Malaysian Film Festival in Singapore 2017

@ The Art House, Old Parliament, Singapore from 31st August to 3rd September 2017

The most beautiful movie tickets I have ever seen

Malaysia and Singapore used to be one country, so it is apt that the Malaysian Film Festival in Singapore is inaugurated this year at the Art House, Old Parliament Building. So now we can enjoy the curated movies this side of the Causeway. Films like "Ola Bola" and "Adiwiraku" bring back fond memories of what Singapore used to be.

"Ola Bola" (2015) directed by Chiu Keng Guan, depicts a time during the 1970s when religion, language and race needn't matter in the game of soccer. Everyone united to play for the country. The movie culminates in the match between Malaysia and South Korea, to qualify to play at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow in the Soviet Union. While they did not explicitly mention the players' names, I could identify some of them based on their character traits and positions in the team, namely: Soh Chin Aun, Arumugum (the goalkeeper) and James Wong (from Sabah). 

"Adiwiraku" (2015) directed by Eric Ong, is based on a true story of Cheryl Ann Fernando an English language teacher and her struggles and successes in a rural school in Kedah, Malaysia. It brings to life the story of SMK Pinang Tunggal and how its students worked towards a choral speaking competition. While this may not seem much to city dwelling folks, it is an impressive achievement for a rural school where most students had a very poor grasp of the English language.

It reminded me of the time when I was in primary school in Singapore, when English was rarely spoken, if at all, outside the classrooms. Then, we all spoke Chinese dialects and some Malay. To force us into speaking English, teachers fined us five cents each time we were caught speaking dialects in school. So yes, while it is reflex to speak English in Singapore nowadays, we didn't start off that way. 

"The Kid from Big Apple" (2015) directed by Jess Teong, brought me back to my childhood memories in an instance, experiencing the world through the eyes and minds of those lovely children.  I love the innocence and the fine details depicted and expressed. As a film maker and actor myself, I know it takes a lot of time and perseverance to bring forth such beautiful nuances and moments. It was so good that I also watched Part 2 of the sequel last month.

Redha (2015), directed by Tunku Mona Riza, is about a Malay couple who find their life crumbles as they realised that their child is autistic and struggles to confront the harsh realities of raising a child disabled by the condition they hardly knew about. The father's inability to accept the truth causes friction within the family but his wife's perseverance & maternal instinct help wade through the difficult times raising the child.

The director put in a lot of effort in researching about autism and also training the young actors to act as autistic kids. They played their part very convincingly.

There were three other films screened, namely "Vere Vizhi Ille" (2015) directed by M. S. Prem Nath; "The Dream Boyz" (2015) directed by Ryon Lee; and "Jagat" (2015) directed by Shanjhey Kumar Perumal; but I didn't have time to watch.

I also attended some talks by some film makers. This is what I have learnt:

• Films are more influential than books put together.
• 20% of the 23 million tourists in UK visit the country because of the films they have watched
• Happy ending in movies sells
• The depiction of alcohol being drunk in films will put them into PG13 rating in Malaysia
• Always tell your story from the heart, so that it can reach the audience's heart.
• Distributors like to ask what the tract record of the lead actors are.

For posts about film festivals in this blog, click here.

 #cinema #cinematicket#cinematickets #malaysian #malaysia#filmfestival #filmfest #filmfestivals#filmfestival2017

3rd AIFFA (2017)

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  Tuxedo by Rey Lee; Hair by David Theng

"Certified Dead", produced and directed by Marrie Lee, made its way for official screening at the the 3rd ASEAN International Film Festival Awards (AIFFA) in Kuching, Sarawak Malaysia, from the 4th to 6th May 2017. For more about the movie, click here.

AIFFA is a bi-annual event started in 2013, supported by the State Government of Sarawak. I heard the champion for the festival was the former Minister for Tourism, whom is now the State Chief Minister Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari Abang Openg.  For more about AIFFA and its programme, click here.

Hosting a film festival certainly does a lot to local tourism. It has brought me to this lovely city for the first time. Even though it is so near Singapore, I wonder why I hadn't thought of coming here previously.

Besides the official screening of "Certified Dead", Marrie was also invited to conduct a masterclass entitled "From Actress to Film Maker" to share her experience of making her first feature film and her kick-ass superstar days as Cleopatra Wong. She spoke of how we made a feature film with a shoe-string budget, involving over 40 actors and 40 plus locations, in 43 days over a span of 7 months (cos' we could only shoot only during weekends).  And also about her Cleopatra Wong days when she had to do her own stunts, including some that required her to smash through real glass and hang off a flying helicopter.

The Welcoming Party at the Airport

She was also in the panel of discussion celebrating the emergence of women film makers in ASEAN.

Given that we had a presentation every day, we didn't have time to watch the curated films which was screened at the Old Courthouse in Kuching, nor did we have the time for the Orang Utan and Wildlife sanctuary tour.

Now, the winners of this year's AIFFA awards...

