Happy 10th Anniversary, Blog

Yesterday, I realized that this blog has existed for more than 10 years.

In an era of social media sites, the idea of keeping a blog is so passé, yet it remains.

And so, this blog has accompanied me for a decade, from my time as a directionless university student in Perth, to the gradual realization of my childhood dreams of becoming a filmmaker.

In truth, I cannot really remember how did I end up starting this blog. The first ever post of this blog was me giving a progress update on a novel that I was working on. But who was I addressing? I can't remember anymore. Perhaps the blog was started so that I could update a small circle of friends about what I was doing in Perth.

The first blog post was, in fact, pretty much what would have been a Facebook status update, or a Tweet. My oft-used online pseudonym then was "Swifty", I wanted to update people about my "writings", so the original URL of this blog was swiftywriting.blogspot.com

In 2005, I would then start writing about things I liked, video games, the latest films I saw, the latest books I read etc. Armed with a camcorder, I started making "films" with friends in university, I posted photos of these shoots, writing my thoughts about the experience, proclaiming my excitement and love for doing what I've been dreaming of doing. While making allusions to events of an unrequited love that until today, never had any closure.

3rd screening of RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS 破裂するドリアンの河の記憶 @ Tokyo International Film Festival

So, here I am, a weeks since I have returned from Copenhagen, and 5 days into a TV movie shoot.

It's been a month since the world premiere of RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS at the Tokyo International Film Festival. And three weeks since the third (last) screening of the film at the festival.

I have written about the first screening and the second screening of the film, so I figured I'll wrap things up. I'm writing all these mostly to help myself remember.

THE 3 ROOMS OF MELANCHOLIA is devastatingly beautiful

Pirjo Honkasalo's THE 3 ROOMS OF MELANCHOLIA (2004) is one of the few films I caught in CPH:DOX at Copenhagen last week.


I walked into the cinema with high expectations, since the CPH:LAB booklet I was given had recommended us lab people to go to the film, calling it one of the greatest documentaries ever made.

Despite the expectations, I was indeed mesmerized by what I saw, with numerous images haunting me long after I left the theaters. The film reminded me that non-fiction cinema can indeed be made with sheer artistry and poetry. I was reminded of Tarkovskian films of yore, even assuming that it was a film made in that time period. I was surprised that it was done merely a decade ago. Perhaps it was shocking to me, to see such things happening so recently.

My photos of Copenhagen during the CPH:LAB and CPH:DOX

The CPH:DOX international documentary film festival, held in Copenhagen, Denmark, is one of the most prestigious and well-known documentary festivals around.

Every year, as part of the festival, the CPH:LAB (formerly known as DOX:LAB) is held where 20 directors around the world are invited to attend workshops and classes. These 20 directors are paired up so that they can make an audiovisual project together, it can be a feature-length film, a short film, a documentary, a video installation etc.

This year, I was one of the 20 directors who was given the opportunity to participate in this. (and I'm paired up with the Croatian director Sonja Tarokic)

2nd screening of RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS 破裂するドリアンの河の記憶 @ Tokyo International Film Festival

25th of Oct, a day after the RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS world premiere, I had two "free days" before the next screening.

Video of RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS press conference @ Tokyo International Film Festival

This is the video from the Oct 24 press conference of RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS, just a couple of hours before its world premiere.

RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS 破裂するドリアンの河の記憶 red carpet and world premiere @ Tokyo International Film Festival

I finally got back from Tokyo.

The Tokyo International Film Festival in the past 10 days had been absolutely emotional, and inspiring. I will now take the time to update the blog with Facebook posts (not just mine, but others too) of the wondrous journey RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS had taken during its world premiere in this grand, prestigious festival. It all felt like a dream.

RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS trailer 【榴梿忘返】 预告片

This is the trailer of RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS. 破裂するドリアンの河の記憶

RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS media coverage

Ever since the announcement of its nomination in the Main Competition section of Tokyo International Film Festival late last month, the local media had been very generous with their coverage of RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS. For that, I am very grateful.

I was on TV to talk about RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS (Agenda Awani)

A week from now, I'll be flying off to Tokyo for the Tokyo Film Festival, where RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS will be making its world premiere.

Two weeks ago, before going off to Busan, I was on Agenda Awani to talk about my film. It was a great chat with host Kamarul Bahrin Haron. Thanks for having me there, Astro Awani.

