thThe 13 ifva Asian New Force Category Jury Meeting Transcript

Jurors in Attendance: Yau Ching (YAU), Hung Hung (HUNG), Yano Kazuyuki (KAZUYUKI)
Organizer Representatives: Edith Chiu (CHIU), Mickey Choi (CHOI)Japanese Translator: Maggie Lee

Carrier

YAU:

I’m pretty surprised halfway in the film Carrier, because we’ve seen a lot offilms about China with around the same subject matter, about childhood andpoverty, a very popular combination. But the way this [director] does it is pretty
surprising in a way that the emotion is pretty reserved and suppressed, it is
not too sentimental, it could have been much worse. I think thecinematographer is pretty good, there are a lot of location shooting, and theactors I think are excellent, the kid was very natural, and the script itself ispretty well-rounded, I mean the story-telling technique. For me it is awell-rounded production, from script to acting, to lighting, to cinematography.
It is not that it is particularly strong in any area, but is all-rounded. In that way itis stronger than most other works. JAI for example I like very much, but it has
some major problems in the storytelling. It could be very confusing sometimes,
although the thought behind it is pretty original.

Personally I like Carrier in that way, because every one of those characters
are pretty rounded. It actually has development, which is rare for short films.
You actually see a character develop, and I want to see more and more about
this character. While Half Teaspoontalks about …, maybe two thirds of it, thestory basically stopped without going anywhere.

YAU:Hung Hung, I want to hear your thoughts about Carrier, why don’t you likeCarrier?

HUNG:

I think for me it’s [of] too conventional storytelling. I think many previous films
are doing better than it, so I think it is a little cliché for me.

KAZUYUKI:…. I think the storytelling is good, but … conventional. A well-made film, soemotional… I like, but not so experimental, not so creative.

YAU:

When I watched it I thought it was so realistic, I felt like I was there. There areso much real life details, you can go into the film. Unlike some other films
which were just made out of somebody’s living room.
BARE

KAZUYUKI:

Very good combination of old footage and sounds. Combination is very nice.

YAU:

I actually like BARE too, right after the first screening I think I liked BARE
most. I picked all three from the second screening. I really like the soundrecording, because it is a very intense subject, it was very hard for a first time
filmmaker to do such a topic. What I don’t like about BARE is, I think therelationship between image and sound is a bit too arbitrary. She has thefootage, she has the sound, the sound was done very well, the structure andthe editing, the image was also edited well, but the relationship between thetwo could have become more complicated, I think.

HUNG:

I think there are some points she pointed out or focused on at some part of thefilm is quite successful, especially the ending.

YAU:

I think BARE has a lot of credits.

Ru Lin Alley

HUNG:

I like Ru Lin Alley pretty much, but I think the last act is a disaster, the redballoon, the feathers… And the old guy, I don’t know who he is. I think it is afailure, but the first three parts are quite moving and very well directed andshot. Many details are very touching. I’m hesitating between Ru Lin Alley andHalf Teaspoonin my list. They are both well accomplished, but there are badthings with Ru Lin Alley, but the touching part is also… for me is better than“Half Teaspoon”.

KAZUYUKI:

tructure, um… that … focus on the grandmother, and inside the room,
especially I’m impressed by the sound from the outdoors, very well-editedsound and image.

YAU:

problem with Ru Lin Alley is that it was too much [like] Jia Zhang Ke, to theextent that I actually sat there and thought it was so pretentious. But there area lot of emotional details that I think he did it…. Like the guy … some empty
shot that are not directly narrative oriented, like the guy in the balcony looking

at everybody, all those … there are some very nice emotional details, but I
think the storytelling is really a disaster.

Half Teaspoon

YAU:

he problems with Half Teaspoonis that, in terms of techniques, it was pretty
accomplished, the cinematography and lighting were excellent. But it looks somuch like Wong Kar-wai added with Tsai Ming-liang, for me that is my major
problem. It wasn’t very original in that way, but technically very accomplished.
I think the script is pretty interesting in a way that it really gives a completely
ironic twist to the representation of marriage and love. Because for therepresentation of marriage we have seen a lot of short films, but for this one itis pretty reserved and the irony works well with the cinematography and theart design. But again the characterization and relationship between thecharacters could be developed better.

