The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
- Once upon a time
- Thai, Lebanese films share top award at Busan fest
- Rock singer disapproves of Nabila’s sexy gown at awards show
| Posted: 12 Oct 2012 11:58 PM PDT Ipoh-born filmmaker Jack Lim sets scenes from the past for his latest movie in his hometown. JACK Lim is pulling out all the stops to make sure his upcoming movie Once Upon A Time is a huge success in the lunar new year box office. In his quest to make the movie's period scenes look as authentic as possible, the 37-year-old Malaysian filmmaker spent over RM1mil to build a prehistoric China palace at the iconic Ipoh limestone hills in Perak, complete with a throne, ancient chandeliers and bamboo flooring. Members of the media who were invited to the set at Lahat Mines 2 for a site visit were given the privilege of watching the cast and crew film a few scenes. "After debating whether or not to film the scenes from 6,000 years ago in Ipoh or Kuala Lumpur, we finally settled on the former because of its beautiful limestone hills and low noise pollution. "Besides, it feels good to be back at my hometown," said Lim during a press conference. The movie, which has exceeded its budget of RM3mil, is adapted from Lim's popular radio skit Wong Kung Can Lan (Palace Stories) and revolves around a lazy, gluttonous emperor (played by Lim) who inadvertently ends up in 2013 with a few of his companions while escaping a coup d état. Once Upon A Time, directed by Silver, will see the cast of Ah Beng The Movie: Three Wishes reuniting on screen. They are Gan Mei Yan (who plays the Imperial Servant), Vivian Tok (Eunuch), Chen Keat Yoke (Minister), Jeff Chin (Prime Minister) and Bernard Hiew (Bernard). Other actors who have signed up to appear in the movie are Royce Tan, Jason Phang, Jym Chong, Gan Jiang Han, Wang Chun Pin, Catherine Ang, Susan Lankaster and award-winning actor Rosyam Nor. Lim said his surprising choice to feature scenes from 6,000 years ago in the movie was made to give the set and costume designers more artistic freedom in depicting rural China. "If I were to set the movie during the Ming or Qing Dynasties, they would need to follow rigid designs as the look of those periods have been portrayed many times in movies and television. "By setting the period scenes 6,000 years ago, we can come up with our own designs as there are no records from that time, thus we are not restricted in our creativity," Lim explained. Silver, who also worked on Ah Beng The Movie, was confident that the movie would make it big in the box office. "I am lucky to work with such a talented and experienced cast again, as they are able to act as soon as the cameras start rolling. This has resulted in the smooth running of the shooting till now, despite how difficult certain scenes are, especially when action is involved. "I do not believe in overworking the crew; the most I will make them work every day is about 10 hours, while industry standards range from 12 to 14 hours per day. There is no point in prolonging the shooting duration every day as the crew would get tired and the quality of the shots would suffer," he said. Another aspect of the movie that fans can look forward to is the debut of seven-year-old Tan Zheng Kang, who will play Katt Chai, a smart child beggar raised by his grandfather. "There was a massive turnout from all ages, races and walks of life when we held auditions, but Zheng Kang stood out with his happy-go-lucky and active personality that perfectly embodied the character of Katt Chai. "Truthfully speaking, with Zheng Kang's natural ability to bring Katt Chai to life, the character might just take the spotlight in the movie and become the highlight when it is released next year," shared Lim. Despite Zheng Kang's extraordinary acting abilities, Lim has no plans of signing a contract with the boy as he wants Zheng Kang to focus on his studies first. "I admit it is tempting to see how Zheng Kang can develop as an actor, but I do not want to affect his childhood and studies by making him continue in the film industry right now. "After Once Upon A Time is done, I will wait for Zheng Kang to finish his schooling before letting him decide if he wants to continue in the film industry," he added. > Once Upon A Time is set for a nationwide release on Feb 7, 2013. |
| Thai, Lebanese films share top award at Busan fest Posted: 12 Oct 2012 10:29 PM PDT BUSAN, South Korea: A low-budget, experimental production from Thailand and a gripping Lebanese drama shared the main award at Asia's largest film festival, which draws to a close on Saturday. Jurors for the New Currents award at the Busan International Film Festival described first-time Thai director Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit's "36" as "breathtaking" while praising the "extraordinary sympathy" director Maryam Najafi was able to draw from her audience throughout her entry "Kayan". Both productions receive $30,000 for the award, which offers two first prizes and is open to first- or second-time Asian filmmakers. Nawapol's film - made for just $20,000 - is set around 36 static images and tells the story of a young woman struggling to relate to her own memories. "The first time I screened this film it was in a conference room for about 20 people so I was honoured to be invited to Busan," said Nawapol. "My story's about how many different ways there are to look at the way we live our lives." The New Currents jury, headed by the veteran Hungarian director Bela Tarr, celebrated Nawapol's work for creating his "own film language". "The jury found especially that the writing was breathtaking, artful, economic, and never included an unnecessary word," they said in a statement. Praise came also for first-time director Najafi's sympathetic portrayal of a Lebanese woman trying to juggle the twin demands of business and family in a foreign country and for the filmmaker's ability "to go from emotion to analysis in the acute portrait of a woman fighting to keep a new life going". "We did everything you are not supposed to do with this film - from using child actors to borrowing sets - but we persevered," said Najafi. The 10-day BIFF closes Saturday with the official awards presentation and the world premiere of Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki's comedy-drama "Television", which focuses on a clash of generations in a rural village. Festival organisers said more than 220,000 people had attended this year's 17th edition, a record for the event. While film fans were treated to 304 films from 75 countries - with 93 world premieres - much of the talk surrounding the festival was about how strong the local representation was this year. The world premiere of the Chung Ji-Young-directed "National Security", which offers a harrowing look at state-sponsored torture in the 1980s, brought universal praise from festival-goers and film critics. The director said he had deliberately set the release of the film to come before December's presidential elections in South Korea. Park Geun-Hye, the daughter of South Korea's former military leader General Park Chung-Hee, who was blamed for implementing government-backed torture during his reign in the 1960s and 1970s, is running in the election. The world premiere of another local production also grabbed festival-goers' attention. Independent director O Muel's low budget, black-and-white action-drama "Jiseul" is set in the late 1940s on the island of Jeju. It tells the story of a group of islanders who try to hold out in a cave against government forces and the production picked up the NETPAC award for the promotion of Asian cinema and also an award handed out by the festival's team of citizen reviewers. The festival also featured the rare screening of a film from North Korea, with two sold-out sessions greeting the romantic comedy "Comrade Kim Goes Flying". - AFP |
| Rock singer disapproves of Nabila’s sexy gown at awards show Posted: 12 Oct 2012 08:24 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: Rock singer Amy of Search has criticised his daughter for wearing a sexy gown at an awards ceremony. "Like any other father, I do not approve of my daughter wearing such outfits," he said, referring to Nabila Huda's revealing black dress at the Anugerah Blokbuster 2011 held at Malawati Stadium in Shah Alam last Saturday. The dress had a slit up to her thighs, besides revealing her chest and midriff. He told Kosmo! that Nabila had covered her midriff with a piece of cloth when she appeared on stage to present an award. Amy also noted that Nabila was an artiste and should know how to carry herself well. "She is mature enough and is able to think for herself. Don't give any space to anyone to talk about us and bring us down," he said. Nabila, on her part, has apologised to all those concerned. "I am sorry if the fashion has caused any uneasiness. I take responsibility for it," she said. |
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