Exploring the Hong Kong Filmart 2008

I've returned from Hong Kong last night, but I'll chronicle the last day of my trip there.

19th of March began early because I had to rush to the HK Convention and Exhibition Center (HKCEC) for the KURUS (Days of the Turquoise Sky) screening at 10am. Despite being really early, and neither of the booths at Filmart were open, I managed to invite a few FINAS representatives to watch the film with me. Really appreciated their support, and was happy to have new friends like them.

Once the screening was over, I started exploring the Filmart, and had the opportunity to meet other film producers and film festival programmers. It took me a while before I realized that I didn't manage to take any photos the day before, so I immediately snapped some quick ones of the impressive-looking booths of the event.

Hong Kong International Film Festival 2008 Opening Ceremony

My second day in Hong Kong began just as uneventfully as the one before. Attempting to get more information from the Film Festival Hospitality Center (it's one of the hotel rooms), I was shocked that it's closed.

Not knowing what to do, I took another walk back to Causeway Bay, and ended up at another traditional Hong Kong restaurant for brunch.

Heading to the Hong Kong International Film Festival and Filmart 2008

The past few days whirred by in a blur. Just as I usually was when involved in a production, I found myself buried deeply into the editing process of CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY, my first actual short film in more than a year. By Sunday (16th of March), I had finished the first cut of the film, and also celebrated dad's birthday.

I walked into an anti-piracy operation

(The following entry should NOT be taken seriously)

Pardon my lack of updates. Been rushing with the editing of CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY (production stills are here and here). Need to get it done before I fly off to Hong Kong on Monday.

Went to film some cutaways with Lesly The Cinematographer today. After getting some stunning shots from an alley and a park nearby, I needed shots from a PS2 football video game, but to my horror, neither of my FIFA or WINNING ELEVEN games were around. So Lesly and I headed to Amcorp Mall to make some quick purchases of these games.

Reaching the one and only videogame shop of the mall, I saw a man standing outside, taking photos. I dismissed the guy as some wannabe camera enthusiast, or annoying tourist, and immediately walked into the shop, flipping through the folders of PS2 games.

I vaguely noticed the photographer calling at me, and then someone approached.

"Dik, boleh keluar sekejap?" (Kid, can you leave the shop for a while?)

"Hm?" I replied. Eyeing the photographer who was looking at me, slightly annoyed that the man had the guts to call me out of the shop just so he could take his precious little photos.

CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY Production Stills (2 March 2008)

Here are the photos from the last day of the CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY shoot. Once again, they are all taken by Nikki Tok. (The first part of this series of photo is here)

Suanie's blog readers were confounded by this entry of hers where she posted a photo of her in make-up. So I'll reveal the mystery.

Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C.

10,000 B.C. was a magical cinematical experience. It's been a while since I had so much fun in the theater while watching what I would normally regard as a shitty film.

I saw it at KLCC on Friday (7th of March). It was a rowdy crowd. People laughed at the most inappropriate moments (but then, the film IS full of unintentional hilarity) and made amusing comments as the film went on. Like the few women behind me, where I would overheard lines like:

CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY Production Stills (1 March 2008)

All these photos from the CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY shoot were taken by Nikki Tok, who helped me a lot with the production, definitely Da Huang Pictures' Miss Everything.

Happy Birthday To Me

24 years ago, on the 6th of March, in a Singaporean hospital. I was born.

That's all i have to say.

Daniel Day-Lewis' monumental performance in 'There Will Be Blood'

Yeah, I really haven't been reviewing much lately. Had a lot to do with the fact that I hadn't seen anything worth reviewing lately. What's the point of reviewing a film that merely gave me a 'meh' reaction when I probably have much more to write if I thought the film was really good, or really horrible.

CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY Shoot Is Over!

I've spent the whole weekend shooting CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY. And it's finally over! I was surprised that the shoot went on so smoothly, and despite the crazy weather in the past two days, we managed to overcome the odds!

The whole idea for the CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY screenplay started sometime in last October, when I was borrowing some space from Da Huang Pictures to hold an audition for KURUS. While waiting for candidates to come, I was throwing out short film ideas to filmmakers Liew Seng Tat and Tan Chui Mui in a desperate bid to break my year-long creative drought.

The exchange was like this:

CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY Shoot Begins

After having our rehearsal two days ago, the CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY shoot officially began today, on the 26th of Feb.

CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY Rehearsal

Despite being sick during the past few days, my short film, CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY (mentioned the completion of its script last December, and also announced its casting last month), is being fast tracked for a shoot next week.