1) SPECIAL JURY AWARD 
Recipient: Solo
Country: Indonesia

The Panel of Woman Film Makers from ASEAN

2) SPECIAL JURY AWARD 
Recipient: Ziarah : Tales of the Otherwords
Country: Indonesia

3) BEST FILM EDITING
Recipient: Imbisibol (Invisible)
Country: Philippines

4) BEST DIR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Recipient: The Way Station
Country: Vietnam

5) BEST SCREENPLAY
Recipient: Ziarah : Tales of the Otherwords
Country: Indonesia

6) SPECIAL HONOUR AWARD
Recipient: Lav Diaz
Country : Philippines

7) BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
​Recipient: Ana Capri
Movie Title: Laut
Country: Philippines


8) BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Marrie conducting her masterclass "From Actress to Film Maker"

Recipient: Ricky Davao
Movie Title: Dayang Asu (Dog Nation)
Country: Philippines

9) BEST ACTRESS
Recipient: Ai-Ai Delas Alas
Movie Title: Area
Country: Philippines

10) BEST ACTOR
Recipient: Pham Hoang Phuoc

Movie Title: The Way Station

Country: Vietnam

11) BEST DIRECTOR
Recipient: Luisito Ignacio
Movie Title: Area
Country: Philippines

12) BEST FILM
Recipient: The Way Station
Country: Vietnam

13) ASEAN SPIRIT AWARD
Recipient: Kanang anak Langkau
Country: Malaysia

He needs no introduction
- best in Singapore, JB and some say Batam. :)

14)AIFFA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Name of Recipient: Tan Sri Lakshmanan Krishnan

15) ASEAN INSPIRATION AWARD

Name of Recipient: Donnie Yen

Film making is tough and winning a film award is even tougher. I salute the winners for their hard work, particularly two film veterans and illuminaries: Tan Sri Krishnan and Donnie Yen, who have devoted their entire life to film making.

Tan Sri Krishnan is 94 years old and has been in films since 1947 and cast the legendary multi-talented artiste, the late P Ramlee. For more about Tan Sri Krishnan, click here.

Donnie Yen is 54 years old and has been in films for 35 years. We all know of Donnie as a martial arts exponent and movie superstar, but he has also gone through a very rough patch in his career. He said during the award that one day in 1996, after the production (probably 'Legend of the Wolf'') which he was directing wrapped, he realised that he had only HK$100 left in his bank account. He couldn't even afford to pay for his own dinner and someone else had to take him out for dinner. But he persisted and it has taken him many years, perhaps nearly 30 years, to come this far. For more about Donnie, click here.

Film festivals are great opportunities to meet other passionate film makers and artistes. I got to meet Phua Chu Kang (Gurmit Singh).  I asked him if Phua Chu Kang has evolved over the last 20 years, perhaps to have become one more sophisticated and reformed, he replied, "No,... still the original. Afterwards you see!" :)

And afterwards I did see, when he performed at the Opening Night of the Festival. He did a comic skit and also sang. And sang he did and very well too, true to the great reputation of the SAF Music and Drama Company.

I have acted with Gurmit in "Taxi Taxi" and have met him at wedding receptions, but have never seen him up close in the full Phua Chu Kang gear, complete with the permed hair, mole and yellow boots, so a photo was a must! I wonder if it has always been the same wig, mole and yellow boots for the last 20 years! :)  For more about Phua Chu Kang, click here.

The festival also saw SAAVA (South East Asia Audio Visual Association) signing an MOU with AIFFA to launch AIFFA Biz World in collaboration with an investment network comprising Singapore based film investment funds such as Aurora Media Holdings, Salt Media and Entertainment, Silver Media Group and Hub Media Group. A global media investment fund of US$30 billion is up for grabs for those who can pitch and convince the financiers. For more details, click here.

Night life is rather quiet in Kuching, with a few night market stalls along the river, sourvenir shops and some restaurants. I love this city for its tranquility, thank you AIFFA for inviting me here. 

I wish I had discovered this lovely city earlier, and perhaps the rest of Sarawak.

It is so near and yet  rather out of the way to reach, as many tourists nowadays choose to go to Bangkok, Phuket, and recently, even somewhere further away like Japan.

It is not known how the city got its name, it could be that the British in the 1800s had copied the name Cochin from Kerala India. There is another theory that Kuching actually means "古井" in Chinese meaning "old well". I think it is quite unlikely that the city is named after 'cat', as the locals usually refers to cat as 'pusak', rather than 'kuching' in Bahasa Melayu. 

Anyway, this doesn't stop the tourist spin of 'cat city' and their successful attempt in breaking the Guiness Book of Records for the most number of humans dressed in cat costume. That was done during the opening night of the festival .

Kuching is a small city with a population of 325,132 people comprising the Malays, Chinese, Indians and many indigeneous races like the Dayak, Iban, Bidayuh, Cayan...etc.

The streets are clean and safe, and the people are genuinely warm and friendly. People are very relaxed here. There is no rush. Even souvenir shop sales girls will not put any pressure on you. They will just smile to welcome you into the shop. Generally, people are happy, you can see that in their faces and their vibes.

Nothing much happens in Kuching. The city is mostly livened up when there are festivals, like film festivals and music festivals. Other than that, bar nature lovers, there are not many tourists coming here as it is perceived as 'out of the way'.

A good place to retire. Cost of living is very low and life is slow. Also, after converting my Singapore Dollars to the local currency, my wallet looked very fat. :)

For more about Kuching, click here.

At the 3rd Hanoi International Film Festival,
Sep 2016

"Certified Dead" has gone to a few festivals:

• 4th Hanoi International Film Festival 2016 (World Premiere) - Official Selection, World Panorama

• 14th Royal Bali International Film Festival 2016 - Winner - Best International Feature Film 

• UK Screen One International Film Festival 2017 - Official Selection, Best Narrative Feature 

• Utah Film Awards 2017 - Official Selection, Best Feature Film 

• Brazil International Film Festival 2017 - Official Selection, Best Feature Film 

• 3rd Asean International Film Festival and Awards 2017 - Official Selection, Special AIFFA Screening - 

Last but not least, some entertainment from the gala night: