Letting Go

He and She had a wistful conversation. They came to a conclusion.

"Pain is inevitable in life. Ups and downs. All of it." She said.

"Uh huh, that's why life is an adventure." He said.

"Yup, just enjoy it." She said.

"I do. I never let the pain cripple me, I merely embrace it, letting it linger, just so I can create." He said.

"I agree. But don't you feel like letting it go though? Perhaps it's easier said than done." She said.

"I've already let go of the person, long ago. Just not memories of her." He said.

"Yeah, well said." She said.

"Of course!" He said.

"Sometimes, I still remember a lot of things I've spent time doing with my ex-boyfriend. Like jogging, a mundane. Then I ask myself why I still think of him. But some things can't be helped, rather that than to repress them." She said.

"It's not him you were thinking, but just memories of what it was like to be in love." He said.

There was a pause, then he added:

"Perhaps that is what I myself am also clinging on to."

Remember Dial-Up Internet?

I first started using the Internet back in 1997. I was 13. It was a miraculous experience, to be able to exchange emails with people, chat to people from all around the world in chatrooms, visiting websites of things that I am interested in. Those early pleasures of the Internet, like ICQ, Geocities websites, IRC chatrooms... they were so fresh to me back then.

I miss this sound.

The EPIC location scouting day 2

The second day of the location scouting began with sheer epic magnificence. We went through an area to seek some photogenic wilderness.

The EPIC location scouting day 1

The day began with an epic breakfast at Ming Jin's house.

"Can I make a living as filmmaker?"

I get these questions a lot from aspiring filmmakers of my own country.

"Can I make a living as a filmmaker?"

"How do YOU make a living as a filmmaker?"

"How much do you earn a month?"

Another new film project beckons

After finishing my latest short film late last month in the sound studios of Honjo (Japan), and a brief stint at the Jeonju International Film Fest, I had returned to Malaysia and went through a relatively idyllic lifestyle.

My trophies join my toys

Over the past few years while I dabbled in the dark, disgraceful arts of filmmaking, I was fortunate enough to pick up a number of awards along the way.

The imposing trip from Jeonju to Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur

The whole thing went like this:

Jeonju International Film Festival 2011 recap part 3

May 4th began with the second screening of EXHALATION and its Q and A session. (tickets, to my surprise and joy, were sold out two days earlier)

Jeonju International Film Festival 2011 recap part 2

May 2. I began the day by catching Kim Sun's SELF-REFERENTIAL TRAVERSE: ZEITGEIST AND ENGAGEMENT.

80 minutes later, I stumbled out of the theaters, a little dazed and confused. (check out this short review on Aphanisis)

Here is its trailer.

Jeonju International Film Festival 2011 recap

After arriving at Incheon Airport on the awesome business class seat. I took the bus from Seoul to Jeonju.

The epic bus ride lasted for more than 4 hours.

Whoa, business class

I'm now in Jeonju for the Jeonju International Film Festival.

As you may notice by now, I fly almost every month to a film fest. This jet-setting lifestyle is exciting, but hardly as glamourous as what most people envisioned, for example, I only travel on economy class, no, no private jet either.

So imagine my surprise yesterday when I was actually given the business class for the flight to Seoul. Commoners like me have never actually experienced such luxury in the air.

Very nice.

Heading off to the Jeonju Film Festival

I am now waiting for the airport limo at Four Seasons Hotel.

I'm flying off to attend the Jeonju International Film Festival. (3.5 hours away from Seoul via bus) where my short film EXHALATION will be making its Asian Premiere. Screenings are on the 1st and 4th of May. I will be there for the question and answer sessions, along with producer/ star Kiki Sugino. It's going to be fun.

