EST N8 Sales Venture Appoints Tata Chen, Poised to Expand Busan Slate (EXCLUSIVE)

EST N8, a recently-established finance, production and film sales company, has appointed Chen ‘Tata’ Xinrui as its sales and distribution manager. Chen will serve under Tenten Wei, head of studios for EST N8 and will be based in Los Angeles.

EST N8 is a partnership between EST Studios and Bangkok-based N8 Studios that was officially launched at Cannes this year and operates under the combined moniker. The two parent companies still operate as separate entities.  

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EST Studios was founded in 2022 by Jaeson Ma and Eric Tu, and represents all genres of Asian content in the international marketplace. It is looking at an annual slate of 15 projects that it will be financing, producing, and representing for sales.

N8 was founded by Kris Eiamsakulrat and Rachel Wu with a focus on the untold stories of 4.5 billion Asian voices around the world. N8 formed a partnership with leading Thai studio GDH559, to co-produce a slate of Thai thriller and horror films aimed at the global audience.

The studio co-produced horror film “Home For Rent,” which is one of the most successful Thai horror films ever, drama “The Monk and The Gun” by Pawo Dorji, which premiered at the recent Toronto film festival and is Bhutan’s official submission for the 2024 Academy Awards. N8 is also producing “Heals” by Emmy-winning director Pailin Wedel, featuring Pangina Heals, a leading Asian drag queen.

Chen has previously represented EST titles for sale. She will now expand the co-development and co-producing business at an international level for EST N8 and unveil new titles at the ACFM market that accompanies next week’s Busan International Film Festival.

Prior to joining EST, Chen worked with organizations including Hivemind Entertainment and SKG Global Entertainment. She also contributed to several prominent Chinese feature film, TV show and video game projects, including her role in producing and writing for “Bright Star Way,” a mobile game presented and distributed by Changyou and Tencent Games.

“We are absolutely delighted to have Tata on board, a true gem with a profound understanding of both Eastern and Western film and TV markets,” said Jaeson Ma, chairman of EST Studios.

Recent EST Studios sales titles include: the recently released horror thriller “Chabak” from producer Tiger Yeongseop Kim; Emmy-award winning director Jessica Q. Chen’s documentary “Surf Nation”; 2023 Canneseries title “Streams Flow From a River”; and producing titles “K-POPS!,” directed by Grammy winner Anderson Paak; documentary “Hidden Letters,” Violet Du Feng’s 2023 Academy Award-shortlisted feature documentary which has its world premiere at the 2022 Tribeca festival.

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