I think that is what it’s called and here it is, the textual synthetic and company logo for ymagon:
For reference as well as future updates, please visit ymagon.com.
For general information on the project do look up previous posts under the “ymagon” label.
Branding is not an art form and certainly not content-sensitive in any way. Your every street billboard and glossy advertisement should sufficiently prove the point (and should you still feel a need to verify, please check back with your neighbourhood convenience store only guided by whatever commercial pops into your head while shopping for shopping’s sake if you will). It’s the mechanism of mass manipulation, the gesture that means You!, which does the job. It’s a blueprint for success (“My sunglasses are good for my image.” – Samsonite) that gets played on in many variations for the sole purpose of being recognized – the pathetic joy of allowed discovery shaking hands with the mutually wilful employment of the half-conscious. Admit it: you love being victimized, don’t you?
Well, for the producer in you, here’s a wink: turn it around and make it work for you and your ego (remember: “My sunglasses are good for my image.”?). Turn your self into a brand for others to consume, a set part and distributable portion of it, and try to live it as a deal – professional, slick, and strictly one-way. iWhatever* could be just you! Try anyone?
(*no guarantee to this post but please, let me know if it works, ok?)
(pic©Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation)
As you know, I am talking about the arts here, so please, no confusion over what I do and do not have in mind when talking about “profitability”. Benchmarks for success are manifold and can only be individually verified – but as far as definitions go, well, that job’s been done before hasn’t it? Money as credit certainly counts for one, popularity its social equivalent (though it is common knowledge how there exists a fair degree of interchangeability between the two), and what about happiness? Its pursuit is a guaranteed civil right as laid down in the U.S. Constitution, and it sure is desirable. And the best thing about it: it doesn’t take a jury to decide and bestow, but will arrive at your heart’s doorstep simply of its own accord (or not).
Now to the matter at hand, this post is about winning awards. There are millions of opportunities, some of them highly prestigious and relevant, others not so, you know the story. What makes me wonder is the complicity of those seemingly above such concerns, the fake aloofness of the cocksure future winner and their see-through disregard for excellence (any but their own, of course). It doesn’t matter much, possibly not even to the organizers of such stage for the vain man or woman in question. But it is annoying nonetheless. It seems like a travesty of distinction and to my understanding only reinforces the challenge, if only the self-serving aspect of competition. So, I’ve been told they know how to win awards. Fine. They also know they could win big if only they chose to set their mind to it. Excellent! I can’t help but think they really know quite a lot. And before you know it, I take my share of a lesson of all this inexpensive insight to sum it up as follows: Beware those who speak to you about their humble opinion - it’s the most pretentious line of all! Thanks for sharing.
I have to be honest: I still believe the word to be more powerful than the image. Maybe, in our age, the opposite seems more believable. I say: never believe in convenience! The opposite may (also) be true. And there is a new power the word is being invested with as we look upon what’s happening: people don’t really read, they don’t think in proper appreciation of what text can do for them. Language and words are being underestimated, we see it well. As we speak, we understand. That is frighteningly little already. Shockingly, diminishing ever more, and not gradually but in a torrent. The new power stems from there. The depreciated quantity in a backlash: the striking word - revenge against the pose. The image is convention, its dominance tyranny. Each icon turns out a hydra and words into a guerrilla of reason and humanity. And we remember…
I perceive of the world as textual, not a pictorial screening before my eyes and in my mind. If tomorrow I turned blind the world would still continue to make its customary sense to me. So I don’t just watch. I read. That’s a way of engaging, of interacting and reciprocity. Colour isn’t a visual property exclusively and text is happening all the time, all around us, enveloping us – it really is us, think of it! Better read well…
At times, a few words are more telling than so many pictures (or 24 frames per second for that matter). See for yourself, as Munich based company Sunfilm Entertainment in Germany has released a German version of Royston Tan’s third feature “881” – and they absolutely had to change the title. Now it’s become so revealing, it’s “Singapur Queens” actually!
To be nothing but fact oriented on the issue, I have to admit that it’s been released early January this year and selling not too bad; at least not as last time I checked on our local Berlin retailer and all copies were positively gone (i.e. sold apparently). Now forget about your lofty idealism for once and just revel in the sheer magnitude of the event, this is groundbreaking: the first ever German market hardcopy release of any Singaporean feature film and it is so much Heavenly Cheese, this is gorgeous, ha!
