WATCH: James Lee's 2007 TV film BERNAFAS DALAM LUMPUR

A few days ago, Malaysian independent film pioneer James Lee (and also producer of my last short film FLOATING SUN :D ) uploaded his entire 2007 TV movie BERNAFAS DALAM LUMPUR (English title: BREATHING IN MUD) online.

I remember catching this on TV the day it was aired seven years ago. The film starred numerous actors whom I have collaborated with a few months earlier in the TV films I produced, KURUS (English title: DAYS OF THE TURQUOISE SKY): Nam Ron, Mislina Mustaffa, Mohammad Hariry, Azman Hassan etc.

It tells the story of a man, Meor (Hariry) long thought to be dead, returning to his wife (Mislina), who has now remarried his best friend Din (Nam Ron).

Yes, like KURUS, this was a TV movie commissioned by NTV7. If this is online, I wonder whether it's possible for me to upload KURUS in its entirety as well?

Here's the film:

The Films of Edward Yang

The Taiwanese director Edward Yang had been one of my biggest influences.

He died of cancer at the age of 60 exactly 5 years ago, on the 29th of June, 2007.

A few filmmaker friends of mine like Ying Liang and Eva Tang had posted the video below on Facebook to mark this occasion.

Two reviews of DAYS OF THE TURQUOISE SKY (KURUS)

KURUS, or DAYS OF THE TURQUOISE SKY, continues its festival run. Here are two recent reviews of the film from our Southeast Asian neighbours.

DAYS OF THE TURQUOISE SKY (KURUS) wins award at Bangkok International Film Festival

Just got an email from Ming Jin early this morning (around 3am). Our film, DAYS OF THE TURQUOISE SKY (known to Malaysian audiences as KURUS) had won the Special Jury Prize at the Bangkok International Film Festival's Golden Kinnaree Awards last night, under the South-East Asian Competition.

CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY and KURUS screening at KLue Urbanscapes 2008 (28th of June)!

I first received a phone call from a lady from KLue sometime in late February (just a few days before I started shooting CHICKEN RICE MYSTERY). She told me that it was filmmaker and friend Tony Pietra who had given her my number, and the conversation was like that:

Review of KURUS (aka DAYS OF THE TURQUOISE SKY) by Yvonne Teh

I was pleasantly surprised that I found this review of KURUS (aka DAYS OF THE TURQUOISE SKY) from Yvonne Teh's ('YTSL') blog yesterday:

Review of KURUS (aka DAYS OF THE TURQUOISE SKY) by Yeo Kien Kiong

I recently received a nice film review of the telemovie KURUS (known overseas as DAYS OF THE TURQUOISE SKY) from animator Yeo Kien Kiong (no relation), who saw the film at the recent Hong Kong Film Festival:

Exploring the Hong Kong Filmart 2008

I've returned from Hong Kong last night, but I'll chronicle the last day of my trip there.

19th of March began early because I had to rush to the HK Convention and Exhibition Center (HKCEC) for the KURUS (Days of the Turquoise Sky) screening at 10am. Despite being really early, and neither of the booths at Filmart were open, I managed to invite a few FINAS representatives to watch the film with me. Really appreciated their support, and was happy to have new friends like them.

Once the screening was over, I started exploring the Filmart, and had the opportunity to meet other film producers and film festival programmers. It took me a while before I realized that I didn't manage to take any photos the day before, so I immediately snapped some quick ones of the impressive-looking booths of the event.

KURUS Featured on THE STAR (20 Feb 2008)

KURUS is featured on today's The Star.



Props to them for including, well, a photo that has me in it :D

OMFG! KURUS is showing TONIGHT! (17th of Feb, 2008)

Okay, the NTV7 person probably made a mistake when she told us that KURUS will be showing on the 24th of February.

In fact, based on today's newspapers, KURUS will most probably air at NTV7 on the 17th of Feb, 10:45pm. Yes, that's TONIGHT!!!!!!

So please please PLEASE watch it!!!

Here are the trailers (again):






Tell your friends to watch it, and tell your friends to tell their friends to watch it, and then tell your friend's friends to tell THEIR friends to watch it etc etc.

Two (VERY AWESOME) KURUS Trailers

I've announced yesterday that the telemovie will be airing at NTV7 on the 24th of February, 2008.

So check out the trailers now.


KURUS trailer 1


KURUS trailer 2


Once again, KURUS (English title: Days of the Turquoise Sky) is from Greenlight Pictures, the folks who brought you the hit telemovie CINTA TIGA SEGI and the award-winning THE ELEPHANT AND THE SEA (coming to cinemas soon). KURUS is a coming-of-age film that stars newcomer Arshad Zamir, Mislina Mustapha, Nam Ron and Carmen Soo. It is written and directed by Woo Ming Jin. It is produced by Edmund Yeo, Woo Ming Jin, Tomoko Ueda and Aron Koh.

Tags: kurus, days of the turquoise sky, woo ming jin, arshad zamir, carmen soo, mislina mustapha, nam ron, youtube, trailer, video

KURUS will be airing at NTV7 on the 24th of Feb, 10:45pm

Well, folks, I've gotten the confirmed the airing date for KURUS, and it's on the 24th of February, 10:45pm. NTV7.

Yes, that's the telemovie I last produced and couldn't stop talking about in the past few weeks.

