Wi Ding Ho's debut feature Pinoy Sunday has been selected in

L’ATELIER of Cannes 2009

台灣導演何蔚庭（HO Wi Ding）的第一部劇情長片《台北星期天》(Pinoy Sunday) 入選坎城影展電影基金會的創投競賽。

Here's press release from L’ATELIER 2009

(http://www.festival-cannes.com)

To assist directors in financing and speeding completion of their projects, the Festival created the Atelier in 2005.

For its fifth edition, the Atelier de la Cinéfondation has chosen 15 projects from 14 countries. The selection has been restricted to highlight both up and coming directors: Ho Wi Ding, Caran Hartsfield or Bertrand Mandico, and established directors: Zhang Yuan, Faouzi Bensaidi, Diego Lerman, Danielle Arbid or Malgoska Szumowska.

Alongside the producer(s) of their films, each director will meet in Cannes from May 15th to May 22nd film industry professionals during the course of meetings that are presently being organized.

The Livre des Projets, in addition to a form to request a meeting with our directors, will be available from April 15th on the Cinéfondation website.

South Africa - The Umbrella Men by John BARKER (2nd feature film)
Argentina - Moral Sciences by Diego LERMAN (3rd feature film)
China - Executioner Garden by ZHANG Yuan (11th feature film)
Egypt - Oblivion by Atef HETATA (2nd feature film)
USA - Bury me standing by Caran HARTSFIELD (1st feature film)
USA - Free in deed by Jake MAHAFFY (3rd feature film)
France - L'Homme qui cache la forêt by Bertrand MANDICO (1st feature film)
Italy - Shun Li and the Poet by Andrea SEGRE (2nd feature film)
Lebanon / France - Chambres d'Hôtel by Danielle ARBID (3rd feature film)
Morocco -  Death for sale by Faouzi BENSAIDI (3rd feature film)
Uzbekistan - 40 Days of Silence by Saodat ISMAILOVA (1st feature film)
Poland - Sponsoring by Malgoska SZUMOWSKA (4th feature film)
Portugal - Red Cross by Hugo VIEIRA DA SILVA  (2nd feature film)
Taiwan / Philippines - Pinoy Sunday by HO Wi Ding (1st feature film)
Turkey - Our Grand Despair by Seyfi TEOMAN (2nd feature film)

Jake Pollock's cinematography on "Summer Afternoon" has been praised:

"masterful" (International Film Festival of Rotterdam)

"a technical feat" (Twitchfilm.net)

"tour de force" (Vancouvcer International Film Festival)

Our lab partner in Taiwan, Modern Cinema Laboratory, is updating its bilingual website

(The current one with Mandarin only http://www.modern-cinema.com/modern_index.htm)

They ask Jake to write about his cinematography on "Summer Afternoon".

Jake's article (in original English and Chinese translation) will be included in the website.

Meanwhile, the English article, with Modern's permission, can be viewed first-look here:

(warning: this article can be technical for layman)

When director Widing Ho first told me about his concept for Summer Afternoon, I knew I
had my work cut out for me.  Three actors inside a car on a bright summer afternoon, the camera follows the car down a stretch of highway.  As soon as one exits the car, the camera follows her to a shadowy ditch.  One shot.  Nowhere to hide lights.  How to shoot the scene so that you can always see the actors’ performance, never too dark and never too blown out?   And all the while the cinematography isn’t allowed to call attention to it self.  Should be almost invisible.

We spent some time after scouting locations to plan how to stage the action and at what time of day to shoot so that the sun would always be in a favorable spot for the scene. Most people automatically think of high contrast when they think of black and white; however, I had to figure out how to control the contrast so that we could see as much into the shadows and as far into the highlights as possible.  To extend the grey scale beyond normal while still obtaining a rich print.

Modern Labs and chief lab supervisor Ali were instrumental in helping me figure out which film stock, processing, and printer lights would best suit our needs.  Lately, I like to work backwards when making these decisions.  By trying to establish a low printer light, I knew I’d be stretching the contrast range of the film further than if I printed around 25-25-25.  We shot three rolls each of Plus-X and Double-X, and each roll was printed to a different Gamma (0.4, 0.6, 0.8) a little bit like pulling 1-stop, normal, and pushing-1 stop.  And in the tests we tried different black and white filters, from Yellow 15, Orange 21, Red 23A, and Green 56. 

We quickly decided that the Red 23A helped control the lush tree foliage while making the skin tones pop a little more in the frame.  We also decided that the grain structure of Double-X was too funky for us.  The grain seemed stronger in the skin tones than in the darker tones.  It almost seemed like there was only grain in the skin tones and sky, which would call attention away from the performances.  Even though it was a bit daunting, we settled on shooting Plus-X 5231 and processing at 0.4 Gamma.  By exposing around 40ASA, I was able to get a good image while printing around 20-20-20.  (in the end, we printed mostly around that range, but also had moments as low as 14-14-14!)

