Post by anastasia on May 5, 2015 23:15:52 GMT 7
Johor Bahru Film Festival 2015 @ MAP, Medini Nusajaya & Multimedia University (MMU), Gelang Patah, Johor Bahru (11 - 13/6/15)
The introduction of the JB Film Festival 2015 is JB:IFC's response to the demand for film-related activities from the success of past film events. Our home-grown film festival Maskara Shorties showcased short films made by seasoned and fresh filmmakers, while in 2014, we proudly collaborated with the The American Film Showcase (AFS), which brought award-winning contemporary American documentary and independent narrative films to audiences around the world, offering a view of American society and culture as seen by independent filmmakers.
This 11-13 June, filmmakers of international excellence and sophistication will be coming to Johor Bahru to introduce films from around the region which carry relevant social messages to the community. Get ready for 3 days of screenings and workshops as we celebrate cinema with Johor Bahru-ian hospitality! With 8 feature-length movies from Singapore, Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and of course, Malaysia; 6 shorts by independent Malaysian filmmakers; 2 children's movies, one from France and the other from Japan; 2 workshops with speakers from the USA and from the Philippines; 1 forum involving the directors/producers of the films, and a Red Carpet Reception featuring directors, producers, actors, VIPs and more, the JB Film Festival 2015 is not to be missed.
List Of Films
Cuak - Second Thoughts - Malaysia
With meddlesome friends, insane in-laws, a suspicious step-brother & unresolved ex- girl friend issues, Adam is having second thoughts about his marriage to Brenda. The story is told through the eyes of 5 different directors, who each take one of the issues plaguing our groom-to-be, combining it together to make one movie. Cuak is a truly Malaysian movie with themes that resonate with a universal audience.
Director's Bio:
Khairil made a no-budget debut feature, Ciplak which won the Anugerah Skrin award for best alternative cinema. Khairil has since written & directed a number of TV series and short films for 15Malaysia. His second no-budget feature was Relationship Status. He is currently in post-production for his first mainstream film.
Benji Lim graduated in Electronic Media & Film from Towson University, Maryland, USA.
Benji along with high school buddies, Bahir Yeusuff & Arivind Abraham collaborated on a series of films such as S’kali (2006) and The Joshua Tapes (2008). Following those collaborations, Bahir & Benji were chosen as a team to produce Meter for 15Malaysia.
Manesh Nesaratnam, in his 12 years in the industry, has offended actors, irritated corporate clients & infuriated producers. His plagued portfolio includes TV work, documentaries & corporate work & an Anugerah Skrin for Best Comedy Series 2012. He was a judge for the BMW Shorties. Manesh also runs a regular scriptwriting workshop for serious writers.
Tony Pietra Arjuna began as an offline editor at Asia Pacific Videolab & Mirage Post. He directed some independently-made music videos & shorts before moving into TV production with Niche Films where he directed episodes of an Astro RIA drama series & a made-for-NTV7 feature. He worked on an animation series & 2 documentaries for the Crime & Investigation Network.
Shamaine Othman graduated from Monash University, Melbourne with a degree in Performing Arts. From a young age, she acted in TV sitcoms & later on stage. She has written several short plays & is a member of a comedy ensemble. Shamaine went into standup comedy performing at TimeOut KL’s Comedy Thursdays. She has also written for TV & directed a short in the Ikal Mayang series.
Labour Of Love - India
Set in the crumbling environs of Calcutta, Labour of Love is a lyrical unfolding of 2 ordinary lives suspended in the duress of a spiraling recession. They are married to a cycle of work, domestic routine, and long stretches of waiting in the silence of an empty house. The husband works the night shift while the wife, the day shift. Their paths literally do not cross. Incorporating poignant political undertones, it is a stylistically beautiful film that depicts the challenge of sustaining love in a fast transitioning world. It is a film appropriately devoid of all dialogue.
Awards:
Indira Gandhi Award for Best Film by a Debut Director; National Film Award–Best Sound Design; FEDEORA Award for Best Film by a Debut Director-Venice; Best Director – Marrakech; NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film–Bangalore; Jury Special Mention – Abu Dhabi; Honourable Mention – BFI London; Best Film – Jaipur.
Festivals:
Venice (world premiere); Rotterdam; Busan; BFI London; Tallinn Black Nights; Warsaw; Abu Dhabi; Stockholm; Lisbon & Estoril; Ljubljana; Marrakech; Mons; Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles; Istanbul; Fajr (Tehran); Kerala; Kolkata; Bangalore; Mumbai; Chennai; Jaipur.
Director's Bio:
Aditya Vikram Sengupta started training in western classical music & was an active dramatist throughout his childhood. He studied literature before pursuing design studies at the National Institute of Design & later, trained himself in animation & film. His student shorts have screened at various international festivals including Clermont Ferrand
Short Film Festival, Anima fest Zagreb & Sao Paulo International Film festival. Vikram worked as a promo director with a music TV station before pursuing film making full time.
Pee Mak - Thailand
Pee Mak had to leave his pregnant wife to serve in a war. There he meets and forms a close bond with 4 soldiers. After the war, Mak invites them home where they meet his beautiful wife, Nak and his newborn baby boy. But there is a village rumour that Nak had actually died while giving birth during Pee Mak’s absence. The four friends do not believe it and are determined to prove it wrong. But their suspicions are aroused when strange things begin to happen. They don’t dare tell Pee Mak who is blissfully unaware. But in the end, they must convince him to choose between love and reality.
Festivals:
Osaka; Fukuoka; East Winds, UK; Hawaii; Busan, Kyoto; Austin; Chicago.
Director's Bio:
Banjong Pisanthanakun majored in Film at Chulalongkorn University.
His short films & features have won numerous awards locally & internationally. His first feature film Shutter (2004) was Thailand’s highest grossing at the box office & was critically acclaimed. His other films include Alone, 4 BIA & Phobia 2. His film, Hello Stranger, was the highest box office film in 2010 & has been released in Indonesia, Singapore & Australia.
Pee Mak also became the highest box office grosser. He is now a DJ for 89.00 Chill FM talking about movies.
Soekarno - Indonesia
Little Kusno often gets sick so his father changes his name to Soekarno. It is propitious as at 24, Soekarno yells in the podium, “We must attain Independence now!” He is accused of being a communist by the Dutch colonialists and sentenced to jail, then exiled. He falls in love with Fatmawati while still being married to Inggit Garnasih. The Japanese army invades with the slogan of ‘Greater East Asia’ and defeats the Dutch. Independence seems to be in the offing. For Soekarno and Hatta, cooperating with the Japanese means independence for Indonesia.
