Aug
19
2008
Ho Wi Ding's SUMMER AFTERNOON ... A Shocking Road Trip. Catch It In Palm Springs.
Posted by The Visitor at 6:40am.
Posted in Film News , Thriller, Drama, Asia, Cannes 2008, Hong Kong 2008, indiefilmcafe, Short Films.
**UPDATE** Here’s how you can purchase the Summer Afternoon DVD, which is only available in Taiwan. Just send an email to: .
Two girls and a guy on a road trip through the countryside. Two are lovers and one is a nuisance. As they say, two’s company and three’s a crowd, and that’s how trouble starts.
Ho Wi Ding, the Malaysian filmmaker based in Taiwan, first came to our attention by winning in Cannes 2006 with his short film, Respire, an affecting tone poem about the last days in the life of a young girl in a virus-infected, post-apocalyptic world. This year, he went to Cannes again with Summer Afternoon, the only Asian short film in the line-up.
And what a film it is.
More info after the break.
Boi Kwong’s directorial debut feature film 
For detractors who view 12 Lotus with the preconceived notion that the follow up to Royston Tan’s highly successful 881 is nothing but having another go at the same formula to repeat its success, you’re in for a big surprise. No doubt that this movie also revolves in part around the Getai (song-stage) like 881, but 12 Lotus made 881 look like a walk in the park, having its emotions come more strongly across, being a darker film than the previous which in comparison was much fluffy with the bitchy rivalry between the Papaya and the Durian sisters taking centerstage.
By the time you read this, the Beijing Olympics 2008 is already in full swing, and the news leading up to it have been the concerns about the pollution levels affecting athletes’ performances, as well as how the authorities have taken measures to ensure that all visitors get to enjoy an experience they’ll never forget. Singapore documentarians have found the run up to the Olympic event monumental enough to craft documentaries around it, and earlier this year we have seen Tan Siok Siok’s Boomtown Beijing, which provided some insights into how the Games had impacted and inpsired the ordinary folks. Lian Pek’s Mad About English too got set during this period of preparation in Beijing.
As I write this, it’s about a week into the month long Lunar 7th Month, where the Chinese believe the gates of Hell are supposedly opened, and the “good brothers” (aka spirits both of the malevolent and the benevolent kind) roam the Earth as their vacation destination not by choice. They get to feast on the food offerings, and get pocket money from the Hell currency that humans provide, with entertainment either in the form of the more traditional Opera and puppet shows, or the glitz and glamour from Getai (“song-stage”) shows where singers belt out evergreens and the latest contemporary songs.
In his Sundance dispatch to 
I believe director Cheng Ding An’s feature debut Kallang Roar The Movie could possibly be Singapore’s very first Sports-Biopic, which chronicles a very successful time in Singapore’s footballing era in the 1970s where throngs would pack the 55,000 seater National Stadium to cheer the team on. I heard he took pains to find a cast who resembled the heroes of yesteryears, while of course working on their football skills. With shoots dragging on late into the night, there were also complaints written to the press too by folks who mention that the flood lights from the Stadium late were disruptive to their sleep!