The distributor signed the deal after the Berlinale EFM (European Film Market) last year where “881” had three professional market screenings. And in keeping with their astonishingly good portfolio which includes a number of true gems of Asian cinema like my favourite “Dare mo shiranai/Nobody Knows” by Koreeda Hirokazu or “Tampopo” among others, Sunfilm packaged it nicely. Thus the region 2 PAL DVD comes with your standard German dubbing (horrible!), the English subtitled making-of (sic!), a new motto (“Born to Dance” – where did that come from?) and complete with the vol. 1 OST to enjoy! This is a must-have, definitely (and you can get it here).
And while you’re at it, enriching your collection, I shall point you to the upcoming DVD release of same director’s masterpiece “4:30” to go on sale March 16th in the UK (pre-order here). Just look at the beautiful cover:
(pics©Sunfilm Entertainment | Pecadillo Pictures ltd)
The old spirit returns with renewed life: For the 22nd time Singapore International Film Festival will open its doors and screens April 14 – 25 to bring a sightly selection of films from Asia and the world at large to the festival faithful and cinema enthusiasts. There is a lot to look forward to in this edition and the effort as such is noble as can be. I sense quite a bit of defiance and will power at work in the event. Stubbornness can be a virtue, too (in times like these)!
Apart from the international feature competition and the defining Silver Screen Awards (and for the first time this year) there are the Singapore Film Awards for local (i.e. Singaporean) feature films to acknowledge excellence in the categories of: Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Performance (actors/actresses, all in one, sic!) and Best Cinematography. That in itself I reckon to be a good choice. For the rest, you should have a look at the nominees: here.
The full programme and schedule you will find on the official webby: here.
(pic©Singapore International Film Festival 2009)
Sadly, there is never enough time and work waits for no one. So I had to cut short my Berlinale pilgrimage this year and wait for critical reports to come my way instead of adding my voice to the cacophony of verdicts. – But wait, on listening to the buzz already out there (and while giving my congrats to all the winners of the evening!) I notice something quite unusual: general opinion seems to be rather positive, friendly even, with respect to this year’s event and programme, including a record number of tickets sold. Now, that certainly comes as a surprise. Especially since I cannot help but feel somebody is deliberately lowering the bar here in preparation for next year’s big celebration when Berlin International Film Festival turns 60. But maybe I got it all wrong and there was indeed more to discover than just your staple films of festival fare and mediocrity (and one of my personal highlights being the artwork of 2009 designated Palme d’Or winner “Face/Visages” by Tsai Ming-liang at EFM, currently in post-production). Without a doubt the best (new) film by far that I’ve seen was “Meotjin haru/My Dear Enemy” by Lee Yoon-ki from South Korea.
Will be back again next year anyway. So long, Berlinale!
(pic©berlinale.de)
39th Forum
“Yanaka boshuku/Deep in the Valley”, Funahashi Atsushi (Japan)
Feeble docufiction on a pagoda lost to memory. Not convincing.
(pic©berlinale.de)
My own selection process and criteria are a well kept secret and so it shall be. But here I admit it freely: I had to catch this Pusan winner!
39th Forum
“Mubobi/Naked of Defenses”, Masahide Ichii (Japan)
Minimalist isolation piece about human deficiency. Good, but slightly overarticulate.
(pic©berlinale.de)
Intermission
(“Oh, this is so pretentious! – Give me a break, okay.”)
(pic©berlinale.de)
39th Forum
“Eoddeon gaien nal/The Day After”, Lee Suk-Gyung (South Korea)
After divorce, life continues – a single episode everyday drama, humble.
(pic©berlinale.de)
39th Forum
“Meotjin haru/My Dear Enemy”, Lee Yoon-ki (South Korea)
Close cinema: ambiguous emotional fugue of crumbling defences, brilliantly composed.
(pic©berlinale.de)
24th Panorama
“Tanjong Rhu/The Casuarina Cove”, Boo Junfeng (Singapore)
Well acted and private investigation into a sensitively public issue.
