Press Lounge

问: 陈翠梅 / 答: 刘城达

1. I remember you wanted to make an animation about your grandmother listening to Radio fusion. Tell me about your grandmother, father and mother. I heard that you often show your films to your family, what were their responses?

My grandma had brown skin. She looked like a malay woman in chinese samfu, who gave birth to a dozen of yellow chinese children. She was so brown it was extremely difficult to find her during a game of hide and seek in the woods amongst tree trunks and dry leaves.

As for my mum, she never got along very well with my grandma at all, even until today when grandma was long dead, burnt and stored in a porcelain container on a rack somewhere in a memorial park in KL. As I was writing this, mum's slumping in her chair, nursing her head with minyak Kapak. Apparently she got too excited over the dinner tonight she drank a can of beer from the fridge and after that walked funny to the toilet. Dad's a nice guy but I don't feel like talking about him now.

My family members are very supportive of my filmmaking even though they all think my films suck, big time. I make them watch my films by force, really. I need them to watch it no matter what and I don't know why.

1. 我记得你想要把你奶奶在听丽的呼声电台的情形做成一个动画。可以告诉我有关你的奶奶，爸爸和妈妈吗? 我也听说你时常把你的电影拿给家人看，他们的反应是什么?

我的奶奶她有棕色的皮肤。她看上去就像是一个穿着中国旗袍，但却生了十多名黄皮肤华人小孩的马来女子。她棕色的皮肤深到甚至当在森林里玩捉谜藏的时候，你很难在树干或干叶当中找到她。

至于我的妈妈，她从来就没有跟奶奶相处得很好。一直到今天，就算奶奶早就死了，被火化然后储存在吉隆坡某个纪念公园柜子上的一个瓷器里，情况还是一样。当我写这个的时候，妈妈就躺在椅子上用Kapak油护理着她的头发。很明显的，她在今晚的晚餐上显得过于兴奋。她从冰箱里拿了一罐啤酒来喝后，就以滑稽的脚步走进厕所。爸爸是一个好人，但现在我并不想提起他。

在电影制作方面，我的家庭成员都非常支持我。虽然在很多时候他们都觉得我的电影很烂。我通常都是用逼的方式逼他们看我的电影。虽然我不懂为什么自己会这样做，但我要他们无论如何都要看我的电影。

2. You grew up in Jinjang, and you are still living there now. Your family had move into a new house, and I remembered you were quite sad about losing the old house. Could you tell me about Jinjang? Just anything about Jinjang and your old house?

I'm the real 'Jinjang Joe', go ahead and make fun of me.

Most people laugh at me everytime I tell them that I'm from Jinjang. To them, Jinjang is related to everything and anything negative. To them, it's full of uncivilized, bad people with bad taste. Well, you are talking to one now.

We never moved to a new house. Basically the old house, which was made of wood, was too OLD to the point of collapsing it needed to be reconstructed again.

The old house was huge. At least it appeared so to me at that time. The living hall was decorated with framed pictures, lots of them hanging on the wall. Mostly black and white photos. The most memorable ones were my great grandparents portraits. Both their eyes looked at you wherever you go.

Me and my siblings slept with grandma. 4 of us, we slept side by side on grandma's wedding bed covered with mosquito net. Thru the mosquito net one mid night, I saw a lady dressed in white standing beside grandma's bed, just staring at her sleeping. I was so scared I closed my eyes and just focused on peeing in my pants. Until today, I still don't know who she was. Nobody ever knows.

Grandpa slept in a separate room. His room was always dark and creepy. At night when it was all quiet, you could hear grandpa fighting for his breath. He died of asthma attack and left us without lands and properties but only a beat up bicycle.

Old house was fun because we had a huge huge kitchen. Almost 2/3 of the entire house was the kitchen. We had a well with a black fish forever swimming inside. The well basically supplied water to the whole household. I once dropped my tiny dirty underwear inside and told nobody about it.

Shit.. there's so much more to write about. I don't want to be so draggy. Let's skip to another question.

