From Sleepless in Seattle to Notting Hill , there is a long list of romantic comedies whose titles reference the locations in which they are set. The latest is Autumn in Wales , a Malaysian film. The storyline follows pampered Aira (Eyka Farhana) as she travels to Wales to surprise her suave ex-fiancé, Darwish (Keith Foo), after he suddenly broke off their engagement. On arriving, Aira finds Darwish smitten with the sophisticated Marissa (Wanna Ali). Aira subsequently teams up with the quirky Jaka (Jaa Suzuran), working in a cafe, to find out why Darwish dumped her, and seemingly falls in love with her new colleague in the process. The Filipino cafe owner, played by Amirul Haswendy, who also wrote the script, adds another comic twist. In typical romantic-comedy style, “everything goes wrong”, as Suzuran puts it, but the plot unfolds against a backdrop of bucolic riversides, stone-walled cottages, colourful seaside houses and castle ruins. “The idea of setting the film in Wales came from the director, Rahila Ali, who used to study in the UK and fell in love with certain parts of it, especially Wales,” says Haswendy, by email. “She likes to travel and the places that we shot in Wales were some of the places she’d been to.” Ali has filmed two other movies in Wales, one of which, Aku Bukan Gila (“I’m Not Crazy”), from 2020, was also written by Haswendy. It was set and shot in Llandudno, a seaside resort in North Wales that hit the headlines in March 2020 when goats overran the town during the pandemic lockdown. Village in Malaysian mangrove hides an industrial past, and present For Autumn in Wales, Haswendy says, “[Ali] asked me to write a romcom, so we sat down and shared some ideas. We went to Wales for a recce and found so many beautiful places for the movie.” Those beautiful places include Beddgelert, in North Wales’s Snowdonia National Park, a picture-perfect village of stone buildings with a river (actually the confluence of two) running through it and crossed by a double-arched, stone bridge. Much of the drama takes place in Beddgelert, where Jaka works as a waiter, with scenes shot at the real-life Caffi Colwyn, with its pretty riverside tea garden. Legend has it that the name of the village, which means Gelert’s Grave, derives from a faithful hound that belonged to Prince Llywelyn the Great in the 13th century. Beddgelert even has a “grave” for the dog, which, although probably mythical, is a pretty spot along a riverside path. The village also has a garden dedicated to Rupert Bear; the illustrator who created the cartoon character, Alfred Bestall, lived here. Nearby, beside the Llyn Gwynant lake and a river, is Llyn Gwynant campsite, from where it is possible to climb Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa in Welsh), the highest mountain in Wales. This serene setting has been seen by viewers of a different movie: it was a location for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life ( 2003, some of which was also filmed in Hong Kong ) , starring Angelina Jolie, although Llyn Gwynant was rendered almost unrecognisable – as a Chinese village – with the help of CGI. It wasn’t the first time filmmakers used the area to stand in for a place in China. In 1958, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness , starring Ingrid Bergman, was partly filmed near Beddgelert. Bergman played the real-life Gladys Aylward, a missionary and an innkeeper in Yangcheng, Shanxi province, northern China. In 1938, when Japanese soldiers approached Yangcheng, Aylward led a group of 100 orphans to safety across the mountains, helped by a Chinese military officer. South of Beddgelert, in the county of Ceredigion, are Autumn in Wales locations Aberaeron and Aberystwyth. Both are on the Wales Coast Path, a 1,400km (870-mile) trail that runs the length of the Welsh coastline. The distance between Aberaeron and Aberystwyth is 29km, with some of the terrain designated as “moderate to hard”, and this stretch takes walkers alongside Cardigan Bay, one of only two spots in Britain with a resident population of bottlenose dolphins. A fishing village, Aberaeron is a cinematographer’s dream of brightly coloured cottages and Regency houses based around a small harbour. It’s here that Ali says she filmed her favourite scene (no spoilers), on the harbour bridge. The Harbourmaster boutique hotel, painted a vivid blue, was once the largest house in Aberaeron. The interiors combine traditional coastal wainscoting (wooden panelling) with contemporary furniture and Welsh textiles. The inviting restaurant serves locally sourced food. The larger Aberystwyth, known locally as Aber, is a university town – glimpses of the Old College can be seen in the film. In another movie link, Aber is where Taron Egerton, star of Rocketman (2019), was brought up. The actor’s earliest performances were at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, a thriving theatre, concert hall and gallery space that also houses cafes, bars and shops. Aber’s sweeping promenade, flanked by pastel-painted Victorian townhouses, many of which are now guest houses, feature in Autumn in Wales . During autumn and winter, flocks of starlings can be seen over the pier; thousands of the birds gather at dusk, flying in a remarkable shape-shifting mass. Close by, and also in the movie, are the ruins of Aberystwyth Castle, dating back to the 13th century. Commissioned by King Edward I, the castle switched hands between the warring English and Welsh many times before falling into disrepair in the early 1400s. Eight places beyond Chinatown to see the Chinese sides of Sydney Aberystwyth is also home to the restaurant given the accolade of the Michelin Guide’s UK Opening of the Year 2022, named SY23 (the town’s postcode). Its tasting menu revolves around charcoal-grill cooking and produce that is “foraged, farmed or fished from the seashore to the rolling mountains”. The guide notes that chef Nathan Davies and his team have “created a fun, lively spot in this quaint Welsh seaside town”. SY23 stands just off Great Darkgate, a shopping street in which many Autumn in Wales scenes were filmed. “The enchanting cinematography showcases the beauty of Wales that is rarely captured in local Malaysian films,” producer Dato’ Normashayu Puteh says. “We believe that this film will be able to inject audiences with a sense of wanderlust and the thrill of travelling overseas during this ‘new normal’.” Autumn in Wales is currently streaming on Astro First and Astro Go in Malaysia.