Here are links to its press coverage:

• Carmen Soo and KURUS Featured on New Straits Times (11 Feb 2008)
• KURUS Featured on THE SUN (11 Feb 2008)
• Woo Ming Jin and KURUS Featured in New Sunday Times (3 Feb 2008)
• Carmen Soo and KURUS Featured on Metro Harian (2 Feb 2008)

And some miscellaneous links to production stills and others:

• Photos from KURUS Press Conference
• KURUS Production Diary - English Title confirmed. Days of the Turquoise Sky
• KURUS Production Diary - 'Carmen Soo Day 1'
• KURUS Production Diary - 'Carmen Soo Day 2'
• KURUS Production Diary - More production photos

Obviously, I'm going to do another marathon posting of the film until it airs.

The following are some random photos of KURUS. Refresh the page to view different photos.

KURUS (English title: Days of the Turquoise Sky) is from Greenlight Pictures, the folks who brought you the hit telemovie Cinta Tiga Segi. KURUS is a coming-of-age film that stars newcomer Arshad Zamir, Mislina Mustapha, Nam Ron and Carmen Soo. It is written and directed by my mentor, the award-winning Woo Ming Jin.

Tags: kurus, carmen soo, woo ming jin, arshad zamir, mislina mustapha, nam ron, days of the turquoise sky, telemovie, film, ntv7

Carmen Soo and KURUS Featured on New Straits Times (11 Feb 2008)

Carmen Soo's experiences during the KURUS shoot is revealed in Sharifah Arfah's interview with her on New Straits Times.

(click pic below and go to 'ALL SIZES' to view larger version)



Or read the interview here.

KURUS, a film which marks my very first producer credit, will be showing on NTV7 soon. It is also making its festival premiere at the Hong Kong International Film Festival next month.

I'll be posting up the trailers one of these days.

Tags: kurus, carmen soo, arshad zamir, woo ming jin, interview, film, days of the turquoise sky

KURUS Featured on THE SUN (11 Feb 2008)

The Sun's Pauline Wong did a feature on KURUS, this telemovie I produced and couldn't stop talking about in the past few weeks.

Woo Ming Jin and KURUS Featured in New Sunday Times (3 Feb 2008)

Ming Jin the Mentor and our latest production, KURUS, had been featured in the 3rd of February's New Sunday Times.

Aside from the film itself, this article focuses mostly on our wonderful collaborators, The Limkokwing Film and Television Institute and their involvement in KURUS.



KURUS (English title: Days of the Turquoise Sky), starring Arshad Zamir, Mislina Mustapha, Nam Ron and Carmen Soo, will be coming to NTV7 soon.

It's also going to next month's Hong Kong International Film Festival, which I'm going to attend. (YES!)

Anyway, just a day before this, Carmen Soo and the film, KURUS, were featured in Metro Harian.

Tags: kurus, arshad zamir, woo ming jin, greenlight pictures, days of the turquoise sky, limkokwing, carmen soo, mislina mustapha, telemovie, ntv7, film

Carmen Soo and KURUS Featured on Metro Harian (2 Feb 2008)

This is from yesterday's Metro Harian, a Malay-language newspaper. It's a feature on Carmen Soo and our film, KURUS.

Click the pictures and check out the larger versions if you want to read the feature. I like the title "Victimized by Naughty Students". (Carmen plays a school teacher in the film)

Had to fold the papers to scan them, quite a hassle.





Yes, it's unfortunate that I had this weird expression on my face in that group photo with Carmen (I'm the one in purple, btw).

The telemovie, KURUS, is coming out on NTV7 soon and co-stars Arshad Zamir, Mislina Mustapha and Namron.

I'm heading back to Limkokwing University tomorrow to edit another trailer for it.




KURUS trailer 2


Related entries
Photos from the KURUS press conference on the 28th of Jan.
KURUS Production Diary - 'Carmen Soo Day 1'
KURUS Production Diary - 'Carmen Soo Day 2'
KURUS Production Diary - More production photos

Tags: kurus, carmen soo, arshad zamir, woo ming jin, mislina mustapha, days of the turquoise sky, limkokwing, greenlight pictures

Photos from KURUS Press Conference

(UPDATED on July 5th, 2016)

The entire film is here

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I attended the press conference and screening of KURUS yesterday at the KL branch of Limkokwing University. Not much to say for now, just some photos to share.

KURUS Production Diary - More production photos

We've finally completed the rough cut version of KURUS (English title: DAYS OF THE TURQUOISE SKY) last week. When and where will the film make its world premiere remains a mystery, it could be a foreign film festival we submitted the film to, or it could local TV channel NTV7 itself.

Whenever or whatever it is, I will keep everyone informed. You can read about the synopsis of the film I posted last month.

Now, more production photos:

KURUS Production Diary - Sleepless night of editing

29th of November. I have reached the fourth day of post-production for the film, KURUS. The past three days were spent on editing its rough cut, while today's spent on subtitling. I can only work on this until tomorrow afternoon, then I'll have to submit this film to the Rotterdam Film Festival.

KURUS Production Diary - 'Carmen Soo Day 2'

By the time I was writing this post, I've already completed the shoot for KURUS (24th of November, one day ahead of schedule) and gone home. I'm going to start work on the editing rather soon.

Before I move on, here are more photos from 'Carmen Soo Day 1' (20th of Nov) that was taken with a digital SLR: