Husk at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival

6th World Film Festival Bangkok

Produire Au Sud takes The Tour

Malaysian director Chris Chong Chan Fui and producer Joanna Lee was selected from the 3rd Produire au Sud Bangkok workshop to present The Tour at the Produire au Sud, Festival of 3 Continents, from November 25 to December 2 in Nantes, France.



A man is pleased when he receives good instruction will sleep peacefully, because his mind is thereby cleansed. - from a book @ the hotel, "The Teaching of Buddha"

3rd Produire Au Sud

The minds of these people mix like milk and water and finally organize into a harmonious Brotherhood.
- from a book @ the hotel, "The Teaching of Buddha"

As part of the World Film Festival of Bangkok, Produire au Sud is a biennial workshop in which indie producers and directors get a chance to talk with industry figures about their films and how to get funding for them. This year's Produire au Sud Bangkok workshop will be held from October 29 to November 1. Six projects have been chosen:

* Stratosphere (Thailand) - producer Hassaya Rimphanawat; director Patavee Viranuvat
* I Carried You Home (Thailand) - producer Thacksakorn Pradubpongsa, director Tongpong Chantarangkul
* The Tour (Malaysia) - producer Joanna Lee; director Chris Chong
* Shadows of Noon (Philippines) - producer Vanessa Ulgado; director Ivy Universe Baldosa
* Balaan (Philippines) - producer Oscar Nava, director Ray Gibraltar
* Remembrance (Philippines) - producer Eloisa Espino-Sanchez, director Seymour Sanchez

They will make their pitch to producer Elise Jalladeau, screenwriter Miguel Machalski and sales agent Emilie Georges.

I Carried You Home previously came away with cash from the Asian Cinema Fund. Director Tongpong's short, Wings of Blue Angels, is part of this year's World fest program.

Adrift on Another Short

this is a project based on mental tabs and notetaking at odd hours. this was also the secret shell i would hide in, to forget about the impending grief in the family -someone close to me in a terminal state; a long, hard wait for that last breath that would free her from all the pain in this world.

i wanted this short to grow on its own and this is where it had gotten me. i am pleased with it, on a personal level this is what i wanted. life in urban manila, not in the outskirts, but where our generation often is, working and tied to an office chair, a slave to routine.

the whole process of shooting was a matter of chance. thanks to Janus, I got Jen to agree to play the part of the girl perennially waiting or Arvin to come home to their love nest. if it wasn't meeting Arvin in Berlin, I would have never gotten him to play the part. arvin is a very funny guy who likes to shock the Africans at the BTC off with his supposed bolitas. a daring bluff and absurd point of conversation, but arvin's persona is just like that, unpredictable- he seems to feed off the attention or he's just crazy to be in character all the time. that's just my opinion anyways.

i'm taking my time with this short, its all about missed connections and creating new ones at different tangents; its about being miserable, heartbroken and broke.

Midori Hirano provides the ethereal tracks for the short. Her dreamy music sums up a lot of the mood and emotions I want to convey. she is a japanese electronic artist who loves to blend computer textures with traditional music by way of piano, cello, violin, guitar and digital equipment. I got to talk to her while waiting to get into the Dine and Shine event, my fingers were freezing, and our breaths were vapors trailing away into the cold air. Midori opted to leave the last minute, catching the next bus to the japanese embassy. there were a lot of maybes and possibilities back then.

i'm in post right now, i'm trying to see if i need more shots of Jen. I feel there isn't enough of her in good light. There were two shooting days where the weather was extremely cloudy.

there isn't any conclusion to the narrative of "the measure of space between A and B", just a long drawn out process of reflecting and absorbing, just like grief, until you learn to accept it for what it is.