Monday. 28 March 2005. 8pm.
HELP Institute Auditorium, Pusat Bandar Damansara, KL.

Curated by Amir Muhammad


AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARDS

Gold: 28 HOURS LATER by Ng Ken Kin
Silver: CHITAPPA by Kannan Thiagarajan
Bronze: CROOK by Aaron Chung


LINE-UP:

1) Three Lives (Woo Ming Jin/USA/2003/13 min)

This is the local premiere of an American short by the award-winning Malaysian director. Jake wakes up by a sidewalk and finds his girlfriend kidnapped. He has three chances to save her by locating a mysterious box. This is a live action 'video game'!
(Woo Ming Jin studied film at San Diego State University and now lectures at Multimedia University while pursuing his independent movie projects. His short "Love for Dogs" recently won Best ASEAN Short at the MOV Digital Film Festival in The Philippines, and his debut feature "Monday Morning Glory" makes its world premiere next month at the San Francisco International Film Festival).


2) BROKEN WINGS (Wickneswaren/Malaysia2005/14 min)

To pay tribute to the new boom in Malaysian Tamil independent filmmaking, we present the first of two Tamil shorts. "Broken Wings" is an action-thriller melodrama in which one wayward youth reflects on the choices he has made, and their violent consequences. A hyper-kinetic movie that even has space for a Mano Maniam cameo.
(Wickneswaren is a 21 year old student, currently pursuing a course in Multimedia University majoring in Film & Animation, and dreams of becoming a successful movie director in years to come. Big fan of Steven Spielberg and M. Night Shyamalan).


3) 1,3,5 (Kit Ong/Malaysia/2005/10 min)

The first of three psychological shorts by Kit Ong (who might be the next big thing), this is the most experimental. A beautifully framed, dialogue-free triptych in which living beings hover around as ghostly specters ... or it could be the other way around.
(Director's Statement: "I am 35 years old. And I have been waiting to make films since I was 16. I have been working in the advertising industry for the last 15 years during this waiting period. Making films mean more than just telling stories to me, the whole exercise is a form of therapy. I am a very screwed-up person so this way I get to exorcise my inner demons") .


4) LINDA (Kit Ong/Malaysia/2005/8 min)

Ween sees Linda at a bus-stop and offers her a lift, saying they were at school together. Linda is not quite convinced but gets into Ween's car anyway, the silly girl. A successfully restrained, blackly comic thriller that evokes early Polanski.
(Director's Statement: "I am 35 years old. And I have been waiting to make films since I was 16. I have been working in the advertising industry for the last 15 years during this waiting period. Making films mean more than just telling stories to me, the whole exercise is a form of therapy. I am a very screwed-up person so this way I get to exorcise my inner demons.")


5) THE GIRL WHO CANNOT CRY (Kit Ong/Malaysia/2005/3 min)

Happiness is a little tear-drop.
(Director's Statement: "I am 35 years old. And I have been waiting to make films since I was 16. I have been working in the advertising industry for the last 15 years during this waiting period. Making films mean more than just telling stories to me, the whole exercise is a form of therapy. I am a very screwed-up person so this way I get to exorcise my inner demons").


6) ANNIVERSARY HAPPY (Justin Ong/Malaysia/2005/11 min)

Yuppie domestic drama, which seems utterly conventional until you notice something's not quite right with the time scheme...
(Justin (no relation to Kit) Ong majored in Broadcasting at Wisconsin and then worked as a PA on "Hollywood Squares" and as crew for other independent movies in Los Angeles before studying film at the New York Film Academy. He wrote and co-produced the big-budget short PUA (2004). ANNIVERSARY HAPPY is his first short as director).


7) LIVING DEAD DOLLS (Siti Nuraishah Baharum/Malaysia/2005/2 min)

Dialogue-free sketch of a fat girl who is oppressed by the dominant values of normative heterosexism. Honey, tell us about it!
(KL-born Siti Nuraishah Baharum is in her second year of Broadcasting Arts in CENFAD. This is her first short to be publicly screened) .


8. I DREAM OF THE FAT MAN (Mak Joon Keat/Malaysia/2005/4 min)

The only animation entry in our programme, this is a surreal odyssey with a self-explanatory title.
(Ipoh-born Mak Joon Keat will soon graduate from the New Media course at CENFAD).


9) 28 HOURS LATER (Ng Ken Kin, 14 min)

Low-budget Malaysian DV meets big-budget British DV in this cheeky intertextual ride. A party-goer wakes up after a night of disco fun, only to find himself alone. Should he blame it on the boogie?
(Ng Ken Kin, who always works with Kok Kai Foong, has made several shorts since we screened his debut "Tong Wah Heng" two years ago).


10) CHITAPPA (Kannan Thiagarajan/Malaysia/2005/15 min)

Raghu, a young web designer, seeks love on the Internet. This is how he meets Nisha. But a surprise awaits them. The first local Tamil romantic comedy short you have seen.
(26-year old Kannan Thiagarajan was born in Port Dickson and now teaches at Multimedia University. CHITAPPA is his short debut. He has faithfully attended all previous editions of Malaysian Shorts, so do vote for him. )


11) CROOK (Aaron Chung/Malaysia/2003/5 min)

The badass Rizal, posing as an anti-fried chicken crusader, thinks he's found an easy mark when he chances upon a young girl. But who's the baddest of them all?
(Sarawak-born Aaron Chung studies film at Akademi Filem Malaysia and last year took part in The Substation's Singapore-Malaysia Film Exchange Project. CROOK won the Best Malaysian Student Short 2004).


12) BERNAFAS DALAM LUMPUR (James Lee/Malaysia/2005/18 min)

Azman (Azman Hassan), a photographer, likes the strong and quiet Lina (Mislina Mustaffa). But he knows they can't be together. Lina's heart is still with Meor (Mohammad Hariry), who has been in prison these last five years. Meor's release is set to change the directions of all their lives. Will Meor's meeting with his old partner in crime, Din (Nam Ron), resolve their unspoken tension?
(James Lee's fourth feature "The Beautiful Washing Machine" has been to over 2 dozen film festivals and won Best ASEAN Feature at the 2005 Bangkok International Film Festival. "Bernafas Dalam Lumpur" is his 12th short and the first in Malay).