Singapore-based Asian Film Archive, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, has announced the premiere of its newly restored and digitized version of the only surviving print of 1957 film Moon Over Malaya.

The most acclaimed of the “Nanyang Trilogy,” the film was produced by Kong Ngee Company, the third major studio of the era alongside Shaw Brothers and Cathay Keris. The romantic drama starred Patrick Tse, Nam Hung and Patsy Kar Ling before their heydays of stardom, as well as period architecture and landscapes shot in Singapore and Malaya.

The film is about an idealistic young man trying to raise funds to build schools in Malaya. He meets a woman from a wealthy family and after a whirlwind romance, they get married. He takes over the family business, but his passion stays with education and conflicts between the characters escalate.

The Cantonese-language film has been subtitled in English and Mandarin.

With 1,554 titles, the Archive also works to create a new generation of interactive audiences by training students to curate and screen the films they like, as well as educating teachers in film literacy while making their library accessible to all.

Moon Over Malaya’s April 13 charity premiere is to be attended by Singapore’s President S.R Nathan.

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