Awards:
Piala Maya 2014 Indonesia (2 awards); Indonesian Film Festival 2014 (4 awards)
Festivals:
Asiatica Film Mediale 2014, Italy; Hanoi International Film Festival 2014
Director's Bio:
Hanung graduated fromthe Film & TV Faculty of the Jakarta Arts Institute. He won the Best Director award at the Indonesian Film Festival (2005/2007. He directed succesful romantic comedy, horror & drama. Lately, he focuses on Islamic-themed movies. His Islamic romance, Ayat-Ayat Cinta (2008), had a 1.5 million audience in the first 9 days of screening. He prefers to be known as a director who ‘fights against stupidity & ignorance’ & does not feel that he is a ‘religious’ filmmaker. His films have been about both sides of the political spectrum. Though his right-wing films are commercially successful, he is intrigued with leftist ideology.
Sayang Disayang - My Beloved Dearest - Singapore
Murni is a live‐in nurse who works for Pak Harun, a lonely and bitter, elderly man who continually harangues his caregiver. Murni is in a dilemma – to cook a Sambal Goreng dish that is exactly like the one cooked by the man’s late wife but success seems to elude her. Despite this, Murni also loves to sing in the kitchen, irritating Pak Harun further. What is the elusive ingredient to release the tension between Murni and Pak Harun to remedy these broken hearts and bring them together to sing the same tune?
Sambal Goreng–signature dish from the Nusantara (the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia).
Awards:
Best Asian Film (Jury Prize), Sala Mindanaw; Best Musical, Mexico; Best Cinematography & Story, World Film Awards.
Festivals:
Indie Fest USA; Hawaii; Luang Prabang; Jogja; Asia Pacific Screen; Barcelona; Mosaic World Film Festival; Edmonton; Opening Film, Phnom Penh; Closing Film, Southeast Asian Film Festival; DIRECTOR’S BIO: Sanif Olek is a Singaporean-based, TV & film director since 1996. He graduated with a Film & Media Studies Diploma from Ngee Ann Polytechnic (Singapore), and Media & Communications from Murdoch University (Australia). He collaborates regularly with Singapore’s heritage board & arts council for commissioned works, residency & public outreach programmes. His short films have been screened at numerous international film festivals. This is his debut feature & was Singapore’s official entry to the 2015 Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film). He is currently juggling between full‐time TV work, part time lecturing & the occasional community work.
Television - Bangladesh
Chairman Amin bans every kind of image in his water-locked village in rural Bangladesh since he considers it to be un-Islamic. For him, even imagination is sinful since it gives one the license to infiltrate into any prohibited territory. But change is a desperate wind that is difficult to resist by shutting the window. The tension between the traditional & the
modern grows & starts to have a ripple effect on the lives of a group of colorful, eccentric & emotional village people. But at the end of the film, television, which Amin hates so much, brings him to a transcendental state where he & his God are unified. A twist to the story makes him embrace Image as well as Imagination.
Awards:
City of Rome jury award for Best Asian Feature Film, Asiatica; Best Feature, Audience Award, Asiatica, Rome; Golden Hanuman Award, Jogja; NETPAC Award, Kolkata; Special Mention Award, Muhr Asia Africa, Dubai; Bangladesh submission to
Academy Awards, Foreign Language Category; Awarded Asian cinema fund for script development & post-prod from Busan; Awarded Gothenburg Film Festival fund for script development; Official Project, Asian Project Market, Busan;
Official Project, Film Bazaar, India.
Festivals:
Closing film, Busan (world premiere);Asia Pacific Film Festival; Cinemanila.
Director's Bio:
"Mostofa Sarwar Farooki could be the next Southeast Asian filmmaker to break out”, The Hollywood Reporter wrote in the review of his film Television. Variety’s Jay Weissberg wrote. “Mostofa Sarwar Farooki is a key exemplar of Bangladeshi new wave cinema movement”. Mostofa is a contemporary Bangladeshi film director & screenwriter &
the pioneer of an avant-garde filmmakers’ movement called ‘Chabial’. Television is his fourth feature with Ant Story following up, which was nominated for the Golden Goblet Awards & Muhr Asia-Africa Awards.
Halaw (Ways Of The Sea) - The Philippines
Halaw in the Malay language means ‘driven-away’. The film tackles the themes of exploitation and human trafficking, following the journey of a few people as they take an arduous journey into unchartered territories and illegally cross the borders of Bongao, Philippines to Sabah, Malaysia in the hope of substituting certain poverty for the uncertain future that awaits them.
Awards:
Best Film, Director, Actor & Editing at the Philippines’ 2010 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival; Special Mention, NETPACat the 2011 Berlin IFF; Best Picture, 2011 New York Hell’s Kitchen International Film Festival; NETPAC Development Prize, 2011 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Festivals: Invited to screen & compete at some 2-dozen film festivals in Asia, Europe, US, South America& Australia.
Director's Bio:
Sheron graduated with a degree in AB Philosophy. He is an alumnus of the Asian Film Academy in Busan, Korea & NEXT Master Class of the 2010 Tokyo Filmex. He honed his craft by producing, directing& writingdocumentaries, including his Asian Pitch 2008, “A Weaver's Tale” which won a Certificate of Creative Excellence at the US International Film & Video Festival 2010. He is currently producing his second film project, which he wrote & will direct,Women of the Weeping River, one of 6 film projects selected for the 2011 Sundance Scriptwriting Lab. He is currently in post production of a full length documentary feature titled The Crescent Rising about the Moro revolution in Southern Philippines.
Cambodian Son - Cambodian
Cambodian Son documents the life of deported poet, Kosal Khiev after receiving the most important performance invitation of his career—to represent the Kingdom of Cambodia at the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. The film follows a volatile yet
charming & talented young man who struggles to find his footing amongst a new freedom granted only through his deportation. Kosal’s London representation is a triumphant moment for many people in his life, both in America & Cambodia. After the performances end & the London stage becomes a faint memory, Kosal is once again left alone to answer the central
question in his life: “How do you survive when you belong nowhere?” AWARDS: Top Documentary Award, San Francisco CAAMFEST 2014; Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary, Cultural Resistance Film Festival of Lebanon 2014
Festivals:
Urban Nomad Film Festival, 2015, Taipei; Asian American Film Festival, Houston 2015; Seattle, USA; Seattle Asian American Film Festival, 2015; Center for Asian American Media Film Festival (CAAMFest) San Francisco, 2014; Los Angeles Asia Pacific American Film Festival, 2014; Chicago Asian American Film Festival, 2014; Dharamshala International Film Festival, India, 2014; Cultural Resistance Film Festival of Lebanon, 2014.