The protagonists of the script were Mom, Dad and Son, I wrote the script with the child actor, Lim Ming Wei of FLOWER IN THE POCKET, in mind. And also imagined that Dad would look like a certain actor (I'll conceal his identity) who was in a James Lee film last year. To my surprise, the first person who contacted me after I posted up the casting notice was this very person I imagined.

My Prediction For The 80th Oscars

The 80th Academy Awards is mere hours away. Predicting the Oscars was something I've liked doing with Sebastian back in our high school days, but the guy is so pissed off over this year's nominations (he hated frontrunner NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN) that he decides to sulk and boycott it. I'll do it myself. Anyone else who actually gives a rat's ass about the Oscars, or has an opinion about it can post their comments here.

Here we go (my prediction in bold):

Remembering The Day I Met Lydia Sum

I met the late Lydia Sum Din-Ha (her name is also spelt as Lydia Shum) during a 2004 trip in Singapore, months before I went to Perth.

It was an afternoon, and we were eating at the Wo Men De restaurant, famous for its fish head curry. The restaurant was relatively empty that day, I think we were the only ones there.

Then all of a sudden, I heard the restaurant door opening behind me, I didn't turn back, until both my mom reacted.

"It's Lydia Sum." She said.

KURUS Featured on THE STAR (20 Feb 2008)

KURUS is featured on today's The Star.



Props to them for including, well, a photo that has me in it :D

Kung Fu Dunk 功夫灌籃 is a depressing film to watch on Valentine's Day

I don't really mind Jay Chou as an actor.

So far, to me, his films were either surprisingly entertaining (INITIAL D), unintentionally campy (CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER) or unexpectedly affecting (SECRET). But I had my doubts about his newest film KUNG FU DUNK. In fact, I was prepared for the worst.

OMFG! KURUS is showing TONIGHT! (17th of Feb, 2008)

Okay, the NTV7 person probably made a mistake when she told us that KURUS will be showing on the 24th of February.

In fact, based on today's newspapers, KURUS will most probably air at NTV7 on the 17th of Feb, 10:45pm. Yes, that's TONIGHT!!!!!!

So please please PLEASE watch it!!!

Here are the trailers (again):






Tell your friends to watch it, and tell your friends to tell their friends to watch it, and then tell your friend's friends to tell THEIR friends to watch it etc etc.

Two (VERY AWESOME) KURUS Trailers

I've announced yesterday that the telemovie will be airing at NTV7 on the 24th of February, 2008.

So check out the trailers now.


KURUS trailer 1


KURUS trailer 2


Once again, KURUS (English title: Days of the Turquoise Sky) is from Greenlight Pictures, the folks who brought you the hit telemovie CINTA TIGA SEGI and the award-winning THE ELEPHANT AND THE SEA (coming to cinemas soon). KURUS is a coming-of-age film that stars newcomer Arshad Zamir, Mislina Mustapha, Nam Ron and Carmen Soo. It is written and directed by Woo Ming Jin. It is produced by Edmund Yeo, Woo Ming Jin, Tomoko Ueda and Aron Koh.

Tags: kurus, days of the turquoise sky, woo ming jin, arshad zamir, carmen soo, mislina mustapha, nam ron, youtube, trailer, video

KURUS will be airing at NTV7 on the 24th of Feb, 10:45pm

Well, folks, I've gotten the confirmed the airing date for KURUS, and it's on the 24th of February, 10:45pm. NTV7.

Yes, that's the telemovie I last produced and couldn't stop talking about in the past few weeks.

Here are links to its press coverage:

• Carmen Soo and KURUS Featured on New Straits Times (11 Feb 2008)
• KURUS Featured on THE SUN (11 Feb 2008)
• Woo Ming Jin and KURUS Featured in New Sunday Times (3 Feb 2008)
• Carmen Soo and KURUS Featured on Metro Harian (2 Feb 2008)

And some miscellaneous links to production stills and others:

• Photos from KURUS Press Conference
• KURUS Production Diary - English Title confirmed. Days of the Turquoise Sky
• KURUS Production Diary - 'Carmen Soo Day 1'
• KURUS Production Diary - 'Carmen Soo Day 2'
• KURUS Production Diary - More production photos

Obviously, I'm going to do another marathon posting of the film until it airs.

The following are some random photos of KURUS. Refresh the page to view different photos.

KURUS (English title: Days of the Turquoise Sky) is from Greenlight Pictures, the folks who brought you the hit telemovie Cinta Tiga Segi. KURUS is a coming-of-age film that stars newcomer Arshad Zamir, Mislina Mustapha, Nam Ron and Carmen Soo. It is written and directed by my mentor, the award-winning Woo Ming Jin.

