To Our Beloved Parents

Tokyo Story, a universal and evergreen story of love in a family. I have to thank Kyoko personally, and Japan Foundation Kuala Lumpur for the invitation - the opening night of the Japanese Film Festival 2005 recently. I walked in to the theatre with great anticipation of the film (especially being intricately introduced by Yasmin, I was immediately fired up to watch) simply because it is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made in film history.

The film started, very slowly. At times, I felt the dialogues were pretty stagy, but as the film progressed, it simply hooked you in, silently and very subtly. You begin to feel for the characters, especially the two old parents, the way they seemed to talk right to you (as Ozu places them to talk directly into camera most of the time). It then, became very real and intense, in a very unintentional manner. I especially loved the scene where the old mother sincerely begs the daughter-in-law to just forget about their dead son and move on with her life, to get marry. She cries in the silence of the night, so does the mother, both feeling for the lost of their beloved one and for the situation at hand. Such power and grace one director has over his visuals.

When the lights came back on at the end of the film, I was convinced why it is one of the best - a love story which can be told a million times, yet, it does not fail to touch the very deepest corner of your heart, every single time.

Tokyo Story, 15 June 2005 at GSC Mid Valley

t

Every morning, fresh flowers will be sent by a huge truck to the florist right downstairs the hostel where we stayed, they are always fresh and lovely...truly a beautiful sight to behold. Too bad it is such a long flight, or else, I would have bought them back with me.

A view right in front of the entrance to The House of World Cultures - the place we were at for all our Berlinale Talent Campus 2005 seminars, workshops and more. ...yeah, it started snowing on the 3rd day we arrived at Berlin. There is a magnificant park right opposite, where I took most of my very first snow-playing pictures there. There is something magical about that flaky fluffy white substance, just melts your heart away, well, at least mine, for the very first time.

Apart from the Berlinale Talent Campus 2005

Film Haus. As the title suggests, there are theatres in there. But the main attraction is a film museum where you could walk down memory lane to re-capture the entire film history. Haven for film lovers.

Berlinale Palast
Patrick and myself went to the Berlinale Palast at the Potsdamer Platz. There, we saw Will Smith and the rest of the casts during the premiere of the movie, HITCH in Berlin and we had a great time watching it

Inside the Kaizer Wilhelm Church. Two children were lighting up the candles. Lights come through the blue walls and make them look so surreal

Victory Column. This was taken from the bus. It is a beautiful sight, even from afar

Kaizer Wilhelm Church. We stayed in a hostel right aross the street. Whenever we walked to the nearby bus stop to catch a bus to The House of World Cultures, we weregreeted by this

magnificant view

Brandenburg Gate. First night at Berlin, we met up with an old friend. She came all the way from Magdeburg with her hubby, daughter and two friends who drove them over to Berlin. We took a night stroll to Brandenburg Gate. I was amazed by the sheer beauty of the landmark. Very intricatedly carved and designed. Looks even more majestic with the night lights

Berlinale Talent Campus 2005 - A Daily Diary

Berlinale Talent Campus 2005

At the House of World Cultures

Berlin, Germany

(12 to 17 February 2005)

Patrick and Jennifer

12 February 2005 (Saturday)
11:00 Reality and Fiction
Walter Salles, interviewed by Peter Cowie
A short documentary titled LIFE SOMEWHERE ELSE by Walter was screened. A very moving piece of work. He discussed about how fiction and documentary are very much intertwined with each other and that is what fascinates him. He also showed clips from CENTRAL STATION to further elaborate his points. He quoted someone who once said, "The best fiction is ones that geared towards documentary and the best documentaries are the ones which moved towards fiction" He adds, "If you were to go right into the deepest core of one another, you would discover the existence of each other" He also spoke of his shooting process in his latest film called MOTORCYCLE DIARIES. A very interesting session with Walter Salles. Patrick had questions posed to Walter on a one to one basis, one question regarding his interest in directing the Japanese remake, DARK WATER and his response was his interest in the urban isolation and the supernatural aspect that is similar to the Brazilian folk lore that made him decided to take up the project.

14:00 Designing Your Future!
Ridley Scott talked about the importance of design in films with the moderator, Peter Cowie interjected how Ridley Scott's visual design in Alien and Bladerunner have influence the futuristic visual looks in movies today that deal with science fiction. Dante Ferreti discussed about his experience working with Federico Fellini, Paolo Pasolini and Martin Scorsese and his work is strongly grounded on historical films. Peter Schreyer discussed the importance of practical design in the volkswagon cars and staying on par with the ever advancing technology.

14:00 Storytelling and Cultural Identity
Meenakshi Shedde, Keith Cunningham, Amin Farzanefar, Cristian Mungiu, David Wingate and moderated by Dagmar Benke.
Two forms of storytelling - Aristotle thematic (which is the 3-act structure) and oriental. Must remember your own voice. What is it that is universal about screenwriting? We can't make an abstract movie, things have to be concrete - situations, locations, characters. Storytelling actually grows out of our human nature. Story is not an object, it is an energy, a transaction between filmmaker and audience.The quality of empathy is universal, the importance of compassion. The wave of tension is the pulse and the energy of storytelling.

17:00 Painting With The Camera: Christopher Doyle
Christopher Doyle, interviewed by Neel Chaudhuri.
An interesting man who keeps on drinking beer during the two hour talk. He discussed about his works with Wong Kar Wai, Zhang Yi Mou ,and Peter Chan and how each one of them enriched his visual vocabularies. He brought up the mistakes that he learned and how he kept challenging himself to better himself. He is very funny and at the same time, philosophical about his life and his work.