Director's Bio:
Masahiro Sugano has a B.A. in philosophy from California State University & an M.F.A. in ilm/video/animation from the University of Illinois. A Sundance Film Festival alumni, his accolades stretch from a Student Academy Award nomination in 1997 to his most recent award for his second feature, Cambodian Son. Masahiro is a pioneer in spoken word video garnering top awards for his short films 1700% Project: Mistaken for Muslim (2010) and Why I Write (2011). He launched Studio Revolt, a collaborative media lab with a prominent presence in Cambodia.
Komaneko, The Curious Cat - Japan – Animation (2009)
One sunny day, female kitten Koma decides to make a stop motion film. She begins to write the storyboards, make the stuffed toys & draws the background art. Before long, Koma starts making her film — shooting frame by frame with her cute 8mm camera, and carefully checking each frame. But her shooting is interrupted by an obnoxious fly, resulting in an unexpected accident. Will she be able to complete her project? 3 short films of 20 minutes each.
Festivals:
18th Festival International Du Film Pour Enfants De Montreal, Canada; Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, USA; Verona Film Festival, ITALY.
Director's Bio:
Tsuneo Goda firstly made a 5-minute animation, Komaneko – the First Step as a demonstration work of stop-motion animation for an exhibition. Well-received by the audience, the film was invited by many international animation festivals and obtained the Excellence Prize (Animation Division) of the Japan Media Arts Festival 2003. Tsuneo Goda
then spent 4 years to develop the short film into an one-hour animation, Komaneko – the Curious Cat. The film screens together with Komaneko’s Christmas – a Lost Present, the latest short film of Komaneko. Goda also made By Your Side, another stop-motion animation short film & featuring music by the British band, Sade.
My Mother Is In America & She Met Buffalo Bill - France - Animation (2013)
ix-year-old Jean is starting a new semester in school, where his authoritarian teacher & bullying classmates are both giving him a hard time. At home, where he lives with his workaholic dad, who owns the canning factory next door & bratty younger bro, things are hardly easier, although their fun-loving nanny does her best to make things as cheery as possible. It quickly becomes clear that Jean’s life has been upended by a traumatic event: the death of his mother. However, such vital information has been withheld from the young boy, who believes she’s on a trip somewhere far away. When a neighboring girl begins offering Jean postcards supposedly sent by his mom (including one from a rodeo in the U.S. -- thus the title), he starts fantasizing about her adventures & it’s only when various plotlines coalesce in the third act that the truth comes out.
Awards:
Special Mention, Annecy International Animation Festival, France.
Director's Bio:
Marc Boréal is a director & producer currently working & living in France. He started his career in film by working as an assistant director on TV shows The Adventures of Tin Tin & Asterix Et Le Coup Du Menhir & a production manager for the animated series Babar & production designer for Rupert. He later went on to adapt several children's classic books for TV such as The Never ending Story & Kong: The Animated Series. My Mommy is his first animation film. Thibaut Chatel is a director & producer hailing from France. At 25, he founded Torpedo, a production company & directed commercials & music videos. In 1991 he formed the Studio Animage team. The studio produced more than 400 half-hour animations, including Les Miserables. In 2003, Thibaut set up a new production company, Label Anim, specialising in animation. He wrote & directed several animated series. My Mommyis his debut as a feature filmmaker.
Short Films - Malaysia
Terbang TO FLY, 10 minutes, Linus Chung & Mohd Hisham, 2014
A story of 10-year old Ahmad whose teacher asks him to present a story about independence in front of the class. Ahmad chooses to tell a story about his grandfather, parents & kites flying in the sky. But what is the relevance of all this story to independence?
Director's Bio:
Linus Chung is a writer & a trained sculptor & painter. He started his career by making an animation film, Demolition Frog, which screened in over 11 international film festivals. His short film, House, played at festivals such as Rotterdam, Pusan, Clermont-Ferrand & Friebourg. He acted in Yasmin Ahmad’s Sepet & directed a feature film, Note of Love.
Mohd Hisham sees himself as a social media evangelist but still a village boy at heart & a service innovator who tries to transcend boundaries with his thoughts. He has held various positions in eBusiness & is currently Head of Social Media & Innovations at Malaysia Airlines.
3 Doors Of Horrors - 45 minutes, 3 films by Leroy Low, Edmund Yeo & Ng Ken Kin, 2014
Turnover - Set one night in a spooky basketball courtyard. A young man arrives to have a game with his friends. He receives a call that the game is cancelled. The young man decides to shoot some hoops but something else is going to join him to play a very different game.
Delete - Four girls break into an abandoned bathroom at their University one night as part of their class assignment about urban legends. The story is that a young woman had disappeared there. The girls discover a pink digital camera & one of them decides to take it home. Strange things begin to happen; a phone call from a mysterious voice in heavy static urges them to
“delete”.
The Strange Mechanic - A seasoned mechanic has the ability to see lost spirits sheltering under automobiles which cause vehicles to have unexplained breakdowns. Now a possessed car troubles him. He is unable to fix the car nor return the angry spirit to its own world.
Director's Bio:
Edmund Yeo makes films in both Malaysia & Japan & has won critical acclaim at international film festivals. He was the youngest Malaysian director to ever compete at the Venice Film Festival with his short film, Kingyo. He won the Best Asian Short Film Award at Busan with his short, Inhalation & competed at Clermont-Ferrand. His shorts, Exhalation, Last Fragments of Winter & Floating Sun were screened at Rotterdam. His debut feature, River of Exploding Durians, premiered at the Main Competition section of the Tokyo International Film Festival 2014, the first Malaysian film to attain this honor & played at Rotterdam, San Francisco, Los Angeles & Seoul.
Leroy Low Tiong Lim has directed & produced many music videos for Malaysian artists such as Vchuan, Pink Tan, Kit Teo and Ke Qing. Most of his music video productions such as Awake, Let Me Fall & Shuo Ai Le have received critical acclaim. Shuo Ai Le was one of the finalists in PWH Music Awards (Yu Xie Jiang) for Best Music Video with Let Me Fall receiving more than 100,000 views since its debut on YouTube. A number of Low’s short films were finalists in many Malaysian Short Film contests such as BMW Shorties, Zoom Short Film Competition, Penang Youth Creative PSA Contest 2012. One of his short films, Stand By Me, was awarded First Runner up & The Best Screenplay, beating many other finalists from around the world in the Global Golden Compatriot Award organized by the Taiwanese government. At the Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival, the film received the Best Short Film award. Low has also participated in many video productions with James Lee, Tan Chui Mui & Liew Seng Tat in Love Conquers All, Call If You Need Me & Flower in the Pocket.