“End of Love”, Simon Chun (Hong Kong)
A languid tale of reform, kind of, call it watchable.
Ya, looks like some themes are quite persistent and worthy of ever more scrutiny, certainly of support. The gay life subject matter as such is fascinating precisely because it is a margin that the majority of people have a share in, one way or another. And whether it yields assent has less to do with what is being portrayed, than how the light’s been cast, I think. It is also the only valid reason I see, why a filmic statement on lesbian and gay issues remains a special filmic challenge and potentially rewarding.
(pic©berlinale.de)
Off to a rather hectic start into a Berlin International 2009 which, admittedly, on paper at least, doesn’t look too promising. But let’s watch first – and jump to conclusions later…
Panorama Dokumente
“Queer Sarajevo Festival 2008”, Masa Hilcisin, Cazim Dervisevic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
LGBT film issues of relevance and tensions. A straight-forward campaign.
“Gevald”, Netalie Braun (Israel)
A sentimental and kitsch-nostalgic short against compromising freedom: quite queer.
“City of Borders”, Yun Suh (USA)
Differences in being different powerfully, politically, explored – in real life.
24th Panorama “Laskar Pelangi/The Rainbow Troops”, Riri Riza (Indonesia)
Children warmly reflect (parts of) the world, educating national identity.
59th Berlinale Retrospective
“Ben-Hur”, William Wyler (USA)
A wide gauge film epic that is and portrays history.
(pic©berlinale.de)
Short’s good and flexibility and spontaneity won’t suffer the long-winded anyway – so, this year again I’ll try to sum it all up for you in 10 words per film and leaving something open for discovery or discussion, as you like it! But the essential verdict will come out the stronger for it, I hope.
Here goes!
(pic©berlinale.de)
I don’t know about you, but for me, somehow, this new year doesn’t feel like it’s all that new really, Ox or not. Meltdown, downturn, down-sizing, shrinking economies and what not – again I call for some balance in the act and welcome the prospect of mixing in some bears with all the bulls (well, if there’s a need actually…) And then, for detractors, there still is this opulent new design for this year’s Berlin International Film Festival going into edition 59: whether it be underfed stars, snow flakes with an inferiority complex or just plain dots – you decide. In any case, it all star(t)s February 5 and you can take a look at the programme* right: here.
* and I want to point out one highlight amongst the many: “Tanjong Rhu (The Casuarina Cove)”, very good new short film by Boo Junfeng, Singapore, will have its WP on Saturday, 7th!
show times:
TANJONG RHU
International 7.2./17:00
Cubix 7 & 8 Interlock 9.2./22:30
Zoo Palast 1 13.2./19:00
CinemaxX 7 14.2./10:30
International 15.2./14:00
(pic©berlinale.de)
According to all sources, the second edition of ASIAN HOT SHOTS BERLIN film festival which wrapped January 18th with its official Awards Ceremony and Closing Film, has been a success. Steady crowds found their way to the screenings at cinema Babylon, witnessed an ambitious shorts competition, a diverse programme and inspiring discussion panels, and also took part in the audience voting to determine the green chilies award winners in the festival’s two categories for short and feature length films. An additional special award, the Manfred Durniok Prize, was introduced this year in recognition of outstanding achievements in furthering the idea and value of Asian-European cultural exchange in the medium of film. Since it is a widely held belief that any image says more than a thousand words, I shall leave it to the award winning pictures to testify to the strength of this year’s competitions and end with the following: AHSB organizers would like to thank everybody involved, our more than 30 international guests as well as our honourable sponsors for making this possible; we are looking forward to our continued cooperation and hope to see you again next year!
2009 winners are:
Best Feature Film:
1st Place (shared)
Jay (Francis Xavier Pasion, Philippines (2008))
Salawati (Marc X. Grigoroff, Singapore (2008))
2nd Place
Invisible Children (Brian Gothong Tan, Singapore (2008))
Best Short Film:
1st Place
God Only Knows (Mark V. Reyes, Philippines (2008))
2nd Place
Hoolahoop Soundings (Edwin, Indonesia (2008))
Manfred Durniok Award:
Die Legende von Shiva und Parvati (Krishna Saraswati, Germany/India (2008))
Congratulations to all who took part!
