I came back from Sri Lanka a few days ago, since then it's back to work for me. The two week break I've taken due to my trips in Nagoya and Sri Lanka have left me with piles of projects to juggle with (treatments to write, music videos to edit, documentaries to finish up)
Nevertheless, like most good film festival trips, I find myself creatively rejuvenated. It happens when you got to watch a lot of different films, experience different cultures, surround yourself with filmmakers, and discover new parts of the world. It's great.
So, back to the Jaffna International Cinema Festival, the screening venues of the festival were in a multiplex, the public library, and the University of Jaffna.
The building has existed for more than two hundred years, and it was converted into a guest house almost a hundred years ago. It's cool that you write your guest registration on a thick book.
My time in Colombo was quite short, I managed to visit the famed Gangaramaya temple. But only for a short while.
I woke up at 4am the next morning, and prepared myself.
My train was supposed to be at 5:45am. I arrived at the station at 5am, I met the famed Sri Lankan director Asoka Handagama, who also taking the same train to the festival for a screening of his film.
While I was in the station, I was reminded of a long train journey I had taken back in 2007, from New Delhi to Bodh Gaya, how long was that ride? I think it was around 15 hours. There were no air-conditioner, the journey lasted from afternoon to the next morning. It was an unforgettable journey. It was eight years ago, but it felt like an eternity.
I didn't mind reenacting such a journey again, until I realized that the train this time was absolutely brand new. (and with air-conditioner!!)
Beginning of a 7-hour train ride. The screen was showing the last Harry Potter film when I got in.
The screen was playing an eclectic mix of films. It was HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 when I got onboard, during Harry Potter and Lord Voldermort's climatic battle.
I drifted to sleep and woke up 2 hours later. This time, it was playing RIO, the very entertaining animated film which I have seen before. So I went back to sleep.
When I got up, I was surprised to see a kungfu scene happening onscreen (with Dutch subtitles!). This time, they were playing the 2010 film IP MAN: A LEGEND IS BORN by Herman Yau, which I have not seen before. Back then, I dismissed it as a cheap cash grab of the previous IP MAN films with Donnie Yen.
Thankfully, I was wrong, and the film turned out to be more entertaining than expected, and more ambitious than I thought. I wonder whether it had anything to do with the fact that I felt a strange warmth watching a familiar Chinese film in a Sri Lankan train. Nevertheless, in the 2 hours that I was awake during the 7-hour journey, it was mostly spent on watching this film.
Arrived at Jaffna during the afternoon. I got the director's pass and the festival catalog.
Director pass and Jaffna International Cinema Festival catalog
In the evening, I even took a Tuk Tuk with a large TV on it!
Took the Tuk Tuk to University of Jaffna with director Asoka Handagama ( was going to his screening) There's a TV in the Tuk Tuk! Showing epic Tamil films.
As you can see from my latest barrage of photos, I've been wandering in Japan again. At places I've never been to, Nagoya, Gifu and Okazaki.
I saw a lot of wonderful things, beautiful things, preserved from the past, relics of proud history.
Yesterday I went to Okazaki, an idyllic little city with its own proud history. It is the site of the great Okazaki Castle (birthplace of the famous Tokugawa Ieyasu) and the 1300 year old Takisanji Temple.
The museum had gathered the works of many world-famous artists when they were children, or in their teens.
Aside from that, it was also displaying the (admittedly impressive) artwork of children from nearby schools.
Yesterday was also the very last day of their special exhibition of optical illusion-related artwork.
But what truly fascinated me was their so-called "Do Zone", a place with four different workshops for parents and children to work on drawing, clay modeling, handcrafting etc. It was Sunday, yesterday, so it was crowded.
Entering the zone of parent/children art workshops
It was heartening, and absolutely inspiring, to see the children of Japan being exposed to the beauty of art at such a young age, and also given the opportunity in participating, in creating their own art. That explains why Japanese people in general are more appreciative of the arts and culture. While in Malaysia, "art" is usually used as a dirty word. "Being an artist" is the scariest thing a parent could ever hear from their children. Creativity is often being stifled, having an imagination is often being scoffed at, this is the environment most Malaysian children had to deal with, for generations. No wonder we grow up so cynical and disdainful of things we don't understand.
I am envious of the Japanese children, and in awe of their parents, who would let, or even join their kids in these activities.
Outside the museum is a large park, there are statues, an observation deck, and soothing music blaring from the outdoor speakers. It's almost fantastical, wandering about in such a place.
My photos didn't really do the place justice. This series of short Youtube clips might give you a better idea what the museum and the area surrounding it are like.
I visited the World Children's Art Museum in Okazaki. It's quite a unique museum, collecting paintings from famous...
