KLue Urbanscapes 2008

Screen 1: Short Films • Screen 2 • Screen 3: Documentaries

Screen 1: Short Films (120mins)

Andai (Johan John, Feature Film Preview, 10mins)
Synopsis: A snatch thief (Khir Rahman) who has fallen in love with his victim (Melissa Maureen Rizal) attempts to come clean about what he has done to her. This is a special preview of rising filmmaker Johan John's feature-length debut.
Director’s bio: Johan John first broke into the local film scene with Tajuk Cerita, an indie short that received an Anugerah Skrin 2006 nomination for "Best Alternative Film." He has since directed more short films such as Semalam and Kita, episodes of Niche Films' Dark City series, and mini-documentaries for Astro's Crime & Investigation Network. An emerging presence in the local independent film scene, writer/director Johan John is the one to watch (along with his upcoming Andai).

Angel (M.S. Prem Nath, Short Film, 14mins)
Synopsis: In this modern age, man, by time gets by, becomes more self centered and loses his touch with the world. Arvind is a young man, who earns a good salary in a challenging corporate world, and he also enjoys the company of beautiful women every night. But he neglected the love of a truly beautiful woman, his mother. This short film, produced, directed and edited by M.S. Prem Nath, tells the story of Arvind and his discovery of a new world of love.
Director’s bio: M.S. Prem Nath is a diploma holder in broadcasting and a graduate from Academy TV3. He has been directing since the age of 19. In 2005, he produced, directed and edited a short film called Guns or Roses, which won the Best Short Film award at the International Indian Film Awards. By the age of 23, he directed his first feature film Uyir (The Soul), a horror movie. He believes that music and film has the power to unite people from all over the world.

Chicken Rice Mystery (Edmund Yeo, Short Film, 17mins)
Synopsis: After years of suffering from Mom's horrible cooking, a young boy finds out from Dad that Mom may have lost her cooking powers due to childbirth. Desperate to clear his name, the boy launches an investigation on the special chicken rice dish Mom used to cook long ago, leading him to a dangerous secret. Winner for Best Acting (Kimmy Kiew) and a jury's Honourable Mention at the recent BMW Shorties 2008.
Director’s bio: Born on the 6th of March, 1984, Edmund Yeo did a one-year postgraduate course in film production at Murdoch University, Perth in 2006 before joining Greenlight Pictures the following year. He was involved in numerous productions as producer and editor. Notable productions include Kurus (Days of the Turquoise Sky), which had its world premiere at the 32nd Hong Kong International Film Festival; and the short film Blue Roof, shown at the 12th Pusan International Film Festival and the 37th Rotterdam International Film Festival. Before going to Tokyo on April 2008 to do his Masters in Film, Edmund wrote and directed the short film, Chicken Rice Mystery.

The Contract (Yusmal Ghazali, Short Film, 18mins - Courtesy of Astro Kirana)
Synopsis: The story revolves around the life of Dato’ Zaki Zamani, a wealthy and successful businessman, who has an insatiable desire to accumulate more wealth. Unknown to him, the Devil has sent his minions to keep track of Dato’s life. The minions’ orders were to persuade Dato’ Zaki to sell his soul to the Devil in exchange for everything that Dato’ ever wanted. This dark comedy follows the dialogue, the thoughts, and the instances of how a man can lose his soul, and the price he pays to satisfy all his desires. What would his price be?
Director’s bio: First-time short film director Yusmal Ghazali commenced his career in film and TV production as the legendary "Mat Qay-po," the masked character with all the latest industry gossip, on the popular TV show Melodi. Trained as a lawyer, he went on to host a string of shows such as The Marvelous Hour, Golden Teen Search, Prisma, Online with YG, Jalan Jalan Cari Pasal, Cabaran BP, Aku Kau Berbeza, Rexona No Sweat Challenge, Live!, Inspirasi Khasiat, Hak Kita, Halal Journal TV and Jejak Pulau. Expanding his forte, he also acted in dramas like Uteh Jali, Car Park Murder, Nasi Lemak Dina, Cinta Teksi Bermeter, Helo, Odisi Sungai Nibong, Dari Fail Mahkamah Syariah, Pria, Masa Tambahan, Gris & Gucci, Impian Illyana, Kopitiam, 3R, Gol & Gincu and Rohaya Roy 2. He made his film acting debut in the award-winning horror flick Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam. Now, through his associate production AVI KL, comes a tale with a soulful twist about the choices we make and the price we pay in The Contract.