KAZUYUKI:… very strange. It is quite different from the other films. I like it.

YAU:

I like it too.

HUNG:

Only problem for me is there is too much of Tsai Ming-liang [in it]. Including theediting style, the camera framing, and the emotion is too much [similar to]
Tsai’s, but I like it as well, it is very well made.

JAI

HUNG:

Actually JAI is my number one. I like its simplicity in form, but with complex
thoughts behind, between life and filmmaking. It looks very simple, but it
makes me think a lot after it finished.

YAU:

I totally agree, I think among all the works I have seen today, I think JAI is themost experimental and is really difficult to make. For me it is like class analysisof society, which most short filmmakers would never want to do. And it looks
very simple, and I think it has a lot of technical problems as well, but because
it is a very thoughtful piece, that it could have been much longer and morein-depth, so now it may be a little too simple and too much on the surface. Butstill, given a very short time that he or she has used, just the contrast between
real life and filmmaking using one character, and also the ending is I thinkextraordinary, the ending with factory worker walking out I think is very nicely
done. It is like somebody who really knows where to end, which is also hardfor short film making. And I have to say that I love the description, it is fromsomebody who really knows how to write film description. It’s not about tellingthe story.

[Ranking in order from the highest mark…
JIA
Half Teaspoon
BARE
Ru Lin AlleyCarrier]

YAU:

Let’s decide on the Special Mention, whether there will be one or two?
From this list, Half Teaspoon would get a special mention. Would we have aproblem with that?

KAZUYUKI:

Special Mention? Not the Grand Prize?

HUNG:

So you suggest we have two Grand Prize?

YAU:

Hung Hung, Half Teaspoon is not on your list, do you have a problem if it isawarded the Grand Prize?

HUNG:I have no problem. I would agree to award him a grand prize.

YAU:

it would be fine.

HUNG:

Two Grand Prizes. So all our number ones can get Grand Prize.

[Mickey asked them to comment of the rest of the finalists]

I Need Some Sleep

YAU:

Speaking of clichés, that’s why personally I don’t think Carrier is that muchcliché, because of the films we have seen before, in comparison. I think there
seems to be a major problem in Korean short films these days, in general, alot of Korean films from certain art schools have very similar styles, and theyall pretend to be comedies, pretend to be from a woman’s point of view.
Almost all of them, these days.

KAZUYUKI:

well-made, …..but nothing more to comment!

HUNG:

I put it into more details, I think the male character could be more convincing
in acting, and for a comedy like this I think it is a little too long. It

could beshorter.

Nine Stories

YAU:

Had same problems actually, to a large extend, the acting is overacting,almost all of them. It’s a nice idea to divide it into nine episodes, but each
episode is so underdeveloped that it is really hard to tell why it has to be
structured like that, half way through. Because the structure seems to be just
imposed upon a very clichéd story, it doesn’t help the story.

HUNG:

I think it’s between realistic and stylish film, but I think the form could be morepure, every story could be more powerful. But now the tempo of every story isalmost the same, so it becomes boring very soon.

[It is] Interesting to make Nine Stories. But the relationships in it is … I can’t

KAZUYUKI:

understand it well, the relationship.

Metamorphosis

HUNG:

I think the dialogue is pretty bad, it prevents actors to do convincing acting. I
like its symbol, it maybe is a film about SARS or some human disease, but…
ok, the cinematography and the scenography is pretty good.

YAU:… looks like a Wim Wenders film. The prison, I know where. The road leadingfrom Banciao to Ximen Ting.. The location selection is really good.

… I amimpressed by his choice of location, and I think some of those locations werequite spectacular and gave us a new light on how we see Taipei. It actually
really shows a desolate kind of feeling, using urban Taipei which is really hard.
I agree with most of what Hung Hung said, and I think also for a young director,
I think he is way too ambitious in tackling such a complicated topic like incest
and Metamorphosis which are also an extremely complicated issues whichhave been tackled in art history for a long time.