Ng Ken Kin is a multi-platform content producer & director always hungry for stimulants for the senses.
Ragut Snatch Thief, 23 minutes, Razif Mat Zain, 2014
Ali was a school dropout & became a master snatch thief & later, a serial killer. Ali did not realize that the cost of his involvement in crime would be high. But it is a sacrifice that he has to make for himself.
Director’s Bio:
Mohd Razif Mat Zain graduated from UITM Puncak Perdana with a Diploma in Creative Technology. He began to direct in 2013 with a short, Tali Boh Lat. His latest short is Saudara (Kin).
Doghole 22 minutes, Wong Hoy Cheong, 2010
During World War 2, Malaya was occupied by the Japanese. 450,000 Malayans were killed & at least 80,000 died in detention camps throughout the country. This film is based on an interview with Wong Kum Peng, a survivor of the much-feared Kempeitai detention cells. Using filmed live action, motion graphics & animation, this film explores memory & history & the proverbial story about human resilience & discrimination in times of war.
Director’s Bio:
Wong Hoy Cheong is a visual artist. He has exhibited widely, including at Mori Art Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Hayward Gallery & Kunsthale Wien, Venice, Istanbul, Lyon, Liverpool, Gwangju & Taipei biennales. As an educator, he has given lectures and/or tutored at institutions such as Harvard University, Oxford University, National University of Singapore, San Francisco Art Institute, Goldsmiths College & Australian National University. He was awarded the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Creative Fellowship (2011), named as one of the ten trailblazers in Mavericks & Rebels of Asia by Newsweek & art & culture Leaders of the Next Millennium by Asia week. Cornell University named a scholarship after him for his work as an educator.
Silhouette - 19 minutes, Ravishanker, 2014
A tale of a mysterious lady who likes to meet men after they have watched a sexy dance performance.
Director’s Bio:
Ravishanker, an IT industry veteran with close to 30 years of IT-related experience, is passionate about filmmaking. Ever since he watched Star Wars in 1977, he had the desire to be involved with the world of filmmaking. This led him to set up Silhouette Productions. He has made 6 short films. He produces, writes, directs, edits & sometimes acts.
Workshops
Workshop 1: Telling Stories From The Filmmaker's
Lawrence Johnson has been making films & videos professionally since 1983. His work in history & culture has been distinguished through many awards, including 2 from the American Association of State & Local History (Remembering Uniontown, 1985 & Steam Whistle Logging, 1987). His programmes for the exhibition Sacred Encounters: Father De
Smet & the Indians of the Rocky Mountain West received the Golden Muse Award, the American Association of Museum’s recognition for the best Audio/Visual program (1995).
His documentary Hand Game (2000) was funded in part by the National Endowment of the Arts, Folk Arts; it opened the American Indian Film Festival & played the Smithsonian's Native American Film & Video Festival & the Montreal Native film Festival (2001). His film three possible scenes won best dramatic short at the 2004 River Run International Film Festival in North Carolina & Honorable Mention in the experimental category of the Kansas City Jubilee. Video installations by Johnson have appeared in several galleries in the Portland area. Notably, Abandoned in Place as part of the Art Contemplates History series produced by The Willamette Falls Heritage Foundation.
Johnson is Story Editor for the acclaimed radio series Wisdom of the Elders, currently producing its fourth season. His personal feature-length documentary, Stuff, received the Oregon Media Arts Fellowship (2008), previewed at the Northwest Film & Video Festival & won a special jury prize at the 2011 Florida Film Festival & Best Documentary at the Talking
Pictures Festival. In 2012, Johnson received the prestigious Fellowship Award in Media Arts from the Regional Arts & Culture Council, honoring artists in the Portland metropolitan area who are the strongest representatives of the range & diversity of art in the Northwest.
Workshop 2: Story & Visual Development With Reference To The Making Of Halaw
Sheron Dayoc was raised a Protestant, went to school in a Catholic institution, and grew up in the Muslim-Christian town of Zamboanga. He graduated from a Jesuit university with a degree in AB Philosophy & is an alumnus of the Asian Film Academy in Busan, Korea (2008 Busan International Film festival) and NEXT Master Class of the 2010 Tokyo Filmex. He honed his craft by producing, directing &writing several documentaries, including his Asian Pitch 2008 (MediaCorp/NHK Japan) “A Weaver's Tale” which won a Certificate of Creative Excellence at the U.S. International Film and Video Festival 2010. He is the first Filipino to be granted a project by the Asian Pitch. HALAW, his debut featurelength film, won best Film, Director, Actor, and Editing at the Philippines’ 2010 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival which he produced, wrote & directed. The film won the Special Mention NETPAC award at the 2011 Berlin IFF, Best Picture at the 2011 New York Hell’s Kitchen IFF & the NETPAC Development Prize at the 2011 Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Australia. It has been invited to screen & competed at some 2-dozen-film festivals in Asia, Europe, US, South America & Australia.
He is producing his second film project, which he wrote & will direct, Women of the Weeping River, one of 6 film projects selected for the June 2011 Sundance Scriptwriting Lab in Utah. The project is a recipient of script development fund from Asian Cinema Fund & Hubert bals fund. It was also awarded a development prize from Asia Pacific Screen Awards & a production grant from Hubert bals fund PLUS. It was selected at Asian Project Market, Sorfond pitching forum in Norway & Ties That Bind – EAVE for 2014. He is currently in post production of a full length documentary feature titled The Crescent Rising about the Moro revolution in Southern Philippines. Sheron founded Southern Lantern Studios, a creative think tank and production company for multimedia short and long film and video content.
Forum: New Directions In Storytelling, Production & Funding
New technologies have brought about innovative production techniques that, in turn, have enabled the creative filmmaker to explore different ways of telling stories. This forum brings together some of the young filmmakers & producers attending the festival to discuss how they have coped with cutting-edge technology but without losing touch with the requirements for good storytelling. They will also talk about their own ways of sourcing funds for making their films & of the opportunities available in their own countries as well as internationally that can serve as a guide for new filmmakers who are passionate about making films.
