King of Guangzhou

UPDATE: 

Watch the trailer below:

The "King of Guangzhou is now on vimeo. 

For the full film, click here.

Festivals and Screenings: Apchat International Film Festival, 10th Montreal International Black Film Festival, New Voices of Black Cinema 2015, Zanzibar International Film Festival 2015, San Francisco Black Film Festival, 10th Annual Harlem International Film Festival, 19th Urban World Film Festival, Filminitiativ Koln-African Diaspora Cinema, Kalasha International Film Festival, 2016 San Diego Black Film Festival, Denton Black Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival
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After the overnight shoot of "UnFlaw" at Kranji in Singapore, I rushed home to catch up with some sleep, then woke up to pack and leave for Guangzhou, China, for the production of "King of Guangzhou".

By the time I landed in Guangzhou and checked into the hotel, it was 4am, that after a quick and tasty century egg porridge supper at the local KFC. :)

After slumbering on the bed for a few hours, I woke up to the view of Guangdong TV station building in front. The skyline was hazy. Pollution is really bad in China.

Production was already started on the rooftop of a block of apartments in the neighbourhood. The director decided to move the location to the roof top after the electricity was disrupted in the apartment.

As it turned out, the rooftop view was telegenic. Subsequently, we had a rooftop garden buffet for lunch. :)

The next day, we headed out to the African Quarters in the XiaoBei district in Guangzhou. We nickname it 'Chocolate City'. It is a colourful cultural mosaic of African, Turkish and Han Chinese people living in a hive of commercial activities.

Background: The number of Africans in Guangzhou is estimated to be between 20,000 to 200,000. It is a wide range, as it is difficult to estimate how many have overstayed their visa and are not registered in the statistics. These Africans mostly come to China as traders, sending goods from Guangzhou factories back to Africa. It is very hard for any of them to get a Permanent Resident status, so they either stay as Tourist and renew their visa every time it ends or overstay as an an illegal.

And this set the backdrop of the story of "King of Guangzhou" -about a Nigerian man who has a Chinese wife and child, but now had his visa extension denied. Faced with the horror of leaving his family in Guangzhou, he embarked on a false optimism to pay his way out of his problem, via another compatriot who claims to know the right strings to pull in the bureaucracy. This turned horribly wrong and ugly when his fellow countryman ran away with the money.

 

This is Quester Hannah, the director and script writer of "King of Guangzhou", planning the camera locations and route of the scene where the Nigerians are fleeing from Immigration Officer Mosquito, played by yours truly. :)

 

The fleeing route passes through many back alleys like this one. Apartment blocks are built uncomfortably close to one another leaving only a gap of light passing through.

It is along these back alleys that we got most of the scenes captured - away from the glaring eyes of the public. The residents are generally very curious and chatty. Some thought that we were reporters going to capture the filthy state of the place due to the municipal cleaner strike that left garbage uncollected for three days.

 

This is Officer Mosquito who finally caught up with Chike, the Nigerian character who ran away with the money. 

Chike is played by Michael Tochukwo, himself a Nigerian trader in Guangzhou who has lived there for many years and married to a Chinese woman. I find him to be a natural actor with an agile mind. He speaks Mandarin fluently and was diligently learning a line in Cantonese, which I had only taught him in that instance, on set.

This is a surreal scene that is symbolic of the fears of Adede. That of the authorities coming after him, and his losing his wife and  his baby.

One of the Nigerian actor that Quester hired didn't turn up. So, Quester picked some other Nigerian he in the market and hired him. As it turned out, this new guy we picked up from the street acted well, with a clear diction and a booming voice.

Rest time with Karen Tan. She plays the factory worker wife of the lead character Adede.

This is the fifth time that I am working with her. In the other acts, she was
- a neighbour whom I was trying to have a relationship with;
- an ex-wife amid a child custody issue;
- an angry wife when I brought home a mistress;
- a mother of a little boy who was persistently buying tissue paper from me out of sympathy.

 

In the end, it is all good fun and fantasy. If life is one big dream, then these productions are dreams within my dream.

This is Officer Mosquito in full glory! :)

The weather is a comfortable 20 degrees Centigrade this time of the year, so wearing this crazy trench coat wasn't bad. The alternative of wearing official police uniforms didn't go down well with the local police. Hence the creation of this plainclothes undercover cop.

 

These are the two lead actors: Uchenna Onyia and Karen Tan. Uchenna is a theatre actor based in New York.  He plays Adede in the story.

This is the factory place where Meiling, Adede's wife works.

