Monday September 4, 2006
Beginner’s luck
By S.S. YOGA
REMEMBER the first ever Nokia advertisement at the cinemas, the one with the speech bubbles reminding cinemagoers to switch off their phones?
Well, you have a lawyer-turned-copywriter to thank for that. The youthful-looking Yeo Joon Han gave up his well-paying job in 1999 to become a fulltime filmmaker.
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A short flim by Yeo Joon Han has been shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival. |
Call it kismet, but on his birthday this year (Aug 8) he received official notification from the Venice Film Festival organisers that his film was one of the 17 shortlisted from 1,100 entries from all over the world.
This is quite a feat because this would make him the first ever first-time Malaysian director competing in the festival.
“I submitted the film to Venice because it is one of the top three film festivals in the world. It was also free and it was taking place in August. A Thai fortune-teller told me last year that things were going to be rough until my birthday this year,” explained Yeo.
“I don’t really want to explain much about the film because part of the pleasure of watching it comes from mentally putting the pieces together and deciding what it means to you. Suffice to say it’s roughly about the conflict between practicality and dreams.”
The actors were either found through friends or from casting agencies. The actors comprised senior citizens and children. The film was shot mainly in Kuala Lumpur, with one scene being filmed in Malacca.
Adults Only is in Mandarin, Cantonese and English so Yeo had to include subtitles.
“I had to use the DI (digital intermediate) technology to edit the film as time was running out. I had to do it in Bangkok because the technology is not available in Malaysia.”
If he wins in the Corto Cortissimo (short film) category it will be another first for Malaysia. This will be known on Sept 10. Let’s wish him luck.
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