Eloise Singer’s immersive project narrated by Lucy Liu has been selected for the Cannes Film Festival Immersive Competition. We are proud to be part of it.
When we decided to invest in The Pirate Queen: No Safe Waters, we did so because we believed in what Singer Studios was building. Not just a single project, but a creative world with genuine ambition behind it. The news that the film has been selected for the Cannes Film Festival’s Immersive Competition confirms what we already suspected: this is exactly the kind of work that belongs on the world’s biggest stage.
At Viking Sunset Studios, we are proud to be investors in this project.
What Is The Pirate Queen: No Safe Waters?
The Pirate Queen: No Safe Waters is the latest instalment in London-based Singer Studios’ award-winning Pirate Queen story-world. The project is directed by Eloise Singer and narrated by Lucy Liu, and it is rooted in the true story of Cheng Shih, the woman who commanded the largest pirate fleet in recorded history.
It is not a straightforward film. It is an immersive experience, one designed to place its audience inside a world rather than simply in front of one. Singer Studios has been building toward this with extraordinary care. Their 2024 VR experience The Pirate Queen was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Emerging Media Program. The Cannes selection for No Safe Waters is the next chapter in a body of work that has consistently pushed at the edges of what storytelling can be.
Being selected for the Cannes Immersive Competition, now in its third year, places the project in conversation with the most forward-thinking work being produced anywhere in the world right now. It is a significant moment for Singer Studios, and we are genuinely excited to be connected to it.
Why Viking Sunset Studios Invested
The story of Cheng Shih is one that deserves to be told, and told boldly. A woman who rose from poverty to command hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of men, who negotiated her own terms with the Chinese imperial government and walked away on her own conditions: this is not a footnote in history. It is the kind of story that cinema was made for.
What drew us to this project was the seriousness with which Singer Studios approaches that story. They are not using Cheng Shih as a backdrop for something else. They are genuinely in service of her world, her perspective, and the human complexity of what she built and what it cost her. That kind of creative integrity is rare, and it is what we look for when we choose to put our name behind a project.
The immersive format adds another dimension to that. The Pirate Queen: No Safe Waters is not asking its audience to watch a story. It is asking them to inhabit one. That is a harder and more interesting ambition than conventional filmmaking, and it sits at the frontier of where the medium is genuinely going. We want to be investing at that frontier.
What a Cannes Selection Means
The Cannes Film Festival is the most important film festival in the world. A selection in competition, in any category, is a statement about the quality and significance of the work. The Immersive Competition specifically represents Cannes’ commitment to recognising that the future of cinema is not confined to a single format. Immersive storytelling, XR, and experiential media are being taken seriously at the highest level of the industry, and The Pirate Queen: No Safe Waters is now part of that conversation.
For Singer Studios, this is extraordinary validation of a creative vision that has been years in the making. For us at Viking Sunset Studios, it is a reminder of why investing in bold, original work matters. The projects that end up at Cannes are not the ones that played it safe.
What This Means for Viking Sunset Studios
We are a film production hub based in Bali, and we have always believed that the most interesting work in global cinema is not only coming from the traditional centres of the industry. Our investment in The Pirate Queen: No Safe Waters is part of a broader commitment to supporting projects that are genuinely pushing creative boundaries, wherever in the world they originate and whatever form they take.
Being connected to a Cannes-selected project is something we are proud of. It reflects the direction we want Viking Sunset Studios to move in: not just as a world-class production facility in Southeast Asia, but as an active participant in the global creative community. Producing exceptional work here in Bali. Supporting exceptional work wherever it is being made.
We will be watching the Cannes Immersive Competition with a great deal of interest and pride. Congratulations to Eloise Singer, to the full Singer Studios team, and to everyone who has worked to bring this extraordinary project to the world’s biggest stage.
Work With Viking Sunset Studios
Located in Tabanan, Bali, Viking Sunset Studios is an international creative production hub offering world-class facilities for film, commercial, and content production. From our soundproof green screen studio and professional equipment to stunning natural backdrops including beach, rice terraces, jungle, cave and temple, everything you need is in one place.
Whether you are scouting for a film studio in Bali, looking for a production partner in Southeast Asia, or searching for locations for movies filmed in Bali, we would love to hear about your project.
Get in touch: info@vikingsunsetstudios.com
Follow us: @vikingsunsetstudios on Instagram and TikTok
Visit: vikingsunsetstudios.com