This is our devoted Director of Photography, Neville Jackson. All the scenes apart from one, are captured hand-held. The scene not captured hand-held was done on a steady cam rig. It must be a strenuous 10 days for him.

In this picture, he was capturing the moving frames of Aede and Meiling as they cycled along the road.

He worked hard. Everyday after I have wrapped, I would go back to the room and crash on the bed, while he continued to work on his shot list for the next day till late in the night.

With Tiger, the local production assistant, who also played a part as an immigration officer in the script.

This is my first real overseas shoot and my 100th assignment in the last two years. That is, barring recent forays into Malaysia and Indonesia. Acting per se, is the same whether it is in Guangzhou, or anywhere else. The way to get into character and draw out the appropriate emotions is no different. However, I have noted the following in Guangzhou:

1. Language: Speaking Cantonese or any other alien language to your co-actors, in this case Nigerian actors, was a little tricky.

2. Culture: The Nigerian actors come from a contrastingly different culture from the Chinese, so reading their facial expressions and reacting to the little nuances was a new experience for me.

3. Geography: A lot of things are unpredictable in a location like Chocolate City. So, there were a lot of working around the script, the crowd, the authorities and the bystanders.

These are our local translators. In China, it is necessary to have a local team to sort things out when there are issues on the ground.

I am so glad that I could speak Cantonese to the local people. On one instance, I even spoke Teochew to a restaurant owner, his native tongue from another Guangdong city called Shantou - perhaps to his delight, as we got a free pot of Chinese tea and some cups later!

Speaking the local language goes a long way towards building relationships. I must better the languages I speak, especially those that are still very basic.

The "King of Guangzhou" production has been a splendid experience. It is a new chapter in my acting journey. Working together and living together with the cast and crew also added a lot to the team spirit.

There are two lessons I learned in Guangzhou.

1. Bring enough Reminbi cash. Very few places take credit card. Don't rely on converting your dollars to Reminbi in Guangzhou. There are only very few legitimate money lenders in the city, if at all. There are also those that are ready to exchange your dollars for some counterfeit Reminbi.

2.The local Chinese are very tolerant, given that they are used to living in chaos, congestion and a polluted environment, but don't let that make you complacent, as it would take only one nasty one to pick on a small mistake you make and amplify it enough to stall your shoot.

Here are some wild clips that I took with my mobile phone...

UnFlaw

The Emperor

In the former Kranji Transmission Station

 

I have come close to my wish of acting as a strong Asian politician, in a biographical account.

This one is a science fiction about an Emperor who wants to vaccinate his citizens so that they will be incapable of hatred, but filled with love and live in bliss forever. And he shall jail anyone that comes in his way - resistance is futile - which includes his very own son and inventor of the vaccine.

This role came as a surprise, from a phone call when I was in the bus, less than 24 hours from the shoot. I got the script early in the morning and to my horror found that there were chunks of dialogues to memorize in Mandarin!!!! That was 7am in the morning, so I spent every hour since then memorizing my lines till call time at 10pm the same day. Lots of sweat. I took it as a challenge to see how far I can go and how much I can achieve in a short time like this.

The Son and Inventor of the Vaccine

My part wrapped at midday the next day. I rushed home, took a nap till 6pm, then prepare to pack up to leave for Guangzhou, China for another shoot. That one playing the role of an immigration officer chasing up African over-stayers. Stay tuned.

As it turned out, UnFlaw was a pleasant surprise.

Director/Script Writer: Tan Ming Jie.

PS:
My Wish List:

1. To act as a strong Asian politician in his biographical account on film.

2. To act as a multi-character character in a comedy.

3. To act in a musical.

Reel Frenz

At Hans Cafe, 1 Pickering Street, Singapore on 12 Jan 2013.

Reel Frenz is a Meetup.com group founded by Marrie Lee, the lead actress of "They Call Her Cleopatra Wong" (1978), on the 19th November 2012. It is for people who loves movie making. The Group's page profile says that it is:

"A group with a passion”. It is THE place where actors, directors, scriptwriters, lights, camera, sound, music writers / directors and arts students can call home. A place to discuss, pitch ideas and come together for film and video projects. See your ideas turn into reality. You can be a pro, an amateur, someone with creative passion or a movie goer with ideas. If you have an actor, singer, scriptwriter, producer, director, cinematographer, musician, animator, editor, makeup artist, special effects creator, special skills, critic or film industry specialist hidden somewhere in you, please come and join us. Be a pioneer in this new group!!

Marrie has appointed me as one of the Group's co-organisers and acting coach. This is a voluntary role and something I am giving back to the community, so that people who are passionate about movies can "just do it".