Tags: kurus, carmen soo, woo ming jin, arshad zamir, mislina mustapha, nam ron, days of the turquoise sky, telemovie, film, ntv7

CJ7 長江七號

By far the most anticipated Chinese film of the year, Stephen Chow's CJ7 had to deal with sky-high expectations since it happened to be his first film since 2004's KUNG FU HUSTLE.

Valentine's Day Melancholy

A MSN conversation between Sebastian and I that occurred in the morning:

Conversation on 'Sweeney Todd' With Lune

I saw Sweeney Todd two weeks ago, since I generally like most musicals, I rather enjoyed the film, though to me, it's a 'good but not great' film. Nonetheless, I have been looping the soundtrack on my computer a lot these days.

The following review is done with my friend, Lune (back in 2005, she and I collaborated in the Blogathon, in which we alternated between her drawing pictures, and me writing a novella based on her drawings, our collaboration was awesome, considering that we conjured all those up in 24 hours), who having seen the musical, ain't that impressed with the film adaptation.

Carmen Soo and KURUS Featured on New Straits Times (11 Feb 2008)

Carmen Soo's experiences during the KURUS shoot is revealed in Sharifah Arfah's interview with her on New Straits Times.

(click pic below and go to 'ALL SIZES' to view larger version)



Or read the interview here.

KURUS, a film which marks my very first producer credit, will be showing on NTV7 soon. It is also making its festival premiere at the Hong Kong International Film Festival next month.

I'll be posting up the trailers one of these days.

Tags: kurus, carmen soo, arshad zamir, woo ming jin, interview, film, days of the turquoise sky

KURUS Featured on THE SUN (11 Feb 2008)

The Sun's Pauline Wong did a feature on KURUS, this telemovie I produced and couldn't stop talking about in the past few weeks.

A Bittersweet Return to Ipoh for Chinese New Year 2008

I'm back from Ipoh, mom's hometown.

Some of you may know that last Dec, my Alzheimer Disease-ridden grandmother was hospitalized after being attacked by two snatch thieves just outside her house.

These are two photos of her in the hospital early January.

BLASTED ASIANS TOO CLEVER

What I Miss About Chinese New Year Eve

Photos by Hugo*

During my childhood, Chinese New Year Eve had always been one of my favourite days of the year.

Because it was so magical.

I could stay up late at night, and watch endless Hong Kong films (mostly those comedies starring Sam and Michael Hui) showing on TV then, I could see my neighbours burning incense and other stuff outside their houses, and most of all, once the clock struck twelve, there would be the deafening sound of fire crackers to signal the beginning of Chinese New Year.

Yet over the years, Chinese New Year Eve had lost its magic to me.

Since I stay up late almost every night... Chinese New Year Eve felt just like any other day.

Since there are less Hong Kong films these days, and most probably I've been watching more films now, most HK films aired on TV are stuff that I've already seen before.

I was going to lament about how firecrackers have been outlawed in the country... but since I was interrupted by the faint sounds of fire crackers while typing this, I guess there's really nothing to lament about.

This year's the Year of the Rat, just like the year I was born. I've already reached the second cycle of the Chinese Zodiac. 12 years ago today, I was in the last year of my primary school.

Has it lost its magic? Or maybe it's just because I'm not a child anymore.

Nonetheless, I'm still looking forward to the angpows.

Happy Chinese New Year and Gong Hei Fatt Choy, everyone.

Tags: happy chinese new year, gong hei fatt choy

Dusting off my Nanowrimo 2005 novel...

Back in Nov 2005, I took part in the National Novel Writing Month 2005 and attempted to write 50 000 words in a month. I succeeded in hitting the word count, but the novel remained unfinished, so somehow, it felt like a hollow victory.

Woo Ming Jin and KURUS Featured in New Sunday Times (3 Feb 2008)

Ming Jin the Mentor and our latest production, KURUS, had been featured in the 3rd of February's New Sunday Times.

Aside from the film itself, this article focuses mostly on our wonderful collaborators, The Limkokwing Film and Television Institute and their involvement in KURUS.



KURUS (English title: Days of the Turquoise Sky), starring Arshad Zamir, Mislina Mustapha, Nam Ron and Carmen Soo, will be coming to NTV7 soon.

It's also going to next month's Hong Kong International Film Festival, which I'm going to attend. (YES!)

Anyway, just a day before this, Carmen Soo and the film, KURUS, were featured in Metro Harian.

Tags: kurus, arshad zamir, woo ming jin, greenlight pictures, days of the turquoise sky, limkokwing, carmen soo, mislina mustapha, telemovie, ntv7, film

Carmen Soo and KURUS Featured on Metro Harian (2 Feb 2008)

This is from yesterday's Metro Harian, a Malay-language newspaper. It's a feature on Carmen Soo and our film, KURUS.

