CONTACT: MYSTICMICHAEL@GMAIL.COM PUBLICIST: SINGMURF@GMAIL.COM


Courtesy of Viddsee.com


Actor-Screenwriter-Director

Actor "Ilo Ilo" (2013)

Dir Anthony Chen, Winner Cannes & Golden Horse Awards.

Lead actor, "Certified Dead" (2016)

Dir Marrie Lee aka Cleopatra Wong, Winner 14th Royal Bali International Film Festival (2016).

Director-Writer, "Bloodline Blues" (2018)

Selected Candidate - IMDA Lasalle Writerslab 2018

30,000,000

hits ONLINE: Gift (2014) & Hentak Kaki (2012)

400

productions in 9 years

2

Best Performance Awards, SSFA (2012/2014)

Lives: EU/SG

P L A Y L I S T


Click to Play...

Search this Blog:

.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Penghulu

Utter 2013. Penghulu. Adapted from Pak Suleh (from Penghulu) by Suratman Markasan. Director: Lilian Wang.


This was my first gig in  Malay, and since then, I had done other such roles in several short films, including one for Utter 2014.

Thankfully, I still remember enough of the language to plod my way with in Malay. My earliest encounter with the language was when I was four years old, when I watched  "Bahasa Kenbangsaan" (National Language) on TV, just before the cartoon telecast. In my school days, everyone had to study Malay - our National Language (and still is)! :) Back then, Chinese people mostly spoke Malay to the other races and among themselves, they spoke their own Southern Chinese dialects of Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka, Hainanese,... etc. Only the folks in Chinese medium schools spoke Mandarin, and then, in its uncorrupted form! 

I am glad to have lived through the era of linguistic diversity in Singapore. There was more character and the different languages curiously relay emotions specific to each ethnic group.

Then in the late 70s, there were grand efforts by the government to standardise the spoken language among the Chinese to Mandarin; while English rapidly moved to centre stage. By 1980, Malay was relegated to be spoken mostly among the Malays.

Today, young Chinese speaks only Mandarin and English  (Well kinda, more so Singlish). Japanese, Korean and other Asian language dramas are allowed on TV, but not Chinese dialect dramas. Mandarin is now officially my 'mother tongue', though my mother doesn't speak a word of Mandarin. Meanwhile people from China now purportedly speak better mother tongue than I do in my mother country Singapore. Isn't it funny?! lol





The 1970s was also the era when many Singaporeans were evicted from their kampong dwellings of attap huts and patchy agricultural subsistence, to (in comparison) sterile government built apartments that now dots the Singapore skyline. Those were major changes to move from literally living on the ground to living in suspended concrete dwellings in the sky.

"Penghulu" depicts such maladjustments of a village chief, who laments the change and the lost of his familiar casual and happier days in the village. I like the screenplay very much as it captured the slow soothing life of the Penghulu and constrasts it to his mundane and sedate life in the modern apartment.

Nostalgia is sweet, however be careful... as it can also rob  us of our present.

Penghulu: Scene from Sean Ashley on Vimeo.

Here is the trailer for this year's Singapore Writer's Festival '..



If you like to watch some of my Hokkien short films, click here.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Afterimages


Production company: Mythopolis Pictures. Producer: Genevieve Woo. Director: Tony Kern.


















"Afterimages"  is one of the few Singapore-made horror movies screening this year. 
It will premiere on the 10th of September 2014 in Singapore - just after the Chinese Seventh Month for the Hungry Ghosts.  

I haven't watched them yet, but will do so on the 10th.




Quiz:
A FREE pair of tickets will be given to whoever answers ALL the following 5 questions correctly AND register his/her email address (near the top of page of this blog).

[1] How many 'short stories from Hell' are there in "Afterimages"?

[2] When will "Afterimages" be screened to the public?

[3] Name the famous radio DJ who is in the movie?

[4] Which is the other horror movie Tony Kern directed? 

[5] Which floor did the female character in the movie jumped down from?

EMAIL YOUR ANSWERS, YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS & MOBILE PHONE NUMBER TO: mysticmichael@gmail.com

This quiz is only opened to people based in Singapore or can make it to the Premiere.

Date: 10th SEP 2014
Time: 9PM
Place: Cathay Cinema, Handy Road, Singapore.
 
There are only 3 pairs of tickets up for grabs. Hurry!

CLOSING DATE FOR QUIZ: 7TH SEPTEMBER 2014.




For more information about the movie, click here.






Monday, August 11, 2014

Jasmine

This is a short story of a taxi driver uncle and his tipsy girlfriend from China, heading for the local "mama shop"; thereafter giving the mama a difficult time and making a mess of his place.

"Mama shops" are the little Indian neighbourhood convenient stalls commonly found in Singapore. "Mama" means 'uncle' in Tamil.

This is a fun 4-minute video, directed by Dylan Tan and Caleb Lee as the DP.

The shop has character, complete with real Indian flower garlands. Nothing there were film props! :)


As luck had it, while we were filming, there was another show going on nearby - a getai - a street concert staged during the Chinese Seventh Month Hungry Ghost Festival. Isn't the cultural diversity wonderful in Singapore? :)

Capturing clean sound was hell though! 



And here is everyone in the team...



I will post the finished works here when it is available. Watch this space. Or you can follow this blog by email and you will be informed of any updates.