Catch KINGYO and a sneak peek of INHALATION at Malaysian Shorts, 20th Sept

UPDATED: This is my short film Kingyo, in its entirety

A while ago, Allan Koay the journalist once asked whether I noticed that my short films looked alike.

I disagree.

Aside from having scenes of brooding young women.



Luchino Fujisaki in KINGYO


Susan Lee in INHALATION


And regularly centering around two protagonists walking around somewhere at night, chit-chatting, and reopening old wounds etc etc.





I think each and every single one of my shorts look different!

First minute of LOVE SUICIDES at FILMINUTE 2010

(After such a long period of inactivity, I am now bombarding this blog with festival announcements, eek.)

This actually started at the beginning of September, but I didn't mention it due to some, er, distractions.

Anyway. a one-minute incarnation (or rather, the first scene) of my older short film, LOVE SUICIDES (2009), was one of the 25 finalists selected for FILMINUTE 2010, an international one-minute short film festival. I was a little surprised when I was informed last month by the people at the festival that the first scene of LOVE SUICIDES seemed like a 1-min film by itself!

So yeah, after that I decided to extract the scene and sent them as LOVE SUICIDES: PROLOGUE.

Watch it here on the Filminute website. (considering that it's only a minute long, I really don't that it'll waste that much of your time. Hah)

INHALATION also playing at Vancouver and Tokyo International Film Festivals (with THE TIGER FACTORY)

I mentioned in my previous post that my latest short, INHALATION, is finally making its premiere in competition at the Pusan International Film Festival on the 8th of October.

Actually on the same day (but slightly later, due to timezones), INHALATION will also be opening before THE TIGER FACTORY at the Vancouver International Film Festival. And later in the month of October, INHALATION will also be playing before THE TIGER FACTORY at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

INHALATION on Vancouver International Film Festival site

THE TIGER FACTORY on Vancouver International Film Festival site

I liked the INHALATION synopsis given on the VIFF website.

An alternate version of The Tiger Factory’s narrative, compressed, stretched, and flipped, by its writer/producer.

INHALATION premiering in competition at Pusan International Film Festival

It's not everyday that you get to plug your own SHORT FILM (!!) at the Cannes Film Festival. But I did just that with INHALATION, back in May, during the press conference of THE TIGER FACTORY, when I was asked about it by Jeremy Segay the moderator and programmer.

Review of THE WHITE FLOWER at J-FIlm Pow-Wow

Marc Saint-Cyr had posted a review of THE WHITE FLOWER at J-Film Pow-Wow. Here's an excerpt:

Suitably, the still photography used throughout “The White Flower” is incredibly beautiful, possessing much richness, crisp clarity and great attention to framing and lighting in every shot. In fact, viewers are likely to be doubly grateful for the slideshow-like manner in which the shots progress, as it allows them to better savor each image while seeming to magnify and expand each of the contemplative, intimate moments that comprise the film’s episodic structure.

Read the full review!

THE WHITE FLOWER was recently screened at the InDPanda International Short Film Festival in Hong Kong.

THE WHITE FLOWER screening at InDPanda International Short Film Festival

me pointing at the WHITE FLOWER still


Leaving from Hong Kong to Guangzhou the day after the world premiere of THE WHITE FLOWER left me Twitter-less, Facebook-less, Youtube-less and Blogger-less, hence the lack of updates.

So, back to the screening of THE WHITE FLOWER. On the night of the 26th, I finally got to screen my experimental THE WHITE FLOWER to the public at the Broadway Cinematheque.

Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong

After hearing so much about the Avenue of Stars (it's modeled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame), I decided to pay a visit yesterday. I was greeted by the huge replica of the Hong Kong Film Awards statuette.

I was Crossing Hennessy in Hong Kong

Arrived at Hong Kong two days ago, staying at an interesting hotel at Wan Chai called MINGLE BY THE PARK. Here's dad.

Visiting a horror film set.

I arrived in Hong Kong yesterday afternoon (it's 2am when I'm writing this), the night before, Lesly the Cinematographer and Moon Lai the actress of THE TIGER FACTORY and NOW (the 1-min epic I shot last week) went to visit a horror film set.

Trailer of THE WHITE FLOWER

This was actually posted on Twitch a while ago (my friends at Toronto J-Film Pow Wow covered it too), but I've been so busy with my own shoots back in Malaysia that I didn't get around to sharing it with you guys.

My experimental short, THE WHITE FLOWER, which I shot last year, is finally making its world premiere at the Hong Kong InDpanda Short Film Festival next week. To commemorate this, I cut together a trailer for the short.

It's an experimental film based on Yasunari Kawabata's short story of the same title, constructed mostly with still photos like Chris Marker's LA JETEE. It's my third Kawabata adaptation after LOVE SUICIDES and KINGYO.

Here's a synopsis.

A young Chinese woman living in Tokyo is haunted by remnants of a forbidden relationship and a dark family past. She ends up in a sanitarium and meets a doctor conflicted between his job and his personal feelings. After being discharged, she meets a wandering Thai filmmaker contemplating the relationship between art and love. Her encounters with them lead to unexpected revelations.

THE WHITE FLOWER is written, directed and edited by me. Produced by Maiko Itagaki. Cinematographer by Niklas Kullstrom (who just got married, congratulations, dude).

Starring Zhu Dan, Toru Inamura and Kong Pahurak (who also took the photo above).

Information of the film from the InDpanda website can be viewed here

Film shoot for a one-minute epic. Day 2

6 days have passed since I wrapped the shoot of my one-minute epic, titled 'NOW'. Spent two days editing it. It was a tough slog, so many materials I've shot, yet I had to toss most of them away to fit into the 1 minute length. Nonetheless, it was worth the challenge.

Film shoot for a one-minute epic. Day 1

I was shooting my 1-minute epic last night.



Yes, you read that right. I was making an epic short film that is 1-minute in length. It's not the easiest thing to do, hence the pained expression etched upon my movie star-like face.