Da Huang Pictures

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Two very varied feature films opened recently, the first two parts of a planned trilogy on love by acclaimed indie filmmaker James Lee. James has had a productive career, to date, and critical analysis of his work has often focused on stylistic comparisons with Taiwanese New Wave stalwarts like Tsai Ming-Liang (who, incidentally, also has a feature opening in Malaysia). Those assessments are perhaps a little too easy, and ignore the emerging auteur nature of James's work; with "Before We Fall In Love Again", the first of his new films, James shows a sense of style that is his own.

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Two very varied feature films opened recently, the first two parts of a planned trilogy on love by acclaimed indie filmmaker James Lee. James has had a productive career, to date, and critical analysis of his work has often focused on stylistic comparisons with Taiwanese New Wave stalwarts like Tsai Ming-Liang (who, incidentally, also has a feature opening in Malaysia). Those assessments are perhaps a little too easy, and ignore the emerging auteur nature of James's work; with "Before We Fall In Love Again", the first of his new films, James shows a sense of style that is his own.

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This happened last week when I was at the press screening of THINGS WE DO WHEN WE FALL IN LOVE:

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Before We Fall In Love Again is the first film of Malaysian indie director James Lee's planned 'Love trilogy' (a series of three standalone films that share the same central theme and recurring cast members, something like Korean director Park Chan Wook's 'Revenge trilogy', but without the sex and violence, and with a much lower budget). The film is about two men and the woman they both love.

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Love hardly needs further dissecting, one would think. If not, certainly a trilogy of films dedicated to its examination would be overkill. But no one told that to James Lee, because the ties that bind lovers together have never been more intricate than when examined through the lens of arguably Malaysia's most celebrated indie filmmaker. After his film noir Before We Fall in Love Again, he turns to cinema verite, finding a less stylised but more organic platform for his second film inspired from Harold Pinter's Betrayal, Things We Do When We Fall in Love.

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Tan Chui Mui receives the prize from Istvan Szabo in Pusan.

2007

GRAND PRIZE CITY OF LISBON
Shinji Aoyama, Hans Hurch, Mark Peranson, Natacha Régnier, Vasco Câmara

GOLDEN DIGITAL AWARD, 31st Hong Kong International Film Festival
"A delicate individual drama, which improves itself by the level and subtle relation that reality digital filming makes possible."
-Jean-Michel Frodon ( chairman ), Tikoy Aguiluz, Mabel Cheung

OIKOCREDIT AWARD, 21st Fribourg International Film Festival
"The International Jury gives the award to Love Conquers All for its effective use of ambiguity and irony in constructing a surprising and subtly elliptical narrative."
-Francois Verster ( Chairman), Chris Fujiwara, Ana Katz, Jacqueline Veuve, Freddie Wong

VPRO TIGER AWARD, 36th International Film Festival Rotterdam
"Classical in style and structure, it is a film which speaks to the heart."
-Piers Handling ( chairman ), Lou Ye, Isaac Julien, Maria Kraakman, Teresa Villaverde

2006

NEW CURRENTS AWARD, 11th Pusan International Film Festival
"This film is using a known cinematic language in a nice way telling the life of a village girl who is going to a big city to work and face the reality and the morality of our time."
– Istvan Szabo ( chairman ), Bruno Dumont, Abolfazl Jalili, Daniel Yu, MOON So-Ry

FIPRECSI AWARD, 11th Pusan International Film Festival
"The FIPRESCI jury gives its award to Love Conquers All, for its audacious narrative structure and its intelligent work with sound and image."
-Chris Fujiwara ( chairman ), Susanna Harutyunyan, Helmut Merker, KIM Seemoo

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James Lee films are slow and indulgent.

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I want to talk about a very recent event in Malaysian history, a time of contentious political divide but also a moment of camaraderie because for the first time in recent memory, various disparate opposition and civil-society forces could galvanise into a positive force. The fact that it was a short-lived movement is also interesting to examine. By taking the form of a "city tour" this documentary essay ironically invites us to view history as if it were a single unbroken journey; the voice-over will provide a kind of counterpoint, as it will muse on both visible and invisible markers. As with my previous works I am certainly not interested in interviewing politicians or professional pundits. Much like "Russian Ark" it will be shot in one take, a procedure that will take a few rehearsals. But unlike it, it will take place outdoors, where the sun and breeze and sights act as indicators of a certain freedom and mobility. The jazz music that will accompany it will add a fun, improvisational flavour.

-Amir Muhammad

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There are many grants available for Malaysian filmmakers.

HUBERT BALS FUND

GLOBAL INITIATIVE

ASIA CINEMA FUND

WORLD CINEMA FUND

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ROAD GRANT

VISION DU SUD

GOTTERBORG FUND

CNC

FON SUD

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ON THE DV FILM MAKING IN MALAYSIA

This month in SEA-Images: Jérémy Segay meets with James Lee, one of the leading figures of the filmmaking scene in Malaysia, and discusses the development of the independent filmmaking in the country over the last few years.

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Ai FM would be giving out free movie passes for BEFORE WE FALL IN LOVE AGAIN and THINGS WE DO WHEN WE FALL IN LOVE, togehter with CD Album of Pete Teo's award-winning TELEVISION, and Ronnie Khoo's FURNITURE.

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The music composer for BEFORE WE FALL IN LOVE AGAIN , Ronnie Khoo and his band Furniture will be performing in MOONSHINE.

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Kuala Lumpur-born Amir Muhammad thinks that it is "no big deal" that his latest work has been banned in his home country.

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Love Conquers All, directed by Tan Chui Mui and El Amarillo, directed by Sergio Mazza won in ex-aequo the "Feature Film Grand Prize City of Lisbon" on the 4th IndieLisboa and will share the 15.000Euro of the prize money.

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