(pic©green chilies e.V.)
The countdown is on and before you know it ASIAN HOT SHOTS BERLIN kicks off January 13th to bring you an eclectic line-up of films carefully selected from across Asia, obviously. I’ve posted and detailed the numerous recommendable entries from Singapore before, so now I shall give you the complete programme as it can be ((p)re)viewed: here.
NOT TO BE MISSED, NONE OF IT!
(pic©green chilies e.V.)
I am not one to exaggerate, but this one sure looks huge!
ASIAN HOT SHOTS BERLIN, the newly established independent film festival in Germany’s capital, will go into its second edition January 13-18 next year, and the programme has finally been concluded (and can be viewed in full here). Many exciting new films from across the Asian region – and some nice odd ones among them – have been selected and each and every one of them deserves their packed house full of that famously sophisticated, appreciative and discerning audience Berlin is known for.
By now, I guess, none of you will be surprised any more to find me particularly pleased with the truly remarkable share of films from Singapore included, so here’s an excerpt for you:
Yes, Philip Roth is at it again, you guessed it. With his latest novel, “Indignation”, he continues doing what he always does: pitting ignorance against pride and vanity. If that should sound like the set-up for some US presidential election to you, you’re most probably right. In fact, it reminds me of the set-up of almost every US presidential election you could think of, no? Anyway, here is an opportunity to have another encounter with an American literary eminence and a most prolific and important writer, a voice I would never want to miss. With this new one he returns to the States as they appear to have been working back in 1951 during the Korean War. Whatever the general mind-set might have been back then – and things may not always appear prettier in retrospect – people sure were no different from us nowadays. Accordingly, “Indignation” revolves around (err, you guessed it?) a blow job, and thus is meant for the advanced connoisseur, certainly.
Philip Roth has put forward an impressive string of solid works in recent years, ever since his American Trilogy commenced with “American Pastoral” in 1997, and seems to me he is becoming ever more the augur of conventionalism and the self-righteous – and a fool is he who thinks this was an American sickness only. If you should feel like this topic has been all but exhausted already and nothing more can come of it, think again. I found myself surprised after reading, at how swiftly Philip Roth manages to evoke an era of more than half a century back with just the first twenty opening pages or so. For sure, he does use a lot of stereotypes in describing mid-century New England Jewish life and campus lore, but avoids being simplistic. The judgemental tone of the narrator speaking to us from beyond the grave (once again), obviously is never his own and intelligently makes for the master’s well known and very recognizable brand of irony.
Most astonishing to me, though, is the very fact that he credibly keeps up and gradually refines his anger, novel to novel. There is something endearingly nostalgic about it, and quite American too, which appeals to our best political and social instincts, I should hope. With so much change hovering in the air of late, one can only wish for the kind of far-sightedness, which is mindful of our human fallibility, to rule public discourse and guide decision-making in the future. I don’t want to spoil your reading pleasure, but this I must say: when you’ve finished “Indignation”, you are bound to experience in your mind how the rest of recent history from there, 1968 through the cultural transformations of the 80s and Clinton years, all the way up to president-elect 44, unfolds a not so bleak picture of civilizing progress. American thought and pragmatism have come a long way, and some things actually have improved. Liberalization is necessary as is thawing after a harsh winter and it looks like we have quite a bit of climate change ahead of us. For those of you interested in placing yourself in context and a literature unafraid of commitment – here is a recommended read for you!
(pic©Houghton Mifflin)
For more than one and a half years “The Torch” has been engaged in an effort to promote a heightened awareness and a more profound understanding (and with it, hopefully, a better appreciation) of film aesthetics as per 21st century requirements. In the course of so doing, it touched upon many deeply sensitive issues. By keeping a clear focus on current developments in exemplary Singapore its objective has always been twofold: to answer the specific and to extract and explain the general type.
Methodically, it has never attempted to profess any dogmatism, or to be exclusive. Rather, its pursuit has been from the outset to try and instigate an open and qualified debate about what it is that defines film as an art form and what it requires us, who are involved in some way or another in its making, to always bear in mind, to never lose sight of and to be uncompromising about. Although this column has run its course now, the case which it has been but a humble part of remains open and continues to be in need of further reviewing. As it is with every kind of legacy, however small, that it is those who come after who will determine its worth, so “The Torch” may very well be carried on in private or in public by someone else – as with hope, the passion lighting it will not cease to shine!