Aside from that, there are numerous films I intend to catch at the festival: the 5 hour film HEAVEN'S STORY, the Bela Tarr film TURIN HORSE, the animated film THE ILLUSIONIST, another 5 hour film MYSTERIES OF LISBON (I caught an hour of it in Rotterdam), and those Jeonju Digital Project omnibus etc

Location:Japan

A melancholic dream about dying once

I thought I had a strange enough dream during my afternoon nap, but when I went back to my place and finally slept, I had a stranger dream.

I dreamed that I was back in Malaysia again, doing something mundane at home. Then my mother revealed reluctantly that I died once, in Japan, but they brought me home, and I was alive again.

There were brief flashes of images, like a quick montage. I saw myself collapsing onto the floor somewhere at the streets, and was hauled back from Japan to Malaysia in a white body bag.

I didn't remember how I came back to life. Everyone around me were polite and nice to me. Did they know what happened?

I went through the entire dream feeling incredulous that I had died once and wondering how I died before. I also wondered whether I was to die again. Or just fade away. There were so many things I have yet to do. It was a melancholic feeling.

In the end I decided that "perhaps i will live forever."

Or "perhaps I will just live on, normally, until old age. Or something like that. As if the first death was just a dream."

And then I woke up.

A singer who became a Buddhist nun.

There are only two buses a day that go from Honjo to Tokyo, one at 11 in the morning, the other at 7:45 in the evening. Miss any one of them and I would have to take the Shinkansen train home (3200 yen for a ride). Obviously, I chose not to pay for such a fee (after taking one here two nights ago) after I was done with LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER, I decided to wait it out for the evening bus.

I had already made backups with my hard disk, made a HDcam, burnt a DVD, it was 4pm. I headed to the lab for a nap.

Suddenly I was in the courtyard of a Buddhist temple, there were a number of monks and nuns before me. A nun was introduced to me by a monk, she had plain features, seemed slightly older than me, late 20s, or early 30s?

Finishing the postproduction of LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER

I have just spent another night in the ARTS AND SCIENCE CENTER in Honjo, which has state of the art postproduction facilities and is where I was putting the finishing touches on my latest film LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER.

Sound work for LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER

After spending the whole night finalizing the editing of my film and preparing it for sound work, I am now in the sound studio, having just woken up from a brief nap (I didn't sleep much last night, and there isn't much for me to do now)

I'm really going through 100 Years of Solitude

I ordered a copy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE two nights ago, then I received the book a couple of hours later on a Saturday morning from Amazon Japan. I started reading the book around 11pm, and before I realized it, the sun was already rising and it was dawn already.

I slept at 6am and woke up almost at noon. Then I resumed reading, and finished the book a couple of hours later. I didn't expect to finish this great literary work in almost one sitting, in a lazy eventless Sunday.

KINGYO receives Silver Horse from 19th Mediterranean Festival of New Filmmakers - Larissa

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

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Last week, just a day before I left for Tokyo, and when I was undergoing this interview with China Press (the one mentioned in the previous post) I suddenly received an email from the Mediterranean Festival of New Film-makers in Larissa, Greece, that my short film KINGYO had received the Silver Horse. (Golden Horse went to the Greek short CASUS BELLI by Yiorgos Zois).

I'm very honoured. It's been nearly two years since KINGYO (trailer) world premiered in Venice. Knowing that it is still being played before appreciative audiences is a joy, and it also validates the fact that the efforts put in by my cast and crew were totally worth it.

This morning, I finally received the trophy and certificate they sent me.

楊毅恆：電影是家人共同語言 Edmund Yeo: Film is my family's common language

It had been raining the last few days, all traces of cherry blossoms are gone, aside from some petals scattered on the ground.

Ever since I came back to Tokyo, I had been working around the clock to finalize the editing of my new film, LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER. Professor Ando (executive producer!) had hired the services of professional (and legendary) sound mixers and sound effects companies for the post-production, I'm very blessed.

Two nights ago, I was made aware by a former schoolmate of mine that the Malaysian Chinese paper China Press' interview with me (and my mom), which I did just a day before I left Malaysia, was available online (Chinese only).