Hanyut (film)

Hanyut (English: Drifting) is a Malaysian adventure drama film written and directed by U-Wei Haji Saari based upon the Joseph Conrad novel, Almayer's Folly.

The movie tells the story of Almayer, a Dutch trader struggling to survive in Malaya at the turn of the 19th century. Almayer's dream of finding a mythical gold mountain is at odds with his plotting wife, colonial authorities, the political machinations of a local chief with Arab traders, and his daughter's love for a freedom-fighting Malay prince.

The film was originally planned to be released after its completion in 2012. However, the release was postponed since December 2013 due to lack of promotional funding, in which director U-Wei had to request for RM 2 million from National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) for marketing and local distribution purposes. It managed to get selected screenings in 150 cinemas across Indonesia on November 2014 under the name of Gunung Emas Almayer (English: Almayer's Golden Mountain). The film is slated for an eventual release in Malaysian cinemas on 24 November 2016, as told through a press conference on 13 October of the same year.

Almayer is a lone Dutch trader grubbing to survive in colonial Malaysia. He sends his 10-year-old daughter Nina to Singapore to be educated as a Westerner, much to the distress of her mother Mem, a local woman of Betawi origin. The couple stop speaking to each other as a result. When Nina returns as a beautiful woman ten years later, she finds the family home and business in dire straits because of Almayer's obsession with finding gold in the mountains. Her return rekindles interest in the Almayer household, bringing in new business that allows Almayer to build a lavish new house in his compound.

Nina's presence attracts a number of suitors, including the nephew of a prominent Arab who asks for Nina’s hand in marriage. Almayer rejects the proposal, however, igniting an animosity between the traders that helps lead to Almayer's later downfall. Almayer guards Nina jealously as he sees her as an important part of his unrealistic dreams. He believes her beauty, combined with the gold he expects to unearth, will help him build a trading empire and fulfill his fantasy of a glorious future back in Europe, a world he has never seen.