Lock (Reuben W.J. Kang, Short Film, 11mins)
Synopsis: Set in Putrajaya, the story focuses on an obnoxious British businessman, John Smith (Tim Doughty), who loses his car one day. Following this episode, the film focuses on intertwined characters including the car thief (Baki Zainal), an insurance agent (Hazlin Nor Salam), and a locksmith (Hal Zhang Rong). Winner of Astro's Nextgen Contentpreneur Awards for "Extraordinary Short Content." Also nominated for "Phenomenal Art Direction."
Director’s bio: Reuben's interests are filmmaking, jazz, martial arts, Paulo Coelho, Alfred Hitchcock, Tom Hanks, Babel, Forest Gump, Life is Beautiful, Singin' in the Rain, City of God, Liverpool FC, Japanese food, massages, hair wash, movie posters, Zodiac signs, donating blood, lights, and stories.

Moving On (Michael Chen, Short Film, 20mins)
Synopsis: Davina (Davina Goh) finds herself feeling sadder than she’s ever been. The viewer then sees Davina begin a journey. Her best friend (Jeremy Teoh) tries to talk her out of it. She takes the LRT, gets hassled by thugs, and hitches a ride from a mysterious stranger (Colin Kirton). All the while, the viewer can hear a voice over of a guy talking about his first love. This is a story of how people move on.
Director’s bio: Michael Chen: I fell in love with acting when I was 15 years old. Filmmaking was the next logical step. Since graduating from Law studies, I did a lot of theatre, working in a production house (Popiah Pictures), and then worked in an NGO called YouthMalaysia.com, all the while acting and making shorts whenever the opportunity arose. Now I am actually working on building an online community of people interested in indie efforts. I have quit my day job (April 2008) to focus all my time on this community, and I want to bring Indie Malaysia together on one platform to take on the world by storm. So watch out for it, www.ifilmindie.com (work in progress). First phase of the website should be up by June 2008. I have participated in the inaugural Malaysian BMW Shorties 2007 and submitted my first ever short entitled Moving On, starring Davina Goh, Jeremy Teoh and Colin Kirton. Despite not making it to the finals, I am now hell bent on making more shorts and hopefully a movie of which I intend to write, direct and if possible, even act in. I have also submitted my second ever short entitled The Aquarium for the 2nd BMW Shorties 2008. It also didn’t make the finals, but still hanging in there!

Unsecured Loan (Juliane Block, Short Film, 11mins)
Synopsis: Brian borrows money from the Triads thinking he'll be treated differently, because the Dai Koh is a personal friend. He finds out how differently when he fails to pay on time.
Director’s bio: Juliane Block is a graduate of the University of Art Braunschweig, Germany. She has experience as an independent Creative Director in Germany since 2000, after which she came to Asia in May 2005 to pursue her interests in international independent cinema. Her feature film credits in Germany include producer, screenplay and art direction for a 30-minute independent short: Killerbus (www.killerbus.com), released on DVD in Germany & Austria 2004. She wrote, produced and directed the short Unsecured Loan in Malaysia 2007, ich was screened at the KL International Film Festival, New Beijing International Movie Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, and is currently running in the online festival Culture Unplugged in India. In the beginning of 2008, she was selected out of thousands of applicants for the Berlinale Talent Campus and wrote and directed the short It Could Happen to You in the garage studio, a related hands-on training. Her feature movie Emperor, shot in Germany and Malaysia, is currently in post-production and will be released in autumn 2008. www.j-blockbuster.com

