I'll be flying off to Estonia in a couple of hours. (by the time you're reading this, I'm probably already on the plane).
A month ago, I was invited to participate in the 60 SECONDS OF SOLITUDE IN YEAR ZERO omnibus project with a group of directors from all over the world. Most other directors involved in this are world-famous masters like Naomi Kawase, Park Chan Wook, Amir Naderi, Shinji Aoyama, Kim Ji-Woon, Tom Tywker, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Brillante Mendoza and many others (see full list of directors). Being able to participate in this project with filmmakers whose works have inspired me so much is quite an honour, and also rather humbling. (I'm listed as a representative for both Malaysia and Japan, the other filmmaker representing Malaysia is my regular collaborator Woo Ming Jin).
Each director is supposed to make a 1-minute short film, so that when all our contributions are put together, it becomes a (hopefully awesome) one-hour omnibus film.
And there will only be ONE screening for this omnibus film, in Tallin, on the 22nd of December.
A special construction comprising a 20x12 meter cinema screen and a projector will be built for the event which will allow the actual filmstrip to be burnt at the same time as the film is shown. The audience will experience the screening and the performance from approx 20 meters from the screen. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us all.
(The most Meta way to deal with this is to film the screening with an iPhone, and then burn my iPhone.)
Here's a teaser video of this project. Ming Jin's name gets to disappear last!
If you were to tell me two months ago that I would be going to Estonia, and spend (most of) my Christmas there, I would have stared at you funny. But I am indeed going there, and hopefully I'll be able to take many photos of the place, and the event. (maybe I try to live-tweet the thing if there's Wi-fi at the outdoor screening venue?) What an adventure!
My segment is called I DREAMT OF SOMEONE DREAMING OF ME. Which I put together using unused rushes from my latest short, LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER, and my Prada short film, starring Arisa Koike ("LAST FRAGMENTS OF WINTER") and Moon Lai ("The Tiger Factory"). Yes, it's in split screens. It's been more than two years since I used that for KINGYO, thought to use it again since it served my story.
