KINGYO cinematographer Josha shot the new SPEED music video, Yubiwa

Now, finally, something not about the screenings of my film.

A few years ago I mentioned my teenage love for the Japanese pop group SPEED.




They started in 1996, then disbanded in 2000. I was crushed. In 2008, they came back again, I was skeptical. Yet the intensity of my love for SPEED, especially lead vocalist Hiroko Shimabukuro (the tall one), was so intense that I composed silly haiku for her.

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.