The Writing on the Wall (Khairil M. Bahar, Short Film, 11mins)
Synopsis: Whilst being interviewed by some students about his profession during the Youth '08 convention, PR executive Daniel begins to wonder how he ended up in the profession he is in, and never pursued what he had always wanted to do.
Director’s bio: When Khairil's not making movies, he's writing them. When he's not writing them, he's editing them. When he's not editing them, he's doing whatever else he can to do with moviemaking. Otherwise, you can find him playing music, doodling, and randomly poking badgers with sticks before writing about the joys of bobbing for apples on http://guber.terapad.com. He's won an Anugerah Skrin award for his lo-fi debut feature Ciplak, plays guitar for blues-rock band Rollin' Sixers, and created the Chupacabra.

Screen 2 (120mins)

Part 1: Experimental and Animation

Astral Projection (Crystal Woo, Experimental, 5mins)
Synopsis: An accidental astral projection.
Director’s bio: Crystal Woo writes, directs and art directs for a living. Her experimental short films have won awards in the Malaysian Video Awards. She also worked as a translator, voice-over talent, and as a Production Designer for theatre and TV. She is fascinated by pictures in the head … ideas in space … and stories floating everywhere. She is currently reading on Quantum Theory. Her latest gig was the opening montage of Ghost, aired on 8TV.

Love Beyond Death: From Western Folklore to Eastern Fantasy - The Works of Helen Merete Simm (Animation, 12mins)
Synopsis: The following two animations explore two very different sides of the same subject: The bond between parent and child.
Despair is based on an old Icelandic folksong. A young farm girl discovers she is with child, but she is poor and the father is unknown. Pressured by those close to her and burdened with shame, she carries her newborn child out into the cold winter wilderness and leaves it there to die. The child's love for its mother proves to be a bond stronger than death, and comes back to haunt her. The soundtrack uses an arrangement of that Icelandic folk song. The Golden Noodle explores the same subject from a different angle. A young family of noodle makers manage to accidentally make some magical noodles. In an attempt to secure their future, they take the noodles to the richest man in town and try to convince him to eat them. After only a few bites, he is blessed with a visit from his long lost daughter, back from the dead to say farewell.
Director’s bio: Helen Merete Simm - Designer, Animator, Writer. Born in Wales to a family of musicians and raised in the USA and Iceland, Helen Simm has traveling in her blood. An eternal student, she has moved across disciplines, from music to languages to graphic design and finally settling as a student of multimedia design, which took her from Denmark to Malaysia as an exchange student. She ended up staying for three years in this country, studying and working in marketing part time, and is only now leaving Malaysia after her recent graduation with a degree in Creative Multimedia from Limkokwing University. Helen's passion for stop-motion animation is the driving force in her life. Influenced by Tim Burton, Ray Harryhausen, Aardman Studios and also Disney, her goal is at the very least to win an Oscar, and is currently on her way to the UK to further her studies in the field of animation. She enjoys all the aspects of stop-motion animation, not only the animating and editing but also building the sets and puppets, lighting, backgrounds and soundtrack. On the side she also has done some acting, watch out for Menipulate by Ariff Aris later this year and also has a small role in London Calling by Khairil M. Bahar. Her other interests and part time gigs include freelance graphic design work, writing random nonsense, and singing in the shower. Helen's work can be seen at www.helenasia.com.

Part 1 (Zawardy Muhamad, Experimental, 10mins)
Synopsis: "The Seeker," an orphan male homo-sapien becomes an unwilling subject of an experiment conducted by unknown entities in a post-apocalyptic world. The film explores the themes of nothingness, the value and limited choices of life, and also questions the relevance of hope when there is none.
Director’s bio: Not much is known of director Zawardy Muhamad, apart from the fact that he has ventured further into other realms away from planet Malaysia, of which the fact is in itself irrelevant for that matter. This highly demented introvert and anti social individual wishes to remain practically unknown, and would rather like his work(s) to be his unspoken voice or lack thereof.

