News Links - 4/2/07

[dleedlee]

Jia Zhangke Announces New Film on Old Factory
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/04/02/1261@211632.htm

Restored Silent Film A Landmark in Chinese-American Cinema
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2007/04/02/1261@211580.htm

"Super Fans" slated to release
http://www.cctv.com/program/cultureexpr ... 2887.shtml

Francis Ng in mainland film
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/1104/1/
http://www.variety.com/article/VR111796 ... id=13&cs=1

China Blue: The Girls at the Other End of the Supply Chain
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/vogel010407.html

David Bordwell blogs on the HKIFF and the set of Johnnie To's latest
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=545
http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=577

Cosmetic surgery is changing face among Asians
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... OTN501.DTL

Universal outlook - YASMIN Ahmad
YASMIN Ahmad is a name closely linked to the rise of Malaysia’s independent filmmakers. In fact, she is not only good friends with the young directors, but has also struggled with them to bring a whole new edge to Malaysian films.

Yasmin’s breakthrough film, Sepet, a story of interracial love, succeeded in garnering success both at home and film festivals abroad. She surely belongs to the group of filmmakers who have made their mark on the international festival circuit. And she believes hope lies with filmmakers like Ho Yuhang, James Lee, Tan Chui Mui and Amir Muhammad.

Yasmin, like U-Wei and all those who challenge the norm and attempt to bring about radical changes, has faced a great deal of criticism. Some even claim that her films are deliberately provocative.

“I hope my films are more evocative than provocative,” she says.

Famed for her Petronas TV commercials even before she made her first film, Yasmin relates that it all started when she volunteered to make a commercial for free, for a client who lacked the funds.


Yasmin Ahmad: ‘I hope my films are more evocative than provocative.’
“They were happy to save money, so they let me do it. That was how I was turned to filmmaking.”

Around that time, her father fell ill and her family decided they would present him a special gift.

“I thought, maybe, he would appreciate a press ad!” Yasmin recalls, laughing. “Then I thought, maybe I could make a film about my parents, because they are so gila. They bathe together and laugh together. I already had the story, and I told Yuhang about it. He thought it was a nice story, so I made it.

“The only money I could get was from Grand Brilliance – RM80,000, for a telemovie.”

The film, Rabun, was then picked up by a curator for competition at the Torino Film Festival, Italy.

“From thousands of films, they chose 12 for competition,” Yasmin says. “I thought, how could Rabun win? Memories of Murder (from Korea) was also in competition. But in the end, Memories of Murder lost too!

“After this, I made Sepet, with a RM400,000 loan from Finas. We put up our own money for the rest of the production costs.”

Yasmin’s detractors have not been quiet. Public forums, and even a TV programme, were organised solely to examine and criticise her films. The detractors even labelled her pencemar budaya (corruptor of culture) and questioned her motives.

Taking things in stride, Yasmin says: “It’s not as bad as people think. It’s just a small group of people who are making a lot of noise. I think they feel threatened by the new filmmakers. I don’t know why they feel that way because up till now, Malaysian audiences had not been given a choice. But now, they have.”

On the plus side, she adds: “The Censorship Board is loosening up. And you have a company like Grand Brilliance giving new filmmakers a chance.”

She believes that the new independent filmmakers will determine the future of films because “the mainstream is too busy fighting and fault-finding, to move forward.”

On her part, Yasmin is more concerned with universal issues than with a specific culture, religion or race.

“When I made the Ladang Poh Poh commercial (about a filial boy and his vegetable-seller grandmother), I got Chinese reporters coming to me and saying, ‘Wah, you understand Chinese culture.’ But no, I don’t. And when the commercial with the five elderly Chinese ladies at the welfare home came out in 2006 (during Chinese New Year), they wanted to meet the writer of that commercial.

“They were surprised that she’s Malay. It’s not about understanding Chinese culture. Filial piety is a universal thing and is the same everywhere.”
http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story ... sec=movies

The Malaysian film industry prepares to celebrate its 50th birthday
http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story ... sec=movies

[Brian Thibodeau]

China Blue: The Girls at the Other End of the Supply Chain
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/vogel010407.html

Geez, I was finally thinking I might have a chance at getting this on DVD, until I went to the Bullfrog Films link in the article and discovered they want $295.00 for it, or $95 for a rental. Looks like I'll keep waiting...

[dleedlee]

It's being broadcast on PBS this month. Are you able to pick up any US stations from across the border? I'm going to try and record it but, believe it or not, I don't have cable so I rely on getting it off the air. If it's not a rainy night, it won't be too bad, but my DVR has a terrible tuner.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue/
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/broadcast.html

[Brian Thibodeau]

It's being broadcast on PBS this month. Are you able to pick up any US stations from across the border? I'm going to try and record it but, believe it or not, I don't have cable so I rely on getting it off the air. If it's not a rainy night, it won't be too bad, but my DVR has a terrible tuner.

Detroit's PBS station serves a great portion of Ontario, and even parts of Manitoba, I'm told, but as I don't have cable either, I was hoping it might be on this weekend when I'll be visiting home for the long weekend, but the schedule finder at PBS.org shows a different episode is airing. Bummer

Good to know I'm not the only one who doesn't have cable! Of course, i don't have TV at all! I had "free" cable for a couple years in my second apartment (late 90's), where the landlord knew a few things about "rewiring" the entire high-rise building and basically gave it to everybody (:shock:), but when the cable company found out and wanted everyone to pay, I just couldn't be bothered. I had every bloody channel, and I got so sick of the channel-hopping for hours on end when I had stacks of movies to watch, so it was a good riddance. I also tried DirecTV several years later—which wasn't sold in Canada but could be received in southern Ontario becauce it "points down" into the states, plus I had a U.S. mailbox for billing—and I went through it all over again—too many channels with nothing on. Eventually I just let it die after about a year. Now I'm lucky if I pick up a couple of channels from the ether, get all the news that matters on the web, and have infinitely more time to watch movies!