MIFFEST FORUM: THE FUTURE OF PERSONAL FILMMAKING & NEW ERA OF TAIWAN CINEMA

(KUALA LUMPUR – 1^ST March 2018) Organized by Malaysia International Film Festival and FINAS, the Malaysia Golden Global Awards jury forum, “The Future of Personal Filmmaking” and a Chinese forum, “New Era of Taiwan Cinema” was held at TGV Cinemas, Suria KLCC today. This forum was led by the jury president, Brillante Mendoza. Other jury members consists of Vietnamese-born French film director Tran Anh Hung, Hong Kong veteran director Patrick Tam, Taiwan actress and producer, Lee Lieh and Malaysian filmmaker Dain Said.

When the jury president Brillante Mendoza was asked about how he was inspired for his production, he said that he was inspired by the things around him in daily life. He also mentioned that it is based on how well you understand the character you are portraying in your film. If you are portraying about a fictional character, research is very important in order to have a deeper understanding of the character.

During the emcee asked the juries about the future of filmmaking, Lee Lieh expressed her concern, “I think that the beauty of film is we can watch it at the cinema hall and enjoy the atmosphere. Nonetheless, I am worry that in the future, will there still be people that are willing to watch movies at the cinema? As there are various types of media that can easily approach films in this digital age.”

On the other hand, Patrick Tam stated that he was not worried about this problem as he thinks that the structure of images and sound is different between modern and traditional media. Hence, the traditional would not be replaced so easily because there are still people who would love to watch movie in the cinema.

The Taiwan Cinema Forum: New Era of Taiwan Cinema was continued right after the jury forum. The organizer presents experienced Taiwanese producers Yeh JuFeng, famous cinematographer Yao Hung-I and the outstanding director Lai Kuo-An to have a sharing session with the audiences.

Director Lai Kuo-An had shared his inspiration of filmmaking at the forum. He mentioned that the script of “A Fish Out of Water” was inspired by his own personal experiences of taking care his ill father. He had personal reflection of this script, therefore, he tried to portray his own experience in the story.

Besides, renowned producer, Yeh Jufeng disclosed that, “It is not easy to produce Taiwan film because the government of Taiwan did not limit their creativity which caused the censorship standard become low.” Despite of that, she said that she will still continuously produced more great movies, let Taiwan’s film continue to showcase in an international platform.

Malaysia International Film Festival is to build a unique experience of Malaysian arts and culture to a world-wide audience. The film festival will be held from 25^th February to 2^nd March 2018 at Sungei Wang. Online ticket sale for the section films will be available via Ticket Charge website www.ticketcharge.com.my or contact ticketing hotline 03 – 9222 8811. For more information, please visit the official MIFFest social media page, contact us at 03 – 5622 1600 or email to pr@mgga.com.my for further information.