My heartfelt gratitude to a most perfect host-site, that brilliant and forever friendly link, Sinema.sg! The salute can be found: here.
(pic©mo)
You speak in the words of another. You make your choices, select their sentences and choose to borrow foreign intelligence. The selection is neither rational nor arbitrary; it is emphatic, it is challenging, it can be a disguise. And it wants to reveal something: a mood, a tone, an insight or a probing question.
This is why you quote. The careful citation maybe a mask. And it is convenient, if unsettling. A motto or a thought – what is truth, other than a pleasant opinion? We hold dear that which we cannot easily understand but know to be true anyway. Somehow. Literally or virtually, there doesn’t seem to be much difference. What does it matter? The choice has always been mine!
Why blog if you don’t seek expression? Why blog if not for the experience of hiding behind a virtual mask? And 100 is a perfect number. Therefore, no more quotes. They have said it all. On my behalf.
“Socrates: 'Then, in short, all the stirrings and endurings of the soul, when wisdom leads, come to happiness in the end, but when senselessness leads, to the opposite?' - Menon: 'So it seems.'”
(Plato, Symposium/The Banquet (after 385 B.C.))
Everybody wants to get something done, realize a vision, gain recognition, build a record and, eventually, leave a legacy behind. Only few succeed. That’s why we honour them; and that’s what we have awards for, the Main Prizes and colossal accolades for lifetime achievement and the like. Surely, where literature is concerned, no other recognition holds the immortalizing power that the Nobel Prize can bestow and it might be a blessing as much as a curse for some among the elect as henceforward we begin to somehow think them in marble. But, luckily, not all the laureates are dead; certainly alive when designated. Being humans (almost) like the rest of us, they are also fallible, even in their field.
Now, for a very long time I’ve been an avid reader of Günter Grass’s works. His style of writing, his historically based narratives, have inspired and influenced me greatly and in terms of developing my own literary understanding I owe him a lot. In short, he is one of my heroes, so to speak. Really goes without saying, then, that I just instantly bought his latest book when it was published last month. It is the second part of his autobiography in fiction and a follow-up to “Peeling the Onion” of 2006, called “Die Box”/”The Box”. As is the nature of such accounting, it is very personal for the most part. Only, it so much focuses on family matters – and decidedly less outer world factuality or atmosphere filtering in than was the case with the previous one – that one cannot avoid the question of asking just how relevant it is. For me, this doesn’t seem to be the biggest problem here, though. He has given copious and probing renditions of post-war German society in his great novels before, more eloquently so than any other German writer has done in his generation, and done it brilliantly; his sentences are profoundly worked-through in most memorable language, and every yarn or fable spun to lasting effect (for those who care to listen, or read). What saddens me so about “Die Box” is the fact that it is a mere shadow of his former narrative vigour and scope. It sounds, and is, repetitive, but without generating any additional insight in the process, I’m afraid.
For Grass enthusiasts it should still be worth reading and in no way can this late piece take away anything from his achievements. I simply like to hear his voice on paper again. Even so, this one is not a great work by a great literary master, whereas “Peeling the Onion” in my estimation ranks as a fine example in the rich history of European memo fiction and biographical writing, an important testimony of an important time. So, I’ll read on…
(pic©Florian K.)
When I first noticed that little sticker on the DVD of 881 calling it a “true Singapore instant classic” I thought it was a joke, really. But no, they actually mean it!
What, then, lies behind that craze about efficiency, rapidity and the instantaneous in every moment, experience and every conceivable kind of product especially, that we witness in the ambitious island nation of Singapore today? How does the seemingly all-pervasive obsession with everything quick and easy affect the country’s blossoming movie industry, and young independent filmmakers in particular? Can quality truly be achieved – let alone maintained – in an environment that doesn’t seem to cherish the essence for which there can never be a short-cut, never a substitute, and that is time? Give it a moment to reflect on the topic, then join this controversial discussion right: here.
