success, Gavin asked me if we should turn one of them into a screenplay. We picked the one that had the most potential for cinematic storytelling and began to craft the story into screenplay format,” Amina reflected.
“Derek Kong, Private Detective: The Crimson Lipstick Bytes” also garnered the Silver Award Feature Script at the London Movie Awards and earned the duo the Best International Screenwriter title at the Wild Filmmaker’s Edition of the New York Film Festival Best Indie Selection 2024.
Amina added that they planned to develop this winning screenplay into a film, and were now seeking investors from anywhere in the world. She described the script, which is in English with Malaysian slang, as “very universal”.
She said she had also been approached by foreign producers, who had enquired if she planned to cast any A-list actors to the project.
“Gavin and I have discussed it but we haven’t approached any yet. As for the local cast, I think we have a very interesting blend of well-known and newly established artists who could create a delicious smorgasbord of talent,” Amina said.
Hopefully, the adventures of offbeat detective Derek Kong hit our big screens someday in the future!