Da Huang Pictures

Like that famous saying, Tan Chui Mui speaks softly, but she carries a big stick. Her films are quiet little affairs, but boy, do they pack an emotional wallop. She has a knack for easing you into a situation, and getting you deeply involved with her characters. I liken it to Nabokov, who can say a thousand things in one sentence. Tan can create such emotional push-and-pull between her characters without them saying much. It's all in the doing, not the uttering. Show, not tell. And she does it beautifully.

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Triumphs, censored greetings and multi-layered irony in Love Conquers All

It has been an important year for independent Malaysian cinema. Triumph on the international festival circuit, success with releases on the screens of major cinemas, both here and overseas -- it is cause for celebration that we end the year with another landmark feature.

You've heard this by now: made with the assistance of a script development grant from the Hubert Bals Fund of Rotterdam, Tan Chui Mui's Love Conquers All screened at the 19th Tokyo International Film Festival and the 11th Pusan International Film Festival -- the latter at which it won two major awards, claiming the FIPRESCI Award (a prize awarded by international film critics) and the New Currents Award for Best New Asian Filmmaker of the Year.

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Love, that many splendoured thing, is the source of much joy and angst. (And many an embarrassing pop song.) At once selfless and selfish, love makes martyrs of us when it waxes, and monsters of us when it wanes.

Love is the great subversive force.

You are no longer you when you fall in love. Bewitched, you are Possibility.

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Ho Chi Lai as the Mother, Hong Jie.
Leong Jiun Jiun as the Daughter, Mei.

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After hours of discussion, we found out that Noorkhiriah, the actress in head scarf could not possibly chop down all the coconut trees using a butcher knife because she's afraid of height.

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CREW

Producer : Michelle Lo Yen San
Director : Liew Seng Tat
DOP : James Lee
Soundman : Ng Ken Kin
Camera Asst : Addy Chia
Art Director : Chin Khin Yeow
Prod Asst : Kenny Gan

CAST

Fatimah : Noorkhiriah Ahmad Shapie

Lover Girl : Noor Fazlinda Binti Roos Affandey

Lover Boy : Shahrizan Bin Said

Little Girl : Amira Nasuha Binti Shahiran

Main Tudung Girl : Nurul Asmah Binti Khodi

Tudung Girl 1 : Syamsuri Binti Mamat

Tudung Girl 2 : Suraya Nadia Binti M. Rokhani

Tudung Girl 3 : Junaidah Binti Jabar

Tudung Girl 4 : Anizan Binti Tarmizi

Tudung Girl 5 : Noor Azura Binti Mohamed

Tudung Girl 6 : Seri Rahayu Binti Samsuri

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Daughters is now in post production. Hardesh Singh of Soundworks is working on the music( which I think plays a big part in the film). We've done shooting it last week for 2 days. The shoot went well. Some people including myself got sun burn and badly dehydrated but at least nobody died in the process of making it, so far.
The shoot was such an experience for me because this's the 1st time, ever in my life to be surrounded by so many malay girls in baju kurungs and tudungs. It's a great sight to see all of them seated on their motorbikes and applied sun block on their faces and arms, while eating bananas at the same time. Maybe not at the same time but they did eat bananas on the set. Miss producer, why bananas and not other fruits? It'll be nice to see them feeding each other sour grapes under hot sun, no?

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After winning awards in Pusan with her debut feature, LOVE CONQUERS ALL, Tan Chui Mui is now preparing her new feature film, LIVING QUIETLY. It will be shot on 35mm with a budget of over RM2 million.

The project is selected in Cinemart, the world first and largest co-production market. In this year the projects includes Kim Ki-Duk's Breath ( Korea ), and Garin Nugoho's Bumi Manusia (adapted from Pramoedya Ananta Toer's book).

LIVING QUIETLY had received a script development grant from French CNC this year August. The story is about two women in their fifties. It will be produced by Philippe Avril (France) who had produced Colossal Youth by Pedro Costa (Portugal), Silent Waters by Sabiha Sumar (Pakistan), and also The Forsaken Land by Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka).

More details on all of the projects chosen can be found at:

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Three Short Films by Tan Chui Mui

Format: DVD, 70 min running time
ALL Region, PAL, English subtitles

South of South / 11 min
A Tree in Tanjung Malim / 26 min
Company of Mushrooms / 30 min

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After winning awards in Pusan with her debut feature, LOVE CONQUERS ALL, Tan Chui Mui is now preparing her new feature film, LIVING QUIETLY. It will be shot on 35mm with a budget of over RM2 million.

The project is selected in Cinemart, the world first and largest co-production market. In this year the projects includes Kim Ki-Duk's Breath ( Korea ), and Garin Nugoho's Bumi Manusia (adapted from Pramoedya Ananta Toer's book).

LIVING QUIETLY had received a script development grant from French CNC this year August. The story is about two women in their fifties. It will be produced by Philippe Avril (France) who had produced Colossal Youth by Pedro Costa (Portugal), Silent Waters by Sabiha Sumar (Pakistan), and also The Forsaken Land by Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka).

More details on all of the projects chosen can be found at:

=> Read more!

First I want to thank my father.

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JAMES LEE THIM HENG

James Lee (Malaysia) has recently completed a new DV film entitled BEFORE WE FALL IN LOVE AGAIN, which was realised with support from the Hubert Bals Fund as well as the Global Film Initiative. The film premiered at the 2006 Pusan International Film Festival and screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October as a "Truly Asian" film in Winds of Asia, a section that places particular emphasis on countries generating the next wave of asian cinema.

Lee was joined by another Campus alum in the "Truly Asian" series: Tan Chui Mui (Malaysia, director of LOVE CONQUERS ALL for which Lee was the director of photography. The film won Best New Asean Director at the Pusan Internaional Film Festival and the FIPRESCI award.

Lee also lent a cinematographic hand to Campus alum Azharr Rudin (Malaysia) for the short film MAJIDEE, which won a Best Short Film award at the Hawaiian International Film Festival.

All three Malaysian filmmakers knew one another before attending the Campus, but the Campus experience certainly created a bond, a common base on which a solid new wave of Asian cinema will grow in the future. Is the next generation of films from this region strictly digital in nature? Lee appreciates the freedom of DV filmmaking, but it will never replace traditional filming methods. Precision in storytelling and discipline are still important cinematic ingredients: "Certain stories are still meant to be shot on celluloid," says Lee, "and no way can digital video achieve the same effect."

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