“失去愛” (Love Lost) screened “In-Competition” at the 13th Thai Short Film & Video Festival 2009

After my TVC job in Bangkok, I stayed for another 4days for the 13th Thai Short Film & Video Festival! “失去愛” (Love Lost) was screened “In-Competition” for the International Competition! 🙂

I haven’t been in Bangkok for about 8years, I think! The changes are quite a lot, with the Metro & BTS. But the creative energy is still there!

The festival is being held in the newly opened Bangkok Arts & Cultural Center which is just opposite MBK, right smack in the city center shopping district. Didn’t get to shop much, but went DVD hunting instead. Hard to get Thai films by some of my favourite Thai directors like Pen-ek, Wisit, Aditya or Apitchatpong. But managed to get a copy of “Tropical Malady” – Hurray! I guess the situation is the same everywhere in South East Asia.

Here are some pics from my adventures!

The screening venue: Bangkok Arts & Cultural Center.

The screening hall on the 5th level.

A life size cut-out from the poster. I really like this one! 🙂

The view of Bangkok city from the screening hall.

The screening of my film! 🙂

Day, Sunset & Night along the Chao Praya River. Took a slow and unhurried ferry ride down the Chao Praya River. Really enjoyed it! 🙂

A school girl on a ferry on the Chao Praya River.

The end of the ferry ride is at the suburb town of Thonaburi.

Market at Thonaburi.

The Awards Ceremony!

The festival coordinator – Sanchai Chotirosseranee. He programmmed the Queer Section of the festival which I thought was really good. It touches quite a lot of aspects of the gay & lesbian issues, like a Docu on having children in Spain for gay & lesbian couples. There is even a very good gay thai comedy called “Hungry or Full”!

Lighting of the Giant Candle for the Awards Ceremony.

The youngest winner!

All the winners!

Breakdancing in Bangkok near the skybridge next to the Bangkok Arts & Cultural Center!

“AVON-Forget Your Age” Spot in Bangkok, Thailand Aug 2009

Had to cut short my visit to Hong Kong because of a TV commercial job in Bangkok, Thailand. It is for a skin care and cosmetic brand called AVON, which is quite big in China & Taiwan. I had earlier worked as 1st AD for the same production for an earlier shoot in Taipei in July 09. The shoot in Bangkok was for 3 days and my role is smaller this time, as Continuity/Script Supervisor.

This is the 1st time I heard of having a Continuity/Script Supervisor for a TVC. This is because they are shooting 2 versions of the TVC, a China version and a Taiwan version. So they need a Continuity/Script Supervisor to ensure all the shots are done and also to communicate in Mandarin for the Main Talents who are from China & Taiwan. In each version, there are a total of a 30sec spot and 3x15sec cut down. There are 3 scenes in the TVC – a Beach scene, a Dinner scene & a Birthday Party scene. The talents for the 3 scenes in each of the versions are the same, except for the Birthday Party scene where the Main Talent for the China & Taiwan versions are different. Confused yet? hahaha…….:)

Here are some pics from the shoot:

Setting up at a beach which is 2hrs drive from Bangkok! Calltime is 4am at the hotel!

DOP Gosta Reilland (on the right with harness) trying out his handheld rig harness. On the left is the 1st AD, Monchai Petchsrisom. He was the 1st AD for this very famous VISA Card TVC with the Tuk Tuk driver and Pierce Brosnan & Zhang ZiYi.

Setting up a Beach shot. In the background is the Beach Scene Main Talent, 杨钫涵 (Yang Fang Han) from China.

The Director, Agency & people from Shanghai Job (the main production house) crowding around the monitor. From L~R: Janene Fitzgerald (in white with hand to face – Producer from Shanghai Job), Thomas Wommelsdorf ( in black with cap – German Director), Ken Ng (in grey with hat –  Producer from Shanghai Job), Colin Lai (in white with hands on waist – Executive Producer & Partner of Shanghai Job) & Kenny Chu (sitting in chair – Executive Creative Director of the agency SOHO Square).

A Green Screen shot. The Thai crew was SUPER FAST! Had the screen up in under 5mins!

On the platform for a timelapse shot of some letters on the beach being washed away by the rising tide.

The Director, Thomas Wommelsdorf giving instructions to the Thai Art Department for the letters on the beach.

The on-set studio that the lighting crew set up. Very Pro!

Setting up a beauty shot in the on-set studio with 杨钫涵 (Yang Fang Han).

In a Bar location – Long Table Restaurant. This location cost 1million Baht for 2 nights – roughly SGD$42,200 for 2 nights!

The China Party Scene Main Talent, 郭碧婷 (Guo Biting) from Taiwan, in green, infront of the cake. I worked with her for the AVON spot in Taiwan as well in July 09. She had acted in a Taiwan film in 2007 called  沉睡的青春 (Keeping Watch).

Setting up for the Dinner Scene.

Me & the 1st AD-Monchai

The Dinner Scene Main Talent, 陳若萍 (Chen Ruo Ping) from Taiwan. She was in 台灣霹靂火!

Setup for a entrance shot through the glass doors.

Look at the scaffolding and truss the Thai crew setup just to get reflections on the glass door. They did it vey fast as well, in 30mins! Fantastic!

The setup for water reflection shot. The sandbags are to build up a pool of water & also to prevent the water from escaping.

Lining up for a reflection shot with 陳若萍 (Chen Ruo Ping) from Taiwan.