Breast Cancer Awareness video I made

Two weeks ago, I posted about shooting a Breast Cancer Awareness video for Pink October, it featured the interviews with breast cancer survivors like my friend Claire Khoo, and family or friends of those who were touched by breast cancer.

The video was uploaded a couple of days ago while I was in Busan. Please please share this around.

THE SECOND LIFE OF THIEVES at Busan International Film Festival 2014

Just got back from Busan.

Ming Jin's new film SECOND LIFE OF THIEVES, which I produced, co-wrote and edited, had its world premiere at the Busan Film Fest.

I was there from Oct 5 to Oct 10.

RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS in Tokyo International Film Fest main competition

The Tokyo International Film Festival announced its line-up yesterday. So it's official, RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS is going to the main competition section. (In fact, I already received the messages from friends at the moment of the press conference, the age of social media is awesome. And so fast!)

Photos from a breast cancer awareness video shoot

I was in Bangkok doing the post-production for RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS when I saw an old acquaintance of mine, Claire Khoo, asking on Facebook whether anyone would be able to help her do a video about breast cancer awareness.

Claire, of course, was known as Minishorts back in the day and had a very popular blog. I've even done some guest posts for her. Those were almost 9 years ago. An eternity.

She is a breast cancer survivor too.

I decided to join the cause. Assembled a team to do a video where breast cancer survivors like Claire and many others, along with their friends and family, could share their stories. There are those who didn't survive, so their family members could tell their stories too.

Promotional short film for GST Expo 'IN TIME OF TEST'

Joseph Germani staring at the sun, contemplating.

Sarah Lian contemplates too.

Last month, I wrote about doing a promotional short film for October's GST Expo.

The short film "In Time of Test", which stars popular Youtuber Joseph Germani and renowned TV personality Sarah Lian, was uploaded last week. You can watch it here.

Finishing up the RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS post-production in Bangkok

Teacher Lim (Zhu Zhi-Ying) and her merry band of student protesters

I have spent the last 12 days in Bangkok for the post-production of both films, Woo Ming Jin's SECOND LIFE OF THIEVES (which I produced and co-wrote) and RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS (which I directed), at White Light Post.

I wrote about the experience with SECOND LIFE OF THIEVES here.

Once Ming Jin left, they started work on RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS.

10 books that stayed with me in some way

Posted this on Facebook a few days ago.

Post by Edmund Yeo.

(So I will post it here too, but with amendments. And links to previous blog posts related to these books. To help me remember.)

15 movies that will always stay with me

Recently, there had been a couple of memes spreading around on Facebook where people challenge one another to name 15 films that will always stay with them, within 15 minutes. (other iterations of this meme include literature, video games etc. which I will post some other time)

For now, I will elaborate upon the 15 films that I named off the top of my head.

Finishing up the SECOND LIFE OF THIEVES post-production in Bangkok

I came to Bangkok almost a week ago to finish up the post-production for both SECOND LIFE OF THIEVES (which I produced, co-wrote and edited) and RIVER OF EXPLODING DURIANS (which I directed).

Woo Ming Jin's SECOND LIFE OF THIEVES (I co-wrote and produced) is going to Busan International Film Festival 2014

The Busan International Film Fest lineup came out yesterday. So I can announce it now. Woo Ming Jin's new film SECOND LIFE OF THIEVES, which I co-wrote and produced (and, of course, edited) will be having its world premiere there. Quite an honour, being one of the three Malaysian films there. The others being Liew Seng Tat's LELAKI HARAPAN DUNIA (which just premiered in Locarno and will go to Toronto in a few days) and Bradley Liew's (no relation) short film XING.

就在这里跟大家分享好消息吧！

由本地导演胡明进执导， 杨毅恒（我）编剧／制片，本资深演员钟国强，联同李承运Berg Lee、陈美君MayJune Tan、林佩琦Emily Lim Pey Chi、丁仕匀JiYun Teng、叶良财Steve Yap主演的剧情片 Second Life of Thieves《偷.情》 成功入围第19届釜山影展“亚洲电影之窗”( A Window on Asian Cinema)观摩单元。

电影讲述村长陈叔接连遭遇妻子和老友赖叔忽然失踪、村里外劳离奇死亡的连串打击，在与赖叔女儿Sandy一同追查至亲下落的同时，却揭露了彼此埋藏已久的伤疤，被迫重新省思什么是爱与悔……