We almost did not clinch this email interview. We
almost missed this opportunity to get to know one
of Malaysia’s upcoming filmmakers We almost
blamed ourselves for not giving you an insight into
director Liew Seng Tat’s wondrous mind. Liew,
whose first feature Flower in the Pocket is being
showcased at the 21st Singapore International Film
Festival, is someone you’d want to talk with
in person. Having established Da Huang Pictures
with other Malaysian New Wave directors Amir Muhammad
(Village People Road Show), James Lee (Histeria)
and Tan Chui Mui (love Conquers All), Liew is definitely
an ASian director worth looking out for.
But
because we weren’t able to meet the talented
28-year-old over a cup of tea, we did the next
best thing – an email interview in its entirety.
 Q.
Your debut feature Flower in the Pocket has garnered
a number of awards at international film festivals.
What does this mean to you as an up-and-coming
director? Where do you see yourself 10 years down
the road?
A. Getting awards and recognitions is good but
it doesn't guarantee that my following projects
will be as good as well. Still I need to work
hard on my next script, in fact a lot harder this
time now that the attentions and expectations
are higher on me. 10 years down the road, if I'm
still alive, I'll enroll myself in to a film school
and learn to make a proper film.
Q. What was it like directing James Lee in your
first feature film? As a director, how do you
see yourself as being different from the other
filmmakers at Da Huang Pictures (James Lee, Tan
Chui Mui, Amir Muhammad)?
A. The father character was written kind of based
on James Lee in real life. Well, at least the
kind of impression he gave me when I first met
him years ago. He was the right cast for the character.
Directing James is a piece of cake. I was relieved
to have him on the set because he's the only one
with some experience in acting. The reason why
we started Da Huang together is so that we could
each make our own films. All the four directors
at Da Huang make different films, totally opposite
from each others, not deliberately wanting to
be different. It's just the way we are.
Q.
Flower in the Pocket is about two Chinese boys
who grow up without knowing who their mother is.
Their father is a workaholic so they're forced
to grow up very quickly. What are your personal
views about family love and kinship? How important
are they in shaping a person's character and how
have your own experiences made you who you are
today? 
A.
I think family is a very important foundation
in shaping a person's character. Good or bad,
it all started in the family. Say, if you come
from a broken family with a grandfather who sodomizes
you three times a day, a grandmother who burns
you with her iron without any concrete reasons.
A father and stepmother who never care about you
because they are too busy fighting and killing
each others and you are adopted anyway. Will you
grow up a normal kid? No, you probably won't but
it's okay because you'll probably grow up to be
a damn good filmmaker. Yes, from my experience,
one has to have a f***ed up childhood in order
to write good stories.
Q.
What is making a film with three kids like? What
were the easiest/most difficult aspects of managing
these young actors? Why did you choose to include
a Malay girl in the picture as well?
A. I was lucky because I got the right casting
for the kid's roles in my film. That is very important
to me. I told myself that if I couldn't find the
suitable kids for the roles, I won't start making
the film. The two main kids are non actors, fresh
from the 'streets'. When I was rehearsing them
for the first time, they almost choked me to death
with their super terrible acting skills. But they
are smart kids. You just need to guide them and
open their 'doors' for them. Once they understand
it, they can perform better than Amber Chia (a
famous model in Malaysia), much better I must
stress. Originally, the Malay girl character was
written as a boy. But later on I changed it to
a girl with sort of two personalities, she's a
boy in front of the two boys and a girl when she's
home with her mother and grandmother.
 Q.
While watching the film in Malaysia, a couple
was overheard saying: "Not so many people
watching this because it is a local production."
What do you hope audiences will take home after
watching your film? How important are the audience's
reactions to you, and do you believe in making
films for viewers or for yourself?
A. It depends on what 'local production' they
were talking about. There is a huge market for
local commercial Malay films within the country.
The local audiences have been fed with only a
certain type of films all along, which is the
commercial type. Their perception of cinema is
shaped based on that. I don't blame the audience
for turning away from the kind of films we make,
the kind of films that they are not used to watching.
It takes time to build our own audience. It doesn't
matter really if the amount of people who watch
our films is pathetic. At least we managed to
get our films out there for people to watch. Audience's
reactions and feedbacks are very important to
me because I don't make films to keep in the closet.
I make films for people to see. I think a film
would not be a complete film without its audience.
Although my works are all works of fiction, I
hope people can related to the story and the sense
of reality in it.
Q.
In your home country, there were some censorship
problems with two scenes involving a puppy and
a Malay textbook. Would you have re-shot those
scenes knowing that they would be problematic?
What do you think of the Malaysian censorship
system?
A. I won't self-censor myself in order to come
to terms with the censorship in Malaysia, or else
the people working behind the censorship board
will be out of job. Malaysian censorship is so
unpredictable sometimes it creates better comedy
than the Farrelly brothers. In the first place,
there are no proper rules or system in Malaysia.
Sometimes, violence like blood-splashing-limps-chopping
war visuals are passed without a single snip but
a Chinese guy greeting 'As-salaam alaykum' (Peace
be with you) is beeped. God saves our children.
Q.
In your home country, there were some censorship
problems with two scenes involving a puppy and
a Malay textbook. Would you have re-shot those
scenes knowing that they would be problematic?
What do you think of the Malaysian censorship
system?
A. I won't self-censor myself in order to come
to terms with the censorship in Malaysia, or else
the people working behind the censorship board
will be out of job. Malaysian censorship is so
unpredictable sometimes it creates better comedy
than the Farrelly brothers. In the first place,
there are no proper rules or system in Malaysia.
Sometimes, violence like blood-splashing-limps-chopping
war visuals are passed without a single snip but
a Chinese guy greeting 'As-salaam alaykum' (Peace
be with you) is beeped. God saves our children.
-
By John Li
|