(pic©mo)
It has been a while, in fact, too long, since last I posted something on the topic of literature up here. There are many reasons for this holdup, all of them very complicated, unpardonable and nothing but excuses. So, no more on that; it’s a past. Earlier this month, I attended a reading of young Thai-American writer Rattawut Lacharoensap at our Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin. I had first encountered him and his work two years ago at exactly the same venue and had been quite intrigued by his refreshing debut collection of short stories, “Sightseeing” (review here). Naturally, I was excited to see what he’s up to next. And he was really courageous, I must say, for reading from a manuscript in the making, his long-awaited fist novel “End of Siam”, slated for publication around May of next year. That I found impressing.
But then, the reading as such, my first impression of the text, those opening passages that are meant to get us into the body of the entire thing – frankly, I couldn’t help but be disappointed by what I heard. Of course, the man himself was charming as ever, spirited, and he seemed at ease with his temporary hometown of Berlin. But as far as having a literary appointment with a new talent goes, my expectations weren’t met. Apparently, the book is about the male protagonist’s childhood years and adolescence followed over the course of some 20 years and it starts out in a Thai village setting and a fitting domestic account. There are some memorable scenes that tell of the boy’s intimate relationship with his (single) mother. I thought most of the descriptions well-done, but unrefined, without much resonance and stale. The pace was TV-ish and the narrator’s point of view omniscient, which doesn’t have to be consistently so (for that I would have to have read the whole novel, obviously), and the approach is not technically invalid per se. But there were some characterizations and internal commentary that are just too explicit, leaving no space for the reader to make up their own minds; to me, this is a typical shortcoming in many young story-tellers of whatever medium, and when there is too little artistic distance to the subject matter.
In any case, this can be nothing more but a first-first and no final judgment. I might still want to read the work in full when it comes out. All I can say at this point is that I’m – disappointed, a bit. And that may as well be my own mistake in part, for – as I said – those expectations? They were mine to begin with!
(pic©aaww.org)
“Rat stories, true and made up. World-relation attitude irruption: grain ships gnawed bare. Hollowed-out granaries. The Nothing acknowledged. Egypt's lean years. And when Paris was besieged. And when the rat sat in the tabernacle. And when thought forsook meta-physics. And when help was most needed. And when the rats left the ship. And when the rats came back. When they attacked even infants and old people riveted to their chairs. When they negated the new-born babe away from the young mother's breast. When they attacked the cats and nothing was left of the rat-terriers but bare teeth, which sparkle to this day, lined up in the museum.”
(Günter Grass, Dog Years (1963))
“I'm pursued myself like a hundred devils, and shall be overtaken before I can well change horses: – for heaven's sake, make haste – 'Tis for high treason, quoth a very little man, whispering as low as he could to a very tall man that stood next to him – Or else for murder; quoth the tall man – Well thrown size-ace! quoth I. No; quoth a third, the gentleman has been committing – –.”
(Lawrence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1767))
For some young filmmakers and aspiring directors a short film is but a showcasing vehicle to prove themselves to the outside world and possible investors. The format serves as a platform to perform a visual stunt or two, and all effort is directed at maximizing the self-promotion effect attesting to advanced professionalism, or so. For some, though, making short films is an art form and a vocation. The genre in itself can be fulfilling and there are numerous examples (some of them coming out of Singapore in recent years) that unless being taken seriously for what it is, a short film will be nothing but an exercise in vanity: hollow, and amounting to little more than an overlong trailer to a would-be movie at best. But there are rules to obey, the intrinsic markers of quality in this particular kind of motion pictures, and all the good genes they might carry have one prime information inscribed in them: be short! What this means in practical terms and how originality in a short is defined by the ability to meet the criterion – you can read it up: here.
(pic©mo)
“To be a man's own fool is bad enough; but the vain man is every body's. This silly disposition comes of a mixture of ignorance, confidence and pride; and as there is more or less of the last, so it is more or less offensive, or entertaining. And yet, perhaps the worst part of this vanity is its unteachableness. Tell it any thing, and it has known it long ago; and outruns information and instruction, or else proudly puffs at it. Whereas the greatest understandings doubt most, are readiest to learn, and least pleased with themselves; this, with nobody else.”
(William Penn, Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims Relating to the Conduct of Human Life (1837))