The Taiwan version Party Scene Main Talent, 陳喬恩 ( Joe Chen Qiao En) in blue.

Myself, Monchai, Leon (Producer from Shanghai Job) and the Thai talents for the Party Scene – Siratcha, Nutprapas & Pichamon. Don’t their names sound like from Pokemon! 🙂

Happenings at 5th InDPanda 2009, Hong Kong

Had a wonderful time and screening in Hong Kong for the 5th InDPanda 2009! 🙂 Many thanks to festival directors, Jonathan Hung & Henry Chan, for inviting my film “失去愛” (Love Lost) and myself for the festival. I had to cut short my stay and fly to Bangkok for a commercial job, which I didn’t wanted to go because I haven’t watch enough films! 🙂

Here are some pics from the festival:

Screening Venue: Broadway Cinematheque. They have a great DVD store and Bookstore as well!

The Attic Room where I stayed. It is on the 14th Floor of the same building as the office of the festival. It is like an apartment run by an Arts Group called ACC. There are 3 rooms in the apartment and Jonathan arranged for me to stay in the Attic Room because of the great view. I have to watch my head every time I go down the stairs though, haha.

The great view from my Attic Room. I can see Victoria Harbour!

Jonathan Hung (Left), Myself & Henry Chan (Right) in some SERIOUS discussions….asking for info on some good place to get DVDs!

Day and Night view of Hong Kong from The Peak. They even have a light show on the buildings at 8pm! 🙂

Victoria Harbour. View from Kowloon side.

The Walk of Stars

Ann Hui’s handprint!

Myself and…..myself again in the poster for “失去愛” (Love Lost).

The film was categorised as category IIB by the censors.

The Q&A after the screening of my film. As it was the last screening of the day, the Q&A was done very late, past 12am! I was surprised anybody stayed behind at all! 🙂

After the screening. From L~R: 李俊宏 (Li Chun Hung – Director from Taiwan), Jonathan Hung, Myself, Mona Long (friend of Chun Hung) & Henry Chan.

Having a cooling time at a dessert store after a screening. On the extreme left is Paolo Bertolin (Programmer from Venice Film Festival) – he was on a stopover in Hong Kong. Third from left is Wilson Yip, Singapore Director of the short film “Madam Chan”.

Me and Mona showing off the finished dessert! 🙂

The gang having breakfast. Chun Hung & Mona were going to the airport after this.

Me checking out the butter! 🙂

“失去愛” (Love Lost) screening at InDPanda Short Film Festival in Hong Kong

Another good news!

“失去愛” (Love Lost) will be screening at the InDPanda Short Film Festival in Hong Kong. The festival runs from 31 July~19 Aug. My film is under the section “Time to say Goodbye” and will be screening on the 14 Aug (Fri) at 9.45pm. You can check the website at this link for more details: InDPanda

“Love Lost” screening at Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival

Just came back from the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival in Yogjakarta, Indonesia! 🙂

My latest short film “Love Lost” was shown to a sold-out audience! It was a very good experience.

What is special about this festival is that there were a lot of student filmmakers from the different communities and regions of Indonesia. They all came to the festival to show their short films in a side bar program call “Forum Community”. There were about 100 of them and Garin Nugroho (the festival president) had to put them up at a hostel. The community filmmakers even invited me to screen my film at the hostel. It was a great experience even though they just had a projector, a loud speaker and a DVD player in the courtyard to screen my film. What I felt is that there is something bubbling among these student filmmakers. They don’t depend on anyone to make their films. I think this is a very good way of nurturing the next generation of Indonesian filmmakers. Below are some highligts from the festival:

The Opening Ceremony at the main festival venue, Taman Budaya

Forum on “Dream of a Nation: Cinema, Identity & Nationalism”. The speakers are L~R: Dharmasena Pathiraja (Sri Lanka Master Director), Sivamohan Sumathy (Sri Lanka Writer), Anis Baswedan (Indonesian Lecturer), Nuraini Juliastuti (Moderator), Garin Nugroho (Indonesian Director), Paolo Bertolin (Programmer from Venice International Film Festival)

During the screening of my film “Love Lost”

Some of the audiences at the screening of my film “Love Lost”

Photo op at Borobuda, the biggest buddhist temple in the world. From L~R: Warren Sin (Curator from National Museum of Singapore), Myself, Paolo Bertolin, Frida Farid (Hospitality from JAFF), Fadli Al-Akiti (Malaysian writer & film critic) & Yuni Hadi (From Objectifs Films Singapore)

Warren trying to touch the Buddha statue inside the Pagoda for good luck. It’s not easy!

Yuni also giving it a go!

Yuni & Garin Nugroho on a trishaw. The pic is quite blur but they seems to be having a blast!

Community screening for Indonesian Short Filmmakers at JAFF

The community filmmakers invited me to their hostel where they were put up to show my film! It was a great experience as it was just shown in their courtyard with a DVD player, a OHP screen and a beat-up speaker. We had a very lively discussion afterwards.

Having dinner at a traditional Javanese restaurant. The person sitting next to Warren is Azhar Rudin (Malaysian Filmmaker)

Waiting to get on the bus. Sitting next to Fadli is Ridla An-Nuur Setiawan (Producer from Bundung)

Myself and Frida

Press Conference for JAFF. From L~R: Budi Irawanto (JAFF Festival Director), Christine Hakim (Indonesian Actress) & Garin Nugroho

Myself & Garin Nugroho

More photo op at the last day of the festival

JAFF Closing Party!