Ilo Ilo

The movie "Ilo Ilo" is about the relationship between a Singaporean family of three and their newly arrived Filipino maid, Teresa, who has come like many other Filipino women in search of a better life.

I got into the audition for the film that day after acting in two other productions and was really tired. A lesson I learned - no auditions on production days!

Anthony was there at the casting himself, though the part that I was going for wasn't a big part. Due to my fatigue, I don't think I did well and so got only a small part - as a friend of the lead character Teck (played by Chen Tian Wen).

In the scene, I was to walk Teck into my boss' office to demonstrate how strong laminated glass could be, only to be proven otherwise when the boss smashed it easily against the table corner - well, that is what it  looks like on reel, but on set, it was something else.

As Murphy Law has it, what normally breaks easily wouldn't do so on set and so we had to pre-cut the glass with a cutter before we smash it.  We did a few takes, the earlier ones admittedly had the usual quirks, and so were unacceptable, that is, the usual camera blocking/framing problems, the extras being too passive,...etc. But in the take before the final one, while everything seemed fine to me, it wasn't for Anthony! He rejected it because he could spot the faint cut line on the glass when we smashed it. It was a wide shot and that moving faint fine line, barely two centimetres long, gone in one second was caught in the act!!!

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I bet it would be a beautiful one, with such attention for details and  unyielding patience.

I met Anthony early this year in a film premiere and he told me that it will take some time till August 2013, before "Ilo Ilo" can be screened in local cinemas. He admitted that it is longer than usual  and joked that doing it properly is often not a good way to make money. I don't know what came to my mind then, but I told him that while others make money doing fast stuff,  those that do it properly will win it big.

A few months later, "Ilo Ilo" the movie won the prestigious Camera d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The first Singaporean to win it and now Singapore's favourite son.

I will be going to the Premiere on the 24th August 2013 at the Marina Bay Sands Theatre.

More about the gala evening later. :)

Meanwhile, here are some interesting clips...

Create Film Festival

"Flight" is part of the Create Film Festival 2010, commssioned by the Economic Development Board (EDB) Singapore, to encourage youngsters to become engineers - now that too many of them are going the 'other way' as mass media professionals and bankers, ironically, once also advocated by the government. 

Directed by award winning director, Boo Junfeng.
Cast: Voo Ke Yang, Lin Coen Alistair, Michael Chua, Kong Yit Sim, Francis Chua, Michael Lee.

I think Voo Ke Yang, in his debut acting role, as Jeremy, performed splendidly.

I played the role of the father who didn't pass the Air Force pilot selection himself, and frustrated, pushed his son to become a pilot, much against the latter's ambition.

In real life, I had once rejected the Air Force pilot training programme. Subsequently, I graduated from college with an engineering degree, but did not get into practice. Instead, I became an information security specialist helping banks to outwit hackers. And now, I am an actor. Isn't fact stranger than fiction?

So there were moments of surreality in the film for me. Where what went on in my mind as an engineer examing the aircraft engine rotor blades would have been, the pondering over the material strength, the causes of material fatigue and other hard engineering sciences; I now (as an actor) focused instead on my physical positions, going through the important movements to demonstrate and favour camera angles, light and frame composition. Seemingly the same act, but very different thoughts. 

Here are the other two films:

"Building Dreams", directed by Anthony Chen.
Cast: Ian Pang

The great visionary scientist and philosopher Buckminster R Fuller once said that if we were to get rid of all the politicians in the world, the human race will continue to live, perhaps even prosper as some things may begin to function better. However, if we were to get rid of all the scientists and engineers, within months, there will be widespread chaos and starvation. That, I think is how important engineers are.

"Hi, I am an Engineer", directed by Melvyn Lim.
Cast: Teo Seng Loong, Onn Su An, Amanda Ling, Glory Ngim, Maggie Tan, Yilynn Tay, Priscilla Lim

This clip portray the stark reality of the dating game, in that somehow, engineers are not seen favorably by many women. Somehow, engineers are seen as geeks and those that lack social skills. For some reasons, engineers are not so good at packaging themselves, probably because they are too busy working and getting things done instead of dwelling on the superficial exterior. However, in some societies like Germany and Belgium, engineers are well respected. They are seen as very intelligent and reliable people.

So given the choices, what do you want to be? An engineer, lawyer, doctor, accountant,...  or an actor? :)


* LOL *