Programme
Ticketing Information:
Ticket Prices:
RM 5.00 - Normal, per screening
RM 2.00 - Kids & Senior citizen, per screening
For More Information:
Phone: +6019 7139900 / +6019 7169900
Email: jbartsfest@hotmail.com
URL: jbartsfest.com/ / www.jspa.org.my/
TW: twitter.com/jbartsfest
FB: www.facebook.com/jbartsfestival?ref=stream / www.facebook.com/mapnusajaya
The introduction of the JB Film Festival 2015 is JB:IFC's response to the demand for film-related activities from the success of past film events. Our home-grown film festival Maskara Shorties showcased short films made by seasoned and fresh filmmakers, while in 2014, we proudly collaborated with the The American Film Showcase (AFS), which brought award-winning contemporary American documentary and independent narrative films to audiences around the world, offering a view of American society and culture as seen by independent filmmakers.
This 11-13 June, filmmakers of international excellence and sophistication will be coming to Johor Bahru to introduce films from around the region which carry relevant social messages to the community. Get ready for 3 days of screenings and workshops as we celebrate cinema with Johor Bahru-ian hospitality! With 8 feature-length movies from Singapore, Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and of course, Malaysia; 6 shorts by independent Malaysian filmmakers; 2 children's movies, one from France and the other from Japan; 2 workshops with speakers from the USA and from the Philippines; 1 forum involving the directors/producers of the films, and a Red Carpet Reception featuring directors, producers, actors, VIPs and more, the JB Film Festival 2015 is not to be missed.
List Of Films
Cuak - Second Thoughts - Malaysia
With meddlesome friends, insane in-laws, a suspicious step-brother & unresolved ex- girl friend issues, Adam is having second thoughts about his marriage to Brenda. The story is told through the eyes of 5 different directors, who each take one of the issues plaguing our groom-to-be, combining it together to make one movie. Cuak is a truly Malaysian movie with themes that resonate with a universal audience.
Director's Bio:
Khairil made a no-budget debut feature, Ciplak which won the Anugerah Skrin award for best alternative cinema. Khairil has since written & directed a number of TV series and short films for 15Malaysia. His second no-budget feature was Relationship Status. He is currently in post-production for his first mainstream film.
Benji Lim graduated in Electronic Media & Film from Towson University, Maryland, USA.
Benji along with high school buddies, Bahir Yeusuff & Arivind Abraham collaborated on a series of films such as S’kali (2006) and The Joshua Tapes (2008). Following those collaborations, Bahir & Benji were chosen as a team to produce Meter for 15Malaysia.
Manesh Nesaratnam, in his 12 years in the industry, has offended actors, irritated corporate clients & infuriated producers. His plagued portfolio includes TV work, documentaries & corporate work & an Anugerah Skrin for Best Comedy Series 2012. He was a judge for the BMW Shorties. Manesh also runs a regular scriptwriting workshop for serious writers.
Tony Pietra Arjuna began as an offline editor at Asia Pacific Videolab & Mirage Post. He directed some independently-made music videos & shorts before moving into TV production with Niche Films where he directed episodes of an Astro RIA drama series & a made-for-NTV7 feature. He worked on an animation series & 2 documentaries for the Crime & Investigation Network.
Shamaine Othman graduated from Monash University, Melbourne with a degree in Performing Arts. From a young age, she acted in TV sitcoms & later on stage. She has written several short plays & is a member of a comedy ensemble. Shamaine went into standup comedy performing at TimeOut KL’s Comedy Thursdays. She has also written for TV & directed a short in the Ikal Mayang series.
Labour Of Love - India
Set in the crumbling environs of Calcutta, Labour of Love is a lyrical unfolding of 2 ordinary lives suspended in the duress of a spiraling recession. They are married to a cycle of work, domestic routine, and long stretches of waiting in the silence of an empty house. The husband works the night shift while the wife, the day shift. Their paths literally do not cross. Incorporating poignant political undertones, it is a stylistically beautiful film that depicts the challenge of sustaining love in a fast transitioning world. It is a film appropriately devoid of all dialogue.
Awards:
Indira Gandhi Award for Best Film by a Debut Director; National Film Award–Best Sound Design; FEDEORA Award for Best Film by a Debut Director-Venice; Best Director – Marrakech; NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film–Bangalore; Jury Special Mention – Abu Dhabi; Honourable Mention – BFI London; Best Film – Jaipur.
Festivals:
Venice (world premiere); Rotterdam; Busan; BFI London; Tallinn Black Nights; Warsaw; Abu Dhabi; Stockholm; Lisbon & Estoril; Ljubljana; Marrakech; Mons; Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles; Istanbul; Fajr (Tehran); Kerala; Kolkata; Bangalore; Mumbai; Chennai; Jaipur.
Director's Bio:
Aditya Vikram Sengupta started training in western classical music & was an active dramatist throughout his childhood. He studied literature before pursuing design studies at the National Institute of Design & later, trained himself in animation & film. His student shorts have screened at various international festivals including Clermont Ferrand
Short Film Festival, Anima fest Zagreb & Sao Paulo International Film festival. Vikram worked as a promo director with a music TV station before pursuing film making full time.
Pee Mak - Thailand
Pee Mak had to leave his pregnant wife to serve in a war. There he meets and forms a close bond with 4 soldiers. After the war, Mak invites them home where they meet his beautiful wife, Nak and his newborn baby boy. But there is a village rumour that Nak had actually died while giving birth during Pee Mak’s absence. The four friends do not believe it and are determined to prove it wrong. But their suspicions are aroused when strange things begin to happen. They don’t dare tell Pee Mak who is blissfully unaware. But in the end, they must convince him to choose between love and reality.
Festivals:
Osaka; Fukuoka; East Winds, UK; Hawaii; Busan, Kyoto; Austin; Chicago.
Director's Bio:
Banjong Pisanthanakun majored in Film at Chulalongkorn University.
His short films & features have won numerous awards locally & internationally. His first feature film Shutter (2004) was Thailand’s highest grossing at the box office & was critically acclaimed. His other films include Alone, 4 BIA & Phobia 2. His film, Hello Stranger, was the highest box office film in 2010 & has been released in Indonesia, Singapore & Australia.
Pee Mak also became the highest box office grosser. He is now a DJ for 89.00 Chill FM talking about movies.
Soekarno - Indonesia
Little Kusno often gets sick so his father changes his name to Soekarno. It is propitious as at 24, Soekarno yells in the podium, “We must attain Independence now!” He is accused of being a communist by the Dutch colonialists and sentenced to jail, then exiled. He falls in love with Fatmawati while still being married to Inggit Garnasih. The Japanese army invades with the slogan of ‘Greater East Asia’ and defeats the Dutch. Independence seems to be in the offing. For Soekarno and Hatta, cooperating with the Japanese means independence for Indonesia.