The Drunken Concubine

HUNG:

I think the dialogue and the acting is too artificial, too dramatic. I think thedramatic part of this film is good sometimes, when they are singing Peking
opera….

And the actress is there... they are good. But I feel that some

dialogue is explaining too much for the audience. It is not real, not convincing
in that situation for the characters. They explain too much for the audience. It
makes the film not so realistic.

KAZUYUKI: Un… It’s… nothing new .

YAU:

I actually think that the director wants to do a lot, too many things. Again it istoo ambitious for the director. In terms of form for example, trying to use one
shot for a thirteen-minute film, you are asking a lot from your actors andactresses and your script. You are asking a lot. And because of that, theactresses really couldn’t deliver, and it put so much pressure on a script whichwasn’t developed enough because of that form. So the form created a lot ofproblems that the director couldn’t solve. If not it could have been a muchbetter film. In terms of content, it was trying also to do way too much, fromabuse of domestic helper, which is a very complicated, popular and common
issue in Taiwan and Hong Kong as well, which rarely exists in movies, andrarely addressed. So it is a very complicated topic, but it doesn’t really deliver.
And then the generation gap as well. The death of the son, the prejudice
towards the son instead of the daughter... All of these are very common andreal problems in Chinese society, are just not addressed, just skimmed over,and it is very unfair to the issues.

HUNG:

So it became a melodrama. So sorry.

YAU:

It’s quite pitiful.

Old Times

HUNG:Quite cute comedy, but I think it repeats too much the memories.

YAU:

I like the art direction, quite very much. I think the director probably has a lot oftalent in developing better stories. But the story is a little too thin, just cuttingback between the present and the past, which becomes very formulaic after awhile. Very predictable.

KAZUYUKI:

Very funny, and but the story is so typical and popular… but is a funny film.

HUNG:

I cannot find any reason why the husband starts to remember all thememories. Why at this point? It could happen every day, but why now?

YAU:

And if this husband does that regularly, he can’t live a life!

Puppets

YAU:

Only this one was shot in film.

KAZUYUKI:

Typical youth drama. I think … nothing experimental.

HUNG:

I just couldn’t figure out one thing. Why the seashore and sunrise could
rescue their youth? Or could be their so happy memory.

Carrier

YAU:

It was shot in Guizhou, and Guizhou is one of the poorest area in China. Andtackling the two issues of children and poverty wasn’t easy,

and for thisparticular film it wasn’t too sentimental.

HUNG:

Well-made and well storytelling.

KAZUYUKI:

Not too emotional, excellent actors. The storytelling is powerful, a very nicefilm.

Ru Lin Alley

HUNG:

It’s very concentrated and well directed except the last part. I feel sorry forthe last part because it is too artificial, showing those symbols.

YAU:

I actually think it is a very nice idea, the ending, But because it wasn’t
executed well enough that it became a disaster. The fact that the old woman,the grandmother, remains the same, but then the son grows old, that is areally nice idea, initially. If the director could think a little harder how thisparticular ending relates to the entire film, e.g. cutting of the hair, his going
back, and all the medicine he brings, and his singing with the radio—all theseelements could go together a little bit more organically, it would have been amuch stronger ending. But now the ending is just a shock, and that’s it. It is
not even successful because it is very confusing. We are not even sure if it isthe same character.

very unique and …. Grandmother was excellent, the sound from theKAZUYUKI:

outside … is very nice. And I really agree with your [Hung Hung’s] comment.

CHOI:

So it remains unchanged, JAI and Half Teaspoongoes to the Grand Prize,
and then BARE for the Special Mention. Which one gets the Canon HD
Camera...

YAU:

If we really have to choose, it is a very difficult choice. For countries likeThailand and Indonesia, I would suggest to give the camera to the woman.
Because we don’t have many women filmmakers in these two countries.
Taiwan is different. So, it goes to JIA’s Director.

HUNG & KAZUYUKI: Yes. Agree.

Asian New Force Category
Grand Prize
Half Teaspoon
Ifa ISFANSYAHGrand Prize
SUWICHAKORNPONG
AnochaSpecial Mention
Bare
Santana ISSAR