Casting for our short film, "Once Upon a Stormy Night"

To date, there have been an introductory meetup, a script writing exercise, a group script discussion, a casting call for a short film the Group is intending to make and a screening of "They Call Her Cleopatra Wong".

Marrie showing us some of the posters of her films

I am impressed with the enthusiasm of the Group and the various talents it has attracted. Perhaps groups like these herald a new era of film making, where it is more communal and less objectified. All these are made possible with the advent of digital technologies and the affordability of equipment like digital cameras and LED lights; and the connectivity of Internet social groups and smartphones to organise everyone with relative ease.

Here are some video clips of "They Call Her Cleopatra Wong". Enjoy!





 

Join us if you are passionate about film making and have the commitment to do it.

For other posts about Reel Frenz, click here.

Tze

I am proud to be associated with Tze, a self taught pianist and award winning composer, whom I met during the premiere of "Hentak Kaki".. He sent me a newsletter over the new year which made me realise why artistes continue what they do and how they ought to keep their focus. Here is what he wrote:

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2013 marks a new beginning for me. Not so long ago, I wanted to leave music completely, believing it was merely an act of self-indulgence, that it was self-serving and does little more than satisfy one's ego. Yes artists/musicians create to express themselves, but does it do the world around them any good? There are people who help to make the world a better place - doctors, scientists, teachers etc, people who make a difference. But I didn't think I was one of them. 

Then someone came along one day, a member of the audience at a performance to be exact, who said something I would never forget. He said "that was a spiritual journey for me", naming one of the pieces. At that moment it suddenly occurred to me, that if an artist/musician chooses to sincerely tell the stories he knows through his art, not performing to show off/impress, not playing to win applause, then his creation is like a mirror, a reflection of not just himself, but of the world around him and of each person in the audience who's intently listening. 

That was how the name Tze n Looking Glass came about. I wanted a name for the ensemble to mean something, to be about what I hope the music is/does. Since that day, I never stopped believing that by letting everyone see the good in us/Mankind/the world through the music, we can make a difference, perhaps make the world a better place (in small but significant ways). If you understand there is much precious beauty in this world, you will do everything you can to protect it. Sometimes in our busy lives, we allow ourselves to be swept away, never pausing to take a breath, never have the time to truly appreciate the love we are given, blessed with. All that is around us. In a way, music is like a time machine, it slows life down, and gently brings to mind, the simple beautiful things in life, we may have forgotten. 

So, starting from this year, these little email digests will include little stories about things in life that has inspired me, and my music :) 

First Little Story of 2013

It is never about the music. As a musician, or student, you study how to play an instrument, study theory of harmony and scales, but it doesn't prepared you for the truth, which is basically that all this is totally useless, unless you know what you want to do with it. Friends often ask, "where do you get all that inspiration for your music?" I always answer "how can you not get any inspiration ?" The reason being, basically, inspiration is all around you. (If you know where to look)

Since the beginning of time, Man has found the most elegant solutions to problems in life in the natural world around them. From something as basic as wings of birds inspiring design for the first planes, to the hunting bow inspiring internal curve support structures for massive modern column-less convention halls. Creating music is a big WHY as a starting point for me always. Why do I want to write something? Do I have something to say ? Sometimes it's like a problem looking for a solution, that's where the nature part comes in. If I want to "talk" about freedom, how am I suppose to express something which is basically.... nothing/formless? I would often find solutions in nature. The sound of the wind would serve as a template for finding sounds on the piano. What kind of harmony, movement on the piano gives you the feeling of being afloat, un-restrained? (ok, to get the harmony part, you need to have done your homework.. haha). If I want to express a forest, I would need the birds in the trees, so what rhythms/pitches would they be chirping in ? If I want to tell a lonely old man's story, I will need to understand how he hears the silence. Is it warm, or cold ? Does he hear cold distant echoes of footsteps which are no longer there, or does he feel the bittersweet warm memories of a voice who used to be by his side? Every cloud or leaf dropped, every longing gaze or tear dropped is a story waiting to be told :)

Tze n Looking Glass (TLG) Orchestra's first concert of 2013 : In Time Love Comes 

28th Feb Thu  730pm @Esplanade Recital Studio.
Tickets at Sistic (soon).

Join us for an evening of original love songs inspired by love through time, space and across cultures. Travel with us back in time to experience the story of Satyvaan Savithri and how her courage and love rescued her husband back from the brink of death and explore what love means to us - from love for our partner, friends, family, for nature, our hometown to love for the world around us, and life itself.

tze.music@gmail.com
www.tzetoh.com

www.reverbnation.com/tze