Awards:
Piala Maya 2014 Indonesia (2 awards); Indonesian Film Festival 2014 (4 awards)
Festivals:
Asiatica Film Mediale 2014, Italy; Hanoi International Film Festival 2014
Director's Bio:
Hanung graduated fromthe Film & TV Faculty of the Jakarta Arts Institute. He won the Best Director award at the Indonesian Film Festival (2005/2007. He directed succesful romantic comedy, horror & drama. Lately, he focuses on Islamic-themed movies. His Islamic romance, Ayat-Ayat Cinta (2008), had a 1.5 million audience in the first 9 days of screening. He prefers to be known as a director who ‘fights against stupidity & ignorance’ & does not feel that he is a ‘religious’ filmmaker. His films have been about both sides of the political spectrum. Though his right-wing films are commercially successful, he is intrigued with leftist ideology.
Sayang Disayang - My Beloved Dearest - Singapore
Murni is a live‐in nurse who works for Pak Harun, a lonely and bitter, elderly man who continually harangues his caregiver. Murni is in a dilemma – to cook a Sambal Goreng dish that is exactly like the one cooked by the man’s late wife but success seems to elude her. Despite this, Murni also loves to sing in the kitchen, irritating Pak Harun further. What is the elusive ingredient to release the tension between Murni and Pak Harun to remedy these broken hearts and bring them together to sing the same tune?
Sambal Goreng–signature dish from the Nusantara (the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia).
Awards:
Best Asian Film (Jury Prize), Sala Mindanaw; Best Musical, Mexico; Best Cinematography & Story, World Film Awards.
Festivals:
Indie Fest USA; Hawaii; Luang Prabang; Jogja; Asia Pacific Screen; Barcelona; Mosaic World Film Festival; Edmonton; Opening Film, Phnom Penh; Closing Film, Southeast Asian Film Festival; DIRECTOR’S BIO: Sanif Olek is a Singaporean-based, TV & film director since 1996. He graduated with a Film & Media Studies Diploma from Ngee Ann Polytechnic (Singapore), and Media & Communications from Murdoch University (Australia). He collaborates regularly with Singapore’s heritage board & arts council for commissioned works, residency & public outreach programmes. His short films have been screened at numerous international film festivals. This is his debut feature & was Singapore’s official entry to the 2015 Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film). He is currently juggling between full‐time TV work, part time lecturing & the occasional community work.
Television - Bangladesh
Chairman Amin bans every kind of image in his water-locked village in rural Bangladesh since he considers it to be un-Islamic. For him, even imagination is sinful since it gives one the license to infiltrate into any prohibited territory. But change is a desperate wind that is difficult to resist by shutting the window. The tension between the traditional & the
modern grows & starts to have a ripple effect on the lives of a group of colorful, eccentric & emotional village people. But at the end of the film, television, which Amin hates so much, brings him to a transcendental state where he & his God are unified. A twist to the story makes him embrace Image as well as Imagination.
Awards:
City of Rome jury award for Best Asian Feature Film, Asiatica; Best Feature, Audience Award, Asiatica, Rome; Golden Hanuman Award, Jogja; NETPAC Award, Kolkata; Special Mention Award, Muhr Asia Africa, Dubai; Bangladesh submission to
Academy Awards, Foreign Language Category; Awarded Asian cinema fund for script development & post-prod from Busan; Awarded Gothenburg Film Festival fund for script development; Official Project, Asian Project Market, Busan;
Official Project, Film Bazaar, India.
Festivals:
Closing film, Busan (world premiere);Asia Pacific Film Festival; Cinemanila.
Director's Bio:
"Mostofa Sarwar Farooki could be the next Southeast Asian filmmaker to break out”, The Hollywood Reporter wrote in the review of his film Television. Variety’s Jay Weissberg wrote. “Mostofa Sarwar Farooki is a key exemplar of Bangladeshi new wave cinema movement”. Mostofa is a contemporary Bangladeshi film director & screenwriter &
the pioneer of an avant-garde filmmakers’ movement called ‘Chabial’. Television is his fourth feature with Ant Story following up, which was nominated for the Golden Goblet Awards & Muhr Asia-Africa Awards.
Halaw (Ways Of The Sea) - The Philippines
Halaw in the Malay language means ‘driven-away’. The film tackles the themes of exploitation and human trafficking, following the journey of a few people as they take an arduous journey into unchartered territories and illegally cross the borders of Bongao, Philippines to Sabah, Malaysia in the hope of substituting certain poverty for the uncertain future that awaits them.
Awards:
Best Film, Director, Actor & Editing at the Philippines’ 2010 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival; Special Mention, NETPACat the 2011 Berlin IFF; Best Picture, 2011 New York Hell’s Kitchen International Film Festival; NETPAC Development Prize, 2011 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Festivals: Invited to screen & compete at some 2-dozen film festivals in Asia, Europe, US, South America& Australia.
Director's Bio:
Sheron graduated with a degree in AB Philosophy. He is an alumnus of the Asian Film Academy in Busan, Korea & NEXT Master Class of the 2010 Tokyo Filmex. He honed his craft by producing, directing& writingdocumentaries, including his Asian Pitch 2008, “A Weaver's Tale” which won a Certificate of Creative Excellence at the US International Film & Video Festival 2010. He is currently producing his second film project, which he wrote & will direct,Women of the Weeping River, one of 6 film projects selected for the 2011 Sundance Scriptwriting Lab. He is currently in post production of a full length documentary feature titled The Crescent Rising about the Moro revolution in Southern Philippines.
Cambodian Son - Cambodian
Cambodian Son documents the life of deported poet, Kosal Khiev after receiving the most important performance invitation of his career—to represent the Kingdom of Cambodia at the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. The film follows a volatile yet
charming & talented young man who struggles to find his footing amongst a new freedom granted only through his deportation. Kosal’s London representation is a triumphant moment for many people in his life, both in America & Cambodia. After the performances end & the London stage becomes a faint memory, Kosal is once again left alone to answer the central
question in his life: “How do you survive when you belong nowhere?” AWARDS: Top Documentary Award, San Francisco CAAMFEST 2014; Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary, Cultural Resistance Film Festival of Lebanon 2014
Festivals:
Urban Nomad Film Festival, 2015, Taipei; Asian American Film Festival, Houston 2015; Seattle, USA; Seattle Asian American Film Festival, 2015; Center for Asian American Media Film Festival (CAAMFest) San Francisco, 2014; Los Angeles Asia Pacific American Film Festival, 2014; Chicago Asian American Film Festival, 2014; Dharamshala International Film Festival, India, 2014; Cultural Resistance Film Festival of Lebanon, 2014.