There Is Something About Miri’ (Chi Too, Experimental, 4mins)
Synopsis: A film in three chapters.
Director’s bio: Chi Too is an aspiring filmmaker / photographer / writer / artist / environmentalist / ascetic. A self-thought filmmaker, he ekes out a living directing, writing, and editing for television and video in his free time. Don't let his eccentricity fool you; he really is just plain nuts. Chi Too's works can be viewed online at http://hyperbolica.blogspot.com

Voxel Visions - The Works of Jordan and Mussadique Suleiman (Animation, 8mins)
Director’s bio: The Brothers Suleiman are the co-founders of Studio Voxel, an animation and effects company based in Ampang. These are their adventures ...
Synopsis:
• Lost in America is yet another AIM award-winning music video from the team of Studio Voxel and singer/songwriter Pete Teo, following Arms of Marianne (2004). Directed by Jordan Suleiman, with Tony Pietra as co-director.
• Makan is a short film directed by Mussadique Suleiman, written and animated in five days by himself and Jordan. The film explores the concepts of consumption, addiction and self image.

Wolf (Anrie Too, Experimental, 7mins)
Synopsis: "Water changes ... as change is constant." A girl reminisces and reevaluates her relationship. Has she changed, like water often does? From water to ice to vapour and yet it is water ... maybe because change is the only constant.
Director’s bio: Being a virgin in the entertainment world is never easy, hence Anrie Too's attempt to ease away her chastity. Photographer wannabe by day, aspiring singer by night; Wolf marks Anrie's directorial debut after close to five years being a struggling host, model, actress, reality TV-queen and overall "apapun boleh try" performer. Guided by years of movie watching and a crew of two, Anrie sets out to experience yet another aspect of performing arts through her first short film.

Part 2: Unfaithful - Two Short Films About Marital Infidelity

Car Park MurdeRedux (Tony Pietra, Short "TV Film", 25mins - Courtesy of Astro Ria and Niche Films)
Synopsis: A stylish neo-noir thriller with elements of Hitchcock and classic B-movie crime yarns (and made with similar poverty-row production values). A corrupt businessman (Ben Tan) hires a professional car thief (Yusmal Ghazali) to stage the perfect scam, which inevitably leads to murder and mayhem once the businessman's wife (Nell Ng) comes between them. This is the director's cut of an episode for Niche Films' Dark City series on Astro Ria. Scripted by Khairil M. Bahar.
Director’s bio: After four frustrating years as a film editor in the advertising industry, Tony "Soprano" Pietra decided to pursue his filmmaking goals. He began with making music videos for local artists such as Shelley Leong, Rabbit, and Pete Teo (with Jordan Suleiman). Tony's other notable works are episodes of Niche Film’s horror-thriller show Dark City and the NTV7-Festival movie Agi Hidup, Agi Ngelaban. Recently, he was a director on Popiah Pictures’ Ghost series on 8TV.

Kita (Johan John, Short Film, 32mins)
Synopsis: Kita is a story of a day in the life of a married man's infidelity.
Director’s bio: Johan John first broke into the local film scene with Tajuk Cerita, an indie short that received an Anugerah Skrin 2006 nomination for "Best Alternative Film." He has since directed more short films such as Semalam and Kita, episodes of Niche Films' Dark City series, and mini-documentaries for Astro's Crime & Investigation Network. An emerging presence in the local independent film scene, writer/director Johan John is the one to watch (along with his upcoming Andai).

Screen 3: Documentaries (120mins)

Bo Lang Chai (Forgotten, Ong Boon Keong, Documentary, 35mins)
Synopsis: A documentary by Ong Boon Keong (winner of the 2007 Freedom Film Fest), about the right to land by more than 2000 people who are labeled as squatters. But this community in Weld Quay George Town, Penang, have lived on houses built on jetties since the mid-1800's.
Director’s bio: Director Ong Boon Keong has spent ten years as an organic farmer, eight years as a housing rights advocate, and is a founding member of the Penang Film Club.