Click the pictures and check out the larger versions if you want to read the feature. I like the title "Victimized by Naughty Students". (Carmen plays a school teacher in the film)

Had to fold the papers to scan them, quite a hassle.





Yes, it's unfortunate that I had this weird expression on my face in that group photo with Carmen (I'm the one in purple, btw).

The telemovie, KURUS, is coming out on NTV7 soon and co-stars Arshad Zamir, Mislina Mustapha and Namron.

I'm heading back to Limkokwing University tomorrow to edit another trailer for it.




KURUS trailer 2


Related entries
Photos from the KURUS press conference on the 28th of Jan.
KURUS Production Diary - 'Carmen Soo Day 1'
KURUS Production Diary - 'Carmen Soo Day 2'
KURUS Production Diary - More production photos

Tags: kurus, carmen soo, arshad zamir, woo ming jin, mislina mustapha, days of the turquoise sky, limkokwing, greenlight pictures

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY by Julian Schnabel

I saw this film in Singapore last week, but just before I entered the cinema, I went to buy Jean-Dominique Bauby's memoir, 'Le Scaphandre et le Papillon' that this film was based on. The book is thin, so it could actually be finished in one sitting (I read sporadically, so it took me two days)

The book was written after Bauby, a former 'Elle' magazine editor, suffered a massive stroke that left him paralyzed from head to toe, save for his left eye, and he wrote the book by communicating with the blinking of his eye. An amanuensis repeatedly recited a frequency-ordered alphabet (E, L, A, O, I, N, S, D ...), until Bauby blinked to choose the next letter. He died in 1997 just a few days after the book was published.

How I Made A Short Film With Nokia N95 (Part 3)

Go read Part 1 and Part 2 if you haven't already.

This is the final post of my production diary for my latest short 'FROM BHOL LE WITH LOVE', which was used as an opening video for the PC.com Awards Ceremony.

I always win shampoos in lucky draws

Two nights ago, I went to this Happy event held at Cafe Libre with Erna and Suanie. Was an interesting experience cos I finally met Kimberlycun (the original inspiration for the CHINOFIER gadget that appeared in my latest short, From Bhol Le With Love) and KY in person after first knowing of their names and blogs for many years. And then to meet all these fellow Murdoch/KDU alumni, hah, small world.

And here's a photo of me winning a shampoo from the movie trivia. I ended up winning two shampoos that night, I'm happy to know that I don't have to shop for shampoos anymore.


Winning my first shampoo. Wonderful. Smashpop watches from behind.


More wacky photos by the wonderful photographer Louis (damn, dude, update your site) can be found in David's post. Personally, I think my photo is awesome. Any photos of me with the other shampoo?

Posting will resume to normal with Part 3 of my 'How I Made A Short Film With A Nokia N95' series or one of my many overdue film reviews.

Jason Reitman's JUNO

Now that the Oscar nominations have announced, I've been trying my best to catch all films nominated in the Best Picture category via all means since not all are screened in Malaysia.

Photos from KURUS Press Conference

(UPDATED on July 5th, 2016)

The entire film is here

---

I attended the press conference and screening of KURUS yesterday at the KL branch of Limkokwing University. Not much to say for now, just some photos to share.

How I Made A Short Film With Nokia N95 (Part 2)

Part 1 is here.

14th of January, 2008. Arriving at the location of the shoot, which was the REACH PUBLISHING office, home of the PC.COM Magazine, I started surveying the office space, finding the appropriate place to shoot the video.

Not an easy task since it was still a normal work day for the REACH PUBLISHING employees.

"I'm going to be your one-woman crew." Erna announced, hauling a bag of props that I've asked her to buy for me. I examined the contents, ensuring everything I needed was there.

Chewxy's WEB OF LIES Premiere Party

Currently typing this from my hotel in Singapore, hence the lack of updates. Arrived on Friday, returning today. Despite initial misgivings and the fact that I come here often, two nights in Singapore just ain't enough! (Nonetheless, I still managed to buy many books!)

A night before I went to Singapore, Chewxy threw a premiere party for his debut (live-action) short film, WEB OF LIES that he made last July before leaving for Australia. I'm still credited as the producer of this 25-minute short film despite the fact that I was only involved in its preproduction (helping Chewxy with his auditions and rehearsals). After that, I experienced some schedule clashing as preproduction of the telemovie CINTA TIGA SEGI (recently broadcasted on NTV7) started just when Chewxy and co begun their 3-day marathon shoot.