Director's Bio:
Masahiro Sugano has a B.A. in philosophy from California State University & an M.F.A. in ilm/video/animation from the University of Illinois. A Sundance Film Festival alumni, his accolades stretch from a Student Academy Award nomination in 1997 to his most recent award for his second feature, Cambodian Son. Masahiro is a pioneer in spoken word video garnering top awards for his short films 1700% Project: Mistaken for Muslim (2010) and Why I Write (2011). He launched Studio Revolt, a collaborative media lab with a prominent presence in Cambodia.
Komaneko, The Curious Cat - Japan – Animation (2009)
One sunny day, female kitten Koma decides to make a stop motion film. She begins to write the storyboards, make the stuffed toys & draws the background art. Before long, Koma starts making her film — shooting frame by frame with her cute 8mm camera, and carefully checking each frame. But her shooting is interrupted by an obnoxious fly, resulting in an unexpected accident. Will she be able to complete her project? 3 short films of 20 minutes each.
Festivals:
18th Festival International Du Film Pour Enfants De Montreal, Canada; Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, USA; Verona Film Festival, ITALY.
Director's Bio:
Tsuneo Goda firstly made a 5-minute animation, Komaneko – the First Step as a demonstration work of stop-motion animation for an exhibition. Well-received by the audience, the film was invited by many international animation festivals and obtained the Excellence Prize (Animation Division) of the Japan Media Arts Festival 2003. Tsuneo Goda
then spent 4 years to develop the short film into an one-hour animation, Komaneko – the Curious Cat. The film screens together with Komaneko’s Christmas – a Lost Present, the latest short film of Komaneko. Goda also made By Your Side, another stop-motion animation short film & featuring music by the British band, Sade.
My Mother Is In America & She Met Buffalo Bill - France - Animation (2013)
ix-year-old Jean is starting a new semester in school, where his authoritarian teacher & bullying classmates are both giving him a hard time. At home, where he lives with his workaholic dad, who owns the canning factory next door & bratty younger bro, things are hardly easier, although their fun-loving nanny does her best to make things as cheery as possible. It quickly becomes clear that Jean’s life has been upended by a traumatic event: the death of his mother. However, such vital information has been withheld from the young boy, who believes she’s on a trip somewhere far away. When a neighboring girl begins offering Jean postcards supposedly sent by his mom (including one from a rodeo in the U.S. -- thus the title), he starts fantasizing about her adventures & it’s only when various plotlines coalesce in the third act that the truth comes out.
Awards:
Special Mention, Annecy International Animation Festival, France.
Director's Bio:
Marc Boréal is a director & producer currently working & living in France. He started his career in film by working as an assistant director on TV shows The Adventures of Tin Tin & Asterix Et Le Coup Du Menhir & a production manager for the animated series Babar & production designer for Rupert. He later went on to adapt several children's classic books for TV such as The Never ending Story & Kong: The Animated Series. My Mommy is his first animation film. Thibaut Chatel is a director & producer hailing from France. At 25, he founded Torpedo, a production company & directed commercials & music videos. In 1991 he formed the Studio Animage team. The studio produced more than 400 half-hour animations, including Les Miserables. In 2003, Thibaut set up a new production company, Label Anim, specialising in animation. He wrote & directed several animated series. My Mommyis his debut as a feature filmmaker.
Short Films - Malaysia
Terbang TO FLY, 10 minutes, Linus Chung & Mohd Hisham, 2014
A story of 10-year old Ahmad whose teacher asks him to present a story about independence in front of the class. Ahmad chooses to tell a story about his grandfather, parents & kites flying in the sky. But what is the relevance of all this story to independence?
Director's Bio:
Linus Chung is a writer & a trained sculptor & painter. He started his career by making an animation film, Demolition Frog, which screened in over 11 international film festivals. His short film, House, played at festivals such as Rotterdam, Pusan, Clermont-Ferrand & Friebourg. He acted in Yasmin Ahmad’s Sepet & directed a feature film, Note of Love.
Mohd Hisham sees himself as a social media evangelist but still a village boy at heart & a service innovator who tries to transcend boundaries with his thoughts. He has held various positions in eBusiness & is currently Head of Social Media & Innovations at Malaysia Airlines.
3 Doors Of Horrors - 45 minutes, 3 films by Leroy Low, Edmund Yeo & Ng Ken Kin, 2014
Turnover - Set one night in a spooky basketball courtyard. A young man arrives to have a game with his friends. He receives a call that the game is cancelled. The young man decides to shoot some hoops but something else is going to join him to play a very different game.
Delete - Four girls break into an abandoned bathroom at their University one night as part of their class assignment about urban legends. The story is that a young woman had disappeared there. The girls discover a pink digital camera & one of them decides to take it home. Strange things begin to happen; a phone call from a mysterious voice in heavy static urges them to
“delete”.
The Strange Mechanic - A seasoned mechanic has the ability to see lost spirits sheltering under automobiles which cause vehicles to have unexplained breakdowns. Now a possessed car troubles him. He is unable to fix the car nor return the angry spirit to its own world.
Director's Bio:
Edmund Yeo makes films in both Malaysia & Japan & has won critical acclaim at international film festivals. He was the youngest Malaysian director to ever compete at the Venice Film Festival with his short film, Kingyo. He won the Best Asian Short Film Award at Busan with his short, Inhalation & competed at Clermont-Ferrand. His shorts, Exhalation, Last Fragments of Winter & Floating Sun were screened at Rotterdam. His debut feature, River of Exploding Durians, premiered at the Main Competition section of the Tokyo International Film Festival 2014, the first Malaysian film to attain this honor & played at Rotterdam, San Francisco, Los Angeles & Seoul.
Leroy Low Tiong Lim has directed & produced many music videos for Malaysian artists such as Vchuan, Pink Tan, Kit Teo and Ke Qing. Most of his music video productions such as Awake, Let Me Fall & Shuo Ai Le have received critical acclaim. Shuo Ai Le was one of the finalists in PWH Music Awards (Yu Xie Jiang) for Best Music Video with Let Me Fall receiving more than 100,000 views since its debut on YouTube. A number of Low’s short films were finalists in many Malaysian Short Film contests such as BMW Shorties, Zoom Short Film Competition, Penang Youth Creative PSA Contest 2012. One of his short films, Stand By Me, was awarded First Runner up & The Best Screenplay, beating many other finalists from around the world in the Global Golden Compatriot Award organized by the Taiwanese government. At the Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival, the film received the Best Short Film award. Low has also participated in many video productions with James Lee, Tan Chui Mui & Liew Seng Tat in Love Conquers All, Call If You Need Me & Flower in the Pocket.
