Bunohan had its world premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival where it was praised for its solid, visceral storytelling and arresting photography.

The film primarily revolves around the family of Pok Eng (Wan Hanafi Su), a once renowned shadow play puppeteer who has gone out of business following the banning of the performance by the local Islamist state government.

Through his second wife, Pok Eng had his middle son, college professor Bakar (Pekin Ibrahim) and the rebellious Adil (Zahiril Adzim), whom his own mother despises for unknown reasons.

They take refuge at the swamp of Pok Wah (Nam Ron), the owner of the local fight club and Adil's former mentor.

Meanwhile, the middle brother, Bakar returns to Bunohan from his comfortable upper-middle class life in Klang Valley on the pretense of looking after his ailing father.

In reality, he wants to convince his father to sell their family's land to a large business corporation from Kuala Lumpur for a huge amount of money.

At the same time, Deng (Bront Palarae), one of the organizers of the fight in Thailand, sends Ilham, who is now a ruthless hired killer, to find and execute Adil to set an example for their other fighters.

As Ilham narrows his focus on his target, he learns from an old friend, Jing (Jimmy Lor) that he and the boy he is supposed to kill are actually half-brothers.

When Bakar learns that Adil is also back in town, he becomes nervous since he fears his younger brother will come to claim his share of the land.

Part of the land is now the site of Pok Wah's fight club, who received it from Adil's mother while she taught him traditional medicines.

Finally realizing why Mek Na despised him, he promises to return home to his father for good after one last fight to help Pok Wah and Awang pay off their debts to Jolok and Bakar.

Meanwhile, while the entire village is at the boxing match, Pok Eng is conducting a cleansing ritual in his land to ward off evil spirits.

Some of the more intricate details of in the setting and narrative of this film, were driven by his childhood memories of growing up in a kampung near said real-life place, as he explains in an interview with magazine FilmMaker: I grew up with my sisters and parents, near this place called Kampung Bunohan, or Murder or Killing Village, which is the setting of our film, up north close to the border of Southern Thailand, where my father was a cop.

There's a strong reminder of the way American directors, (such as Sam Peckingpah [sic] and others), in the 60's and after, who treat Mexico as a mythological paradise for gangsters, misfits and non-conformists.

[8]Apparat initially had difficulties in finding adequate resources for film funding and production had to be delayed for a year while waiting for the loan to be processed.

[9] Swamp and tidal movement were the biggest challenges in picking the natural elements for the background, considering that the filming took place in locations across the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia where the region is prone to floods and expected monsoon seasons.

[10] It won the NETPAC Award at the 2011 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and has been picked by Universal Pictures for distribution in major markets including Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany and UK.