Dekanalog Takes North American Rights To Tan Siyou’s Festival Hit ‘Amoeba’
EXCLUSIVE: Bangkok-based sales agent Diversion has licensed Tan Siyou‘s festival hit Amoeba to Dekanalog for North America.
Tan’s debut feature premiered in the Discovery section of Toronto International Film Festival in 2025 and went on to win a slew of awards including Best Youth Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and prizes at several international film festivals.
The film follows a 16-year-old high school dropout in Singapore who returns to her elite all-girls Chinese school to join the graduating class. Her little acts of rebellion towards her tyrannical teachers attract the admiration of three other misfits and the four girls form an inseparable group.
Inspired by the triad tales of a family driver, the girls decide to form a gang. But how do you form a gang in modern Singapore, where even chewing gum is illegal?
The film was co-produced by Singapore’s Akanga Film Asia, Netherlands’ Volya Films, France’s Les Films d’Antoine, Spain’s Mararía Films and The Widelog Office in South Korea.
Among its festival awards haul, the film scooped Best Actress, Youth Jury and Cinephilia Critics’ Awards in Pingyao; the FIPRESCI Prize and Taiwan Film Critics Society Award at Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, and the New Horizons Best Film Award at QCinema. Its extensive festival run also included Busan, Hamburg, Rome Alice in the City, Marrakech, AFI Fest, Bangkok, Tokyo Filmex and Singapore.
The deal for North American rights was negotiated by Mai Meksawan from Diversion and George Schmalz from Dekanalog.
Schmalz said: “We’ve made strong inroads with Asian-American and young cinephile audiences over the past few years through the theatrical releases of Constance Tsang’s Blue Sun Palace and Liu Jian’s Art College 1994, and intend to further grow our audience with Amoeba.”
Dekanalog is scheduling a US theatrical release for the film in spring 2027 followed by VOD and Blu-Ray releases, and is also planning a Canadian theatrical release.