Ng Ken Kin is a multi-platform content producer & director always hungry for stimulants for the senses.
Ragut Snatch Thief, 23 minutes, Razif Mat Zain, 2014
Ali was a school dropout & became a master snatch thief & later, a serial killer. Ali did not realize that the cost of his involvement in crime would be high. But it is a sacrifice that he has to make for himself.
Director’s Bio:
Mohd Razif Mat Zain graduated from UITM Puncak Perdana with a Diploma in Creative Technology. He began to direct in 2013 with a short, Tali Boh Lat. His latest short is Saudara (Kin).
Doghole 22 minutes, Wong Hoy Cheong, 2010
During World War 2, Malaya was occupied by the Japanese. 450,000 Malayans were killed & at least 80,000 died in detention camps throughout the country. This film is based on an interview with Wong Kum Peng, a survivor of the much-feared Kempeitai detention cells. Using filmed live action, motion graphics & animation, this film explores memory & history & the proverbial story about human resilience & discrimination in times of war.
Director’s Bio:
Wong Hoy Cheong is a visual artist. He has exhibited widely, including at Mori Art Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Hayward Gallery & Kunsthale Wien, Venice, Istanbul, Lyon, Liverpool, Gwangju & Taipei biennales. As an educator, he has given lectures and/or tutored at institutions such as Harvard University, Oxford University, National University of Singapore, San Francisco Art Institute, Goldsmiths College & Australian National University. He was awarded the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Creative Fellowship (2011), named as one of the ten trailblazers in Mavericks & Rebels of Asia by Newsweek & art & culture Leaders of the Next Millennium by Asia week. Cornell University named a scholarship after him for his work as an educator.
Silhouette - 19 minutes, Ravishanker, 2014
A tale of a mysterious lady who likes to meet men after they have watched a sexy dance performance.
Director’s Bio:
Ravishanker, an IT industry veteran with close to 30 years of IT-related experience, is passionate about filmmaking. Ever since he watched Star Wars in 1977, he had the desire to be involved with the world of filmmaking. This led him to set up Silhouette Productions. He has made 6 short films. He produces, writes, directs, edits & sometimes acts.
Workshops
Workshop 1: Telling Stories From The Filmmaker's
Lawrence Johnson has been making films & videos professionally since 1983. His work in history & culture has been distinguished through many awards, including 2 from the American Association of State & Local History (Remembering Uniontown, 1985 & Steam Whistle Logging, 1987). His programmes for the exhibition Sacred Encounters: Father De
Smet & the Indians of the Rocky Mountain West received the Golden Muse Award, the American Association of Museum’s recognition for the best Audio/Visual program (1995).
His documentary Hand Game (2000) was funded in part by the National Endowment of the Arts, Folk Arts; it opened the American Indian Film Festival & played the Smithsonian's Native American Film & Video Festival & the Montreal Native film Festival (2001). His film three possible scenes won best dramatic short at the 2004 River Run International Film Festival in North Carolina & Honorable Mention in the experimental category of the Kansas City Jubilee. Video installations by Johnson have appeared in several galleries in the Portland area. Notably, Abandoned in Place as part of the Art Contemplates History series produced by The Willamette Falls Heritage Foundation.
Johnson is Story Editor for the acclaimed radio series Wisdom of the Elders, currently producing its fourth season. His personal feature-length documentary, Stuff, received the Oregon Media Arts Fellowship (2008), previewed at the Northwest Film & Video Festival & won a special jury prize at the 2011 Florida Film Festival & Best Documentary at the Talking
Pictures Festival. In 2012, Johnson received the prestigious Fellowship Award in Media Arts from the Regional Arts & Culture Council, honoring artists in the Portland metropolitan area who are the strongest representatives of the range & diversity of art in the Northwest.
Workshop 2: Story & Visual Development With Reference To The Making Of Halaw
Sheron Dayoc was raised a Protestant, went to school in a Catholic institution, and grew up in the Muslim-Christian town of Zamboanga. He graduated from a Jesuit university with a degree in AB Philosophy & is an alumnus of the Asian Film Academy in Busan, Korea (2008 Busan International Film festival) and NEXT Master Class of the 2010 Tokyo Filmex. He honed his craft by producing, directing &writing several documentaries, including his Asian Pitch 2008 (MediaCorp/NHK Japan) “A Weaver's Tale” which won a Certificate of Creative Excellence at the U.S. International Film and Video Festival 2010. He is the first Filipino to be granted a project by the Asian Pitch. HALAW, his debut featurelength film, won best Film, Director, Actor, and Editing at the Philippines’ 2010 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival which he produced, wrote & directed. The film won the Special Mention NETPAC award at the 2011 Berlin IFF, Best Picture at the 2011 New York Hell’s Kitchen IFF & the NETPAC Development Prize at the 2011 Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Australia. It has been invited to screen & competed at some 2-dozen-film festivals in Asia, Europe, US, South America & Australia.
He is producing his second film project, which he wrote & will direct, Women of the Weeping River, one of 6 film projects selected for the June 2011 Sundance Scriptwriting Lab in Utah. The project is a recipient of script development fund from Asian Cinema Fund & Hubert bals fund. It was also awarded a development prize from Asia Pacific Screen Awards & a production grant from Hubert bals fund PLUS. It was selected at Asian Project Market, Sorfond pitching forum in Norway & Ties That Bind – EAVE for 2014. He is currently in post production of a full length documentary feature titled The Crescent Rising about the Moro revolution in Southern Philippines. Sheron founded Southern Lantern Studios, a creative think tank and production company for multimedia short and long film and video content.
Forum: New Directions In Storytelling, Production & Funding
New technologies have brought about innovative production techniques that, in turn, have enabled the creative filmmaker to explore different ways of telling stories. This forum brings together some of the young filmmakers & producers attending the festival to discuss how they have coped with cutting-edge technology but without losing touch with the requirements for good storytelling. They will also talk about their own ways of sourcing funds for making their films & of the opportunities available in their own countries as well as internationally that can serve as a guide for new filmmakers who are passionate about making films.
Programme
Ticketing Information:
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