14 February 2005 (Monday)

14:00 The Eternal Triangle
Anna Asp, Emi Wada and Christopher Doyle, moderated by Peter Cowie.
Three of them shared how each from different department of film production works towards making a film a success. Some clips from films which they worked in previously were shown for discussions. Anna Asp spoke of how sometimes it can be difficult to build sets which is realistic yet functional and aesthetically beautiful in a film. Emi Wada shares her experiences in making costumes in Akira Kurosawa's RAN and Zhang Yimou's HERO and how to basically colour coordinated with Christopher Doyle. Chris spoke about his experience as a cinematographer in shooting HERO and 2046, a film with Wong Kar Wei. The talk is insightful, informative and entertaining at the same time.

17:00 Sound and Image - Two Legs for Walking
Annabelle Pangborn, Stephen Deutsch and Larry Sider.
The soundtrack is an intentional sound which accompanies the image. Sound is then divided into literal and emotional sound. Literal encourages us to believe what we see. Emotional sound encourages us to feel something about what we see. Emotional sound then has music, which has emotional significance, and heightened FX, which bridges thinking and feeling. Music can then still be subdivided into Image integration, source, effect and devices.

Clips were shown first without music and later with music to demonstrate how certain music work in certain ways. (mainly animation works from Europe - very interesting).

Meaning comes when you pull apart image and sound, though they compliment each other.

Space has to be created for audience's imagination. Same goes for music.

Sound should be a part of the montage.
Music / sound should give a psychological/ emotional weight to a film.
Conceptual resonance - the sound redefining the image, a new image is created, and is then redefining the sound and it goes on and on, a loop.

15 February 2005 (Tuesday)

14:00 The Wizard Look: Creating the world of Harry Potter
Stuart Craig.
Stuart Craig, the production designer for the Harry Potter films basically shared with the audiences his experience of creating the special effects in the film. Coming from old school thoughts of production designs, he said it took him a while to embrace technology in after effects in films. A show reel of the process of CGI work in Harry Potter was shown and they were very interesting. Some art works like sketches, design concepts and illustrations for the films were also shown which were extremely impressive in terms of aesthetic as well as details, lines and creativity.

16 February 2005 (Wednesday)

14:00 Designing The End of The World
Roland Emmerich, interviewed by Peter Cowie.
Mr. Emmerich talked about his films and the usage of visual effects in his films. He shared about his experience working within the Hollywood system and how at times you can "cheat" the system enabling him to make the films that he wanted to make, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW.

14:00 The Birth of Cool
Asano Tadanobu, interviewed by Stephan Holl.
Asano's first feature TORI was screened. It consists of five short films, each inspired by his dreams he had. It is definitely a bizarre film and one that requires much thoughts and time to decipher. He spoke of his experience in making the film and film industry in Japan in general.

17:00 Composer and Director: Exploring the Collaboration
Mike Figgis & Walter Salles, interviewed by Peter Cowie
Walter Salles appeared as Antonio Pinto had to return to Brazil and it was an interesting talk about the balance of music in a film. Walter showed an earlier film of his and he talked about his collaboration with Antonio on the specific music that he wanted in the film. Mike Figgis showed LEAVING LAS VEGAS and discussed about the music that he composed in it. He talked about the decline of music in contemporary Hollywood films and how he despise working under the Hollywood system.

17 February 2005 (Thursday)

10:00 Lesson in Instant Filmmaking
Mike Figgis.
A film was shown whereby all the participants in the EFA (European Film Academy) was somehow or someway manipulated into participating in the whole making of the film. It was a dynamic process of how people react among one another when is given to work in a pressure-cooker environment and when they were basically left with no concrete instruction from Mike Figgis, which supposedly the "lecturer" for this EFA master class. Interesting interplay of reality and fiction and how much truth can be distorted to remain sane. As for the look of the film, it is somehow "dogma", yet with a combination of melodrama being played out in the film. A tiring yet invigorating film to watch. Later, the whole cast and crew shared their experience in completing the film.

Two Crazy Boys

Ryan is sensitive, creative and energetic. He loves drawing and movies, especially animations, and funny in his own special way. He enjoys playing puzzles.

Aidan is cheekier, more energetic and clingy to me. He loves scribbling and drawing, teasing the older brother and has the sweetest smile.

Berlinale - The Birth Of Cool

Thoughts while watching TORI by Asano Tadanobu. The film as a whole is quite surreal, and it is made up of a few parts. I loved the last one. Just a simple dancer dancing to the horizon of a morning sun. The music is extremely haunting and hynotising, yet calming in a certain manner. I was enthralled and was completely thrown into a whole different world of imagination of my own, as if, I was singled out, my mind flew with the musical notes, as high as they could lift me...

In life, nothing is what it seems. Happiness only happens in a moment, and after that, it just vapourizes...how then can we capture that moment? Those small little moments in life? What is my place in life? At least, this life of mine? How do I define myself? My kids? Is it when they need me, my survival for them equals to the meaning of my life? When you are needed, you are defined by the people who need you. But when you are not, where do you go then?

When you are alone, only then you will find or truly understand yourself, at least. Yet, being so far away from home, I yearn the comfort and warmth of my children. They are so much a part of me already. If I don't have them anymore. Will I still be the same me? Is it that cheeky look on the face or is it that smile across the cheek that captures me?

How could you realize your true potential? How would you know you just have it? What would that moment be like? I guess I will just have to wait for that moment to come...

written in Berlin, during Berlinale Talent Campus, 16 February 2005

A Bite To Remember

Bake a cake
dinner for two
grab an interesting book
from the store on the way home
coffee's brewing in the kitchen
for later sipping into the night
meanwhile
sitting in front of this table
biting the cake
sipping the wine
conversations over the candle light

laughter echoes into the thin air
exchanging glances
once in a while
a night meant to be remembered

something written more than 4 years ago...