Btw, here's a definition of Jinjang I found on the internet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinjang

"Jinjang Utara is infamous as an unsafe area around Kuala Lumpur"

Obviously the fuckhead who wrote this never been to Jinjang before.

2. 你在增江长大，现在也仍然住在那里。你的家人都已搬到新家去了，而我记得当你失去旧房子的时候你还蛮伤心的。可以告诉我任何有关增江和你旧房子的事吗?

我是正宗'增江仔'.你们尽管取笑我吧。

每当我告诉其他人说我是来自增江的时候，他们都会取笑我。对他们而言，增江离不开一切负面的事情。而且，到处都是野蛮和品味低俗的坏人。没错。。。你现在对面就有一个。

我们并没有搬到新房子去。基本上，那间用木材制成的旧房子，已经旧到将近倒塌的程度，所以必须把它重建。

那是一间很大的旧房子。至少对那时的我来说它是。客厅都以框架照片来作装饰，而这些黑白照片大都挂在墙壁上。让我最难忘的就是老祖宗的画像。他们的眼睛好像无时无刻都会跟着你的脚步一样。

我和兄弟姐妹们都和奶奶一起睡。我们四个并排地睡在奶奶设有蚊帐的婚礼床上。一天午夜，我透过蚊帐看见一个穿着白衣的女人站在奶奶的床边看着她睡觉。我害怕得闭上眼睛，尿得一裤子都是。直到今天，我仍然不知道，也没有人懂她是谁。

爷爷睡在不同的房间里。他的房间总是黑暗得令人有毛骨悚然的感觉。当夜深人静的时候，你总会听到爷爷气喘的声音。他因哮喘病发作而死。除了一辆自行车外，他并没有留给我们任何土地与财产。

旧房子有趣的地方就是它有大大的厨房。厨房占据了将近整间房子的2/3。我们也有一口井。里面住着一条永远在游泳的黑鱼。这口井基本上提供我们整个家庭的用水量。有一次，我把一条肮脏的小内裤掉进井里面。但我没告诉任何人。

其实 还想写很多有关的东西。但我不想这么拖拉。我们跳到另一个问题吧。

还有，这是我在网上找到有关增江的来源:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jinjang

狗屁。。。"增江北部被列为全吉隆坡声名狼藉且最不安全的地区。"

很明显的，写这东西的混蛋之前没到过增江。

3. We were in the same class in Multimedia University, majoring "Film and Animation". There was this plastisin mock-up sculpture you did in the first year of university, it is of a very very old couple dancing naked, with their skin sagged and faces distorted, somehow anyone who see it can feel that the old couple are deeply in love. I was really impressed then. And I thought you would be a very successful director.

----I want to know, at that time, when you were 19, do you have any idea what would become of you?

I guess like most of the 19 years old, I didn't think much of what to do. Now I'm 28 I know clearly that I want to make films, simply because I like doing it.

3. 我们在多媒体大学里是主修影视动画而且是同班的。你在大学一年级时做了一个粘土雕塑模型。那是一对赤裸着身体在跳舞的老夫妇。他们的皮肤已经下垂，而且脸部也扭曲了。不过，任何看到这对夫妇的人都可以感受到他们是深深相爱的。这让我留下很深刻的印象。而我认为你会是一个非常成功的导演。

-----我想知道在那时19岁的你，有想过想成为什么吗?

19岁的时候，我并没有想过自己要做什么。对于现在28岁的我，非常清楚自己想要的是拍电影，而这纯粹是出于喜欢。

4. When you make your first short film, "Breadskin and Strawberry Jam" won The best film in MVA, what did you think? It seems that not long after that you quit your post as senior animator from POV. but only recently you start working again in a game company. Tell us about your experiences.

Of course winning an award is always a big compliment and it shows that someone out there have exactly the same bad taste that you have. But winning MVA was nothing to shout about really and the winning has nothing to do with me quitting my job. I had worked for 3 years in a same animation studio and I felt tired. I wanted a break (more like an excuse to laze around). At least I thought maybe I could spend more time on writing and directing(this is the excuse). Since then, I've shot the following 'Not Cool', 'Flower' and a couple of more short films right until FITP, my 1st feature. I started working again coz I'm broke.