Mentimun (Ahmad Yazid and Lydia Lubon, Documentary Preview, 5mins)
Synopsis: Yazid and Lydia’s first documentary film, Are We Doing Enough? earned them three gold awards in three film festivals; The Malaysian Video Awards 2004, Freedom Film Festival 2004 and Voicing Silence Film Festival, India 2004. This is a sneak preview of their upcoming documentary, Mentimun.
The film captures the life and challenges of the Mah Meri people, one of the smallest indigenous tribes in Malaysia. Although they have managed to retain a somewhat traditional lifestyle, life remains a struggle as modernity has encroached into their lives. The film also highlights the Islamization of these indigenous people, who are Animists. The film captures the beauty of the small island the Mah Meri have lived on for the past 200 years.
Director’s bio: Lydia Lubon graduated from the University of Denver with a degree in Communications. She has been working as a freelance scriptwriter and producer in Malaysia for four years. Lydia has worked on productions for NTV7, UNICEF Malaysia, Discovery Channel, Mediacorp Singapore and Al Jazeera English. Currently Lydia is the executive producer for Rack Focus Films Sdn Bhd.
Ahmad Yazid began his film career early on in life with his father, who runs his own production house in J.B. From the tender age of 9, Yazid has been involved in video production, taking up duties such as editing, switching, camerawork, directing and producing. His work has involved directing films for UNICEF Malaysia, Mediacorp Singapore and Discovery Channel. Currently Yazid is a resident film director for Rack Focus Films Sdn Bhd.

The Personal is the Political - The Works of Mien.Ly (Documentary/Experimental, 38mins)
Synopsis: Selamat Hari Jadi (Happy Birthday): After 50 (or is it 44?) years of being together as a team, there are still many things that perplexes us about each other in Malaysia. From gender to religion, it is never really just about race with us. But the point is (if there ever should be a point), does it matter?
When Lawyers Walk is a rock and roll depiction of the unprecedented "Walk For Justice," where more than 2000 lawyers shook the streets of Putrajaya on Sept 26, 2007. "When lawyers walk, something is wrong. When lawyers walk, it means that we would like to see change."
Director’s bio: Mien.ly is a full time activist-feminist-filmmaker who believes that filmmaking is at once personal and political. She has organized the Freedom Film Fest, Filmmakers Anonymous, was gassed while video-taping recent public rallies, and detained by police for handing a memo to parliament. Her film My Confession - The Picture Diary has traveled to India, Philippines, and Berlin. She is available for hire as a freelancer; e-mail her at mien.ly@gmail.com if you want an exciting and meaningful video made. Or else you can voyeur on her work and life at www.mienly.wordpress.com.

She's My Son (Indrani Kopal, Documentary, 25mins)
Synopsis: The transgender issue is real, but it is a reality many Malaysians will not admit to. Social outcasts, treated as sex objects, and often the butt of lewd jokes, many boys who had the urge of becoming a girl resisted it. Suganya begs to differ. She's My Son (winner of the 2007 Freedom Film Fest) tells the story of Suganya from her mother's point of view. "He," before the sex change, had the courage to face reality. Today, as a "she," Suganya strolls the road confidently with her family and friends, accepting the reality as she did.
Director’s bio: Indrani Kopal's role as a full time video journalist in a local online media (Malaysiakini.tv) has made her realize the importance of approaching media usage in a more meaningful approach. A video editor and movie enthusiast, she lands herself as a self-taught independent documentary and short filmmaker. The documentary that she has produced so far, have its appeal towards the responsible masses. She has been experimenting with various types of documentary and videos and ambitions to become a professional documentaries director. She also aims to produce documentaries for international media like "Frontline" one day.