The explosion of independent Malaysian arthouse films reached its peak this past year when Woo Ming Jin's The Tiger Factory was selected to screen in both Cannes and Rotterdam. Woo has long been a leader in the arthouse scene, his Woman On Fire Looks For Water and The Elephant And The Sea also screening around the world to widespread acclaim while the director also kept active as a producer supporting the work of a number of other promising talents.So, after building a career as a hugely respected arthouse filmmaker, what do you do next? What comes after hitting the peak on Cannes? For Woo Ming Jin what comes next is taking a hard left turn and moving into the world of horror with Seru.Releasing on...
- 3/21/2011
- Screen Anarchy
I’ve sort of followed Malaysian Edmund Yeo’s work and development as a filmmaker over the years. The first time I saw one of his works was his student film, Girl Disconnected, made two years ago, and I was left unimpressed ... but not unaffected. Although technically, the film left much to be desired, there was something about Yeo’s vision that was strong enough to leave an impression, and he clearly was reaching for a certain level of poetry, mood and atmosphere. But his efforts were clearly hindered by limited budget, resources and manpower.
Now, fast-forward two years to the present, and Yeo is currently living in Tokyo and making more films there. His latest effort, Kingyo (Goldfish), is based on Nobel Laureate Yasunari Kawabata’s 1924 short story, Canaries, and boy, has Yeo improved by leaps and bounds. That poetic mood that Yeo was reaching for two years ago...
Now, fast-forward two years to the present, and Yeo is currently living in Tokyo and making more films there. His latest effort, Kingyo (Goldfish), is based on Nobel Laureate Yasunari Kawabata’s 1924 short story, Canaries, and boy, has Yeo improved by leaps and bounds. That poetic mood that Yeo was reaching for two years ago...
- 5/31/2009
- by Machine Girl
- Screen Anarchy
One of the fascinating things about watching the emerging indie-drama film scene in Malaysia is how incredibly communal the movement is. One of the more prominent players in recent years is Woo Ming Jin, whose The Elephant And The Sea won raves on the international festival circuit and now Woo is repaying his Elephant co-producer Edmund Yeo by producing Yeo’s short film Love Suicides.
Inspired by a Yasunari Kawabata short story. Set in an isolated fishing village of Malaysia, a woman’s relationship with her young daughter descends into a path of abuse and self-destruction when she begins to receive a series of strange and mysterious letters from her long-absent husband.
I’ve had the chance to see Yeo’s film and hope to see it out on the festival circuit before too long because it is one impressive piece of work that deserves a broad audience. We’ve...
Inspired by a Yasunari Kawabata short story. Set in an isolated fishing village of Malaysia, a woman’s relationship with her young daughter descends into a path of abuse and self-destruction when she begins to receive a series of strange and mysterious letters from her long-absent husband.
I’ve had the chance to see Yeo’s film and hope to see it out on the festival circuit before too long because it is one impressive piece of work that deserves a broad audience. We’ve...
- 4/5/2009
- by Todd Brown
- Screen Anarchy
A few years back at the 48th San Francisco International Film Festival the organizers shone a spotlight on a sextet of films representing an emergent wave of independent film coming out of Malaysia, a multi-cultural society where the development of digital video and the growing sophistication of a new, cine-literate generation had taken the international film festival circuit by storm. For me, the showcase was a thrilling exposure to the social realities and divergent voices of Malaysia’s diverse ethnicities. Included among that showcase was the world premiere of Woo Ming Jin’s Lampu merah mati (Monday Morning Glory, 2005).
Dispatching to indieWire from the 2007 Rotterdam International Film Festival, Dennis Lim reiterated that “[t]he growing diversity of Malaysian film reflects the irreducible complexity of Malaysian society, which is composed of not fully integrated Malay, Chinese, and Indian ethnic groups and where identity is intricately bound up with race, religion, class and...
Dispatching to indieWire from the 2007 Rotterdam International Film Festival, Dennis Lim reiterated that “[t]he growing diversity of Malaysian film reflects the irreducible complexity of Malaysian society, which is composed of not fully integrated Malay, Chinese, and Indian ethnic groups and where identity is intricately bound up with race, religion, class and...
- 8/19/2008
- by Michael Guillen
- Screen Anarchy
Woo Ming Jin, Director Of The Elephant And The Sea, Talks About El Mariachi, Dead Pigs And Pachyderm
To Malaysian eyes, it would seem like Woo Ming Jin never stops working. When he’s not shooting short films or digital features, he’s busy making a TV movie. Apart from that, you can usually find him in some film festival.
After years of making short films, Woo debuted with his digital feature, Monday Morning Glory, a film about terrorists in a fictional country, in 2005. It premiered at the 48th San Francisco International Film Festival. His last feature, The Elephant And The Sea, picked up four awards in Spain, Italy and Korea, including Best Director and the Critics Award at the Cine Digital Seoul Film Festival. The film tells the story of a coastal fishing village facing an unknown threat, and is billed as a dramedy. After travelling the international festival circuit, it will finally open in Malaysian cinemas this Thursday.
The Elephant And The Sea has put you on a winning streak.
After years of making short films, Woo debuted with his digital feature, Monday Morning Glory, a film about terrorists in a fictional country, in 2005. It premiered at the 48th San Francisco International Film Festival. His last feature, The Elephant And The Sea, picked up four awards in Spain, Italy and Korea, including Best Director and the Critics Award at the Cine Digital Seoul Film Festival. The film tells the story of a coastal fishing village facing an unknown threat, and is billed as a dramedy. After travelling the international festival circuit, it will finally open in Malaysian cinemas this Thursday.
The Elephant And The Sea has put you on a winning streak.
- 8/18/2008
- by The Visitor
- Screen Anarchy
Why are most mainstream film awards crap? I don’t know; don’t ask me.
The Festival Filem Malaysia (Malaysian film awards) continues to be a baffling, mind-boggling affair year after year. They once snubbed one of the most important Malaysian filmmakers, Yasmin Ahmad, with the excuse that her films continue to show nothing new or different. Like many other awards events, the decisions can sometimes be rather weird. For example, for this year’s awards, probably the worst film released this year, the laughable horror film Congkak, picked up four nominations, including, gulp, Best Director. That itself, is a horror story. It also got one for Best Sound, when the direction for the sound seemed to be to make everything as loud as possible.
But among the jury this year is independent filmmaker Amir Muhammad, whose mainstream film, Susuk, co-directed with Naeim Ghalili, picked up 8 nominations, including Best Cinematography (by Devan R.
The Festival Filem Malaysia (Malaysian film awards) continues to be a baffling, mind-boggling affair year after year. They once snubbed one of the most important Malaysian filmmakers, Yasmin Ahmad, with the excuse that her films continue to show nothing new or different. Like many other awards events, the decisions can sometimes be rather weird. For example, for this year’s awards, probably the worst film released this year, the laughable horror film Congkak, picked up four nominations, including, gulp, Best Director. That itself, is a horror story. It also got one for Best Sound, when the direction for the sound seemed to be to make everything as loud as possible.
But among the jury this year is independent filmmaker Amir Muhammad, whose mainstream film, Susuk, co-directed with Naeim Ghalili, picked up 8 nominations, including Best Cinematography (by Devan R.
- 8/5/2008
- by The Visitor
- Screen Anarchy
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