4. 对于你的第一部短片"草莓面包"在电影录像节里得到了最佳短片，你有什么看法?这还是你从POV辞去高级动画师一职不久的事情。但最近你又重新在游戏公司工作。就跟我们说说你的经历吧。

当然，赢了一个奖往往是一个很大的赞扬。这表示外面有人和你一样有低俗的品味。但在电影录像节里得奖真的不是什么值得宣扬的事，还有这跟我辞去工作无关。我在同一间动画公司做了三年。我觉得累了，只想休息(其实是想找个偷懒的借口)。至少我可以花多一点时间在写作和指导上(这才是借口)。过后，我就拍了"Not Cool"， "Flower"和更多其它的短片，直到我拍了第一部电影，"口袋里的花"。因为没钱了，所以我重回工作岗位上。

5. You used to have a blog about your life. It was very well-written, at time offensive but poetic somehow. Why did you close it?

Blogging seems fun for a while but not for now, plus i'm a boring fuckhead.

5.你曾经有过一个关于你生活的部落格。写得很好。内容有偶尔令人恼怒但又带有诗意的感觉。但你为什么要关闭它呢?

博客似乎只是一时好玩的玩意儿 ，但现在却没兴趣了。再加上我是一个很闷的混蛋。

6. Your short films often talks about love and family. What do you think about love, and family?

Bittersweet.

6. 你的短片通常是关于爱情和家庭的。你对爱情与家庭有什么看法?

有悲也有喜。

7. You just finished "Flower in The Pocket". How was the experience making first feature film?

It was great experience. It was scary at times because the production went so smoothly! All the credits must go to my effective and hardworking team, especially my producer and assistant director. Here's something I learn from the production: GET AN EXPERIENCE SOUNDMAN!

7.你刚完成了"口袋里的花". 你拍这部电影的时候体验到什么?

这是一个很好的经验。因为制作进行得太顺利了，所以一开始时觉得有点害怕。一切功劳应该归于我那有效率及勤奋的组员。特别是我的制作人和副导演。我在制作过程里学到了一样东西: 找一个有经验的收音员!

8. "Flower in The Pocket" have the feeling of Kore-Eda's NOBODY KNOWS, Takeshi Kitano's KIKUCHIRO'S SUMMER. Do you agree?

No I don't but oh I love that two films!

8. 你同不同意"口袋里的花"有是枝裕和的< <谁知赤子心>>和北野武的< <菊次郎的夏天>>的感觉?

我并不觉得，但是我喜欢那两部电影。

9. Are you anxious about how the film would be received (in international film festivals, and in local cinema)?

Not really. But of course I hope this film will travel to some film festivals because that's the only way to get your film watched by more people. Locally I don't think this film will be well received. It will suffer the same faith as the rest of the so called indie digital films that had screened previously.

9. 你有担心过这部电影受欢迎的程度吗?(在国际电影节和本地的戏院)

其实并不会。不过我希望这部电影能参加一些电影展。因为只有这样你的电影才能供给更多的人观赏。至于本地，我觉得这部电影不会广受欢迎。它应该会像其它上映过的独立电影一样，遭受同样的命运。

10. Personally I am not so optimistic about making films in Malaysia. I believe many young enthusiastic filmmakers would quit after some disspointments, be it artistic or financial failure. What do you think?

I don't want to think about it else I'll get so depressed and feel like biting my tongue to death again.

10. 对于在马来西亚制作电影，其实我个人并没有抱着乐观的态度。我相信很多热衷于拍电影的年轻人，会因为遭受一些挫折，艺术问题或是财务失败而放弃。这你怎么看呢?

我不想去想这个。不然我会感到很沮丧，然后有股冲动想咬舌自尽。

More on:
LIEW Seng Tat
"Flower in The Pocket"

更多关于:
刘城达
"口袋里的花"

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在这里购买刘城达的电影DVD!