RIP Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger (1979-2008)


When I woke up early this morning, I saw that my MSN window was flashing with Sebastian's message. (My laptop is placed on my bed beside me most of the time when I sleep)

Did you hear?

I was one of the first to read about the news on Cinematical.

Groggily, I typed 'yes', assuming that he was referring to the announcement of the Oscar nominations, but swiftly, I clicked on my Firefox live bookmark to see the Cinematical RSS feed.

And knew immediately that he was referring to Heath Ledger's sudden death, either of accidental overdose or suicide.

How I Made A Short Film With Nokia N95 (Part 1)

This is a chronicle of the video I made for the PC.com Magazine Awards Night held last Friday at KL Tower.

CLOVERFIELD by Matt Reeves

Here we go, the first potential Hollywood blockbuster hit of 2008.

Cloverfield, thanks to viral marketing, and also having its intriguing trailer placed before last year's Transformers in US theaters, had swiftly became a much-anticipated film for many (myself included).

First Time At KL Tower In 10 Years To Attend the 8th PC.com Product Awards Night

The last time I visited KL Tower was nearly 10 years ago, for my 14th birthday. Dinner with family and my best fat buddy. We dined at the revolving restaurant, it was a magical night for the atmosphere and joy, but because the food weren't spectacular, I never really thought of going back. So I didn't.

Making the opening video for PC.com Awards Night

Sorry for the lack of updates.

Been making the opening video for this Friday's PC.COM Magazine Awards Night. Shot it on Monday and Tuesday and in the midst of editing it.

Posting will resume to normal when I think I'm free enough. And I might post the video on Youtube if it's a hit.

For now, just wish me luck.

[OPEN THREAD] Cinta Tiga Segi telemovie

Open thread for the telemovie, CINTA TIGA SEGI. Leave your comments, complaints, compliments, questions below.

Why Watch tonight's CINTA TIGA SEGI: One third of it went to major international film festivals. You view it for free.

One of the three segments of tonight's telemovie, CINTA TIGA SEGI, was extracted and turned into a short film called BLUE ROOF (which I've mentioned before).

BLUE ROOF had its world premiere at last year's PUSAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, the largest film festival in Asia, and will also be showing at the ROTTERDAM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL end of this month. (... along with a couple of film festivals that I will announce in the near future)

Aside from that, the short film will screen at the Malaysian Shorts in HELP UNIVERSITY on the 21st of January.



However, CINTA TIGA SEGI will provide a definite, conclusive ending for BLUE ROOF that wasn't available in the actual short film. So even if you've seen the short film, you STILL need to catch this film, tonight on NTV7, 10:45pm.

(UPDATED 14th of March, 2016)

Awesome Photo Stills from CINTA TIGA SEGI, An Important TV Event In Malaysia!

The stills from CINTA TIGA SEGI are very awesome. This upcoming TV movie stars Juliana Ibrahim, Gambit Saifullah, Isma Husein, Chew Kinwah, Razif Hashim, Azman Hassan.

CINTA TIGA SEGI is airing on NTV7 at 10:45pm this Sunday

A major TV event.

Goodbye, Zhao Lao Shi

I was at the Ipoh Specialist Centre visiting my grandmother (still recovering from the injury she suffered after an attack by snatch thieves) last night when I received a surprise phone call from an old classmate bearing bad news.

Casting For 'CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY' Begins

Knew that I have to kick things into gear as soon as possible if I really wanted my new short film, CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY to happen, so I've begun my attempts of casting.

Made a phone call to Nikki of Da Huang last night pleading for help to spread the news about the casting, and then posted a notice at Kakiseni.com and the Malaysian Cinema mailing list this morning. Here's the notice:

Discussing the "Gone Baby Gone" Ending

GONE BABY GONE is Ben Affleck's directorial debut.

As an actor, his career decisions have left many shaking heads in disapproval. Until this very day, the mere mention of PEARL HARBOUR would make me grimace in disgust, and I still have frustrating high school memories of classmates and schoolmates telling me that 'the film wasn't so bad, hee hee hee', or Sebastian claiming that Pearl Harbor would have been nominated for Best Pic Oscar if it weren't for 9/11. I wanted to scream "AAAAAAAARGH! WHAT'S SO [EXPLETIVE CENSORED] GOOD ABOUT THE [EXPLETIVE CENSORED] FILM? ARE YOU [EXPLETIVE CENSORED] KIDDING THE [EXPLETIVE CENSORED] OUT OF ME?", but I was much mellower then, so I merely suffered from teenage angst, nothing more.

10 Most-viewed Posts of 2007

Happy new year, you all. Here are the top ten most-viewed posts of 2007.