In the end, all of our planning worked differently than expected.  We hoped for strong sunlight, but instead got clouds that would come in and out during the shot!  However, the super-low contrast of our exposure/processing system helped keep everything visible within the chaos.  At the end we did four long takes.  Two were processed at 0.4 Gamma, one at 0.6 Gamma (in addition to an establishing shot), and one at 0.8 Gamma.

Post-production for Summer Afternoon was amazingly simple.  After printing part of the first shot, we knew exactly how to evaluate the image on the Hazeltine, which allowed us to make an almost perfect first print.  The only changes we made between prints was to tweak a few spots.  Even though the film only has one establishing shot and four long takes, we changed printer lights within the shots to help see a little further into the shadows or a little more into the sunshine.

In the end, I was probably most satisfied by the image control that Modern Labs helped me achieve.  Sure it’s a high-contrast black and white image, but within there’s an incredible tonal range in between.  The actors’ faces only blow out when we wanted that “violence.”  And even the darkest corners of the forest were still visible.

More about Modern Cinema Laboratory in Kodak In Camera Magazine:

http://motion.kodak.com/US/en/motion/Publications/In_Camera/Imagecare_Program/taiwaneseLab.htm

Wi Ding Ho's Cannes winning short film RESPIRE has been selected in

The National Gallery, London Film Program: Man Without Woman Film Season.

About RESPIRE

A deadly, airborne virus has transformed the world, and people are obliged by law to wear masks at all times. A young woman who realizes her time is running out, decides to enjoy a final day with the boy she likes.

The theme of this series, according to the programmer:

Picasso repeatedly turned back to the traditional theme of the artist and model, exploring the dualities of man/woman, self/other and vitality/mortality. The women in his life were said to have been the driving force behind much of his artwork. The films in this season explore and reflect on the darker side of these relationships.

A short film will be shown before each feature – discover rarely seen classics and new work in film and animation.

(http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/what/film/menwithoutwomen/default.htm)

  Poster of RESPIRE (left) and Eyes Without a Face (right)

It's our very honor that Respire will be paired up with Les Yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face),

a French horror classic film directed by Georges Franju

Date of screening: 4 April 2009

Time of screening: 2:30pm

Name of venue: The National Gallery Sainsbury Wing Theatre, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN

何蔚庭坎城得獎短片呼吸受邀於英國倫敦國立美術館(National Gallery of Art, London)放映。

呼吸劇照

關於呼吸

靈感來自2003年的SARS疫情。“呼吸“描述一個 不遠的未來， 流感病菌變本加厲， 演化成以空氣為媒介的致命病毒。人民被法律規定戴口罩。在這樣的世界裡， 一名高中女生心裡知道自己時間不多了，於是她選擇過一個屬於她自己的一天。她找了一個常在上學途中擦肩而過的高中男生，陪她去聽她最愛的地下樂團表演，並和那男生發生第一次（也是最後一次）性關係。

呼吸將和60年代法國恐佈片經典無臉之眼 Eyes Without A Face一同放映

4 April 2009

The National Gallery Sainsbury Wing Theatre

Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN

Link:

臺灣電影網

http://www.taiwancinema.com/ct.asp?xItem=51461&ctNode=18

倫敦國立美術館(關於呼吸放映訊息）

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/what/film/menwithoutwomen/les_yeux_sans_visage.htm

壞胚子吞電影膠囊(關於無臉之眼）

http://shawn1277.blogspot.com/2008/11/eyes-without-face1959.html

ttp://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&articleid=VR1118001259&categoryid=-1

Posted: Mon., Mar. 16, 2009, 8:50am PT

15 films picked for Cannes workshop

Program helps projects complete financing

Zhang Yuan's "Executioner Garden," Faouzi Bensaidi's "Death For Sale" and Diego Lerman's "Moral Sciences" are among the 15 projects selected for the Cannes Film Festival's production workshop.

The fifth edition of the workshop, known as the Cinefondation Atelier, runs May 15-22. Its organizers arrange networking opportunities for projects' directors and producers to help them complete financing for their projects.

"Garden," from China's Yuan ("Dada's Dance") is a reportedly creepy prison-set drama. Bensaidi ("WWW -- What a Wonderful World") again genre blends with "Death," a heist-meets-social issue pic. Argentine Diego Lerman's "Sciences," about a sexually-repressed school monitor, won a 2009 Sundance/NHK Intl. Filmmakers Award.

"A notable number of projects this year turn on sexuality," said Cinefondation director Georges Goldenstern.

"40 Days of Silence," from Uzbekistan's Saodat Ismailova, explores female power in childbirth and sex; Portuguese Hugo Vieira da Silva's "Red Cross," is a Berlin-set coming of ager.

Lebanese-born helmer Danielle Arbid ("In the Battlefields") charts a passionate Beirut-set affair in "Chambres d'hotel," while Pole Malgoska Szumowska will bring "Sponsoring," a study of student prostitution.

Two U.S. filmmakers made the Atelier cut: Jake Mahaffy ("Wellness), with religious redemption drama "Free In Deed," and Caran Hartsfield with "Bury Me Standing, a comedic drama set in a Philadelphia hood.

The Atelier will feature three feature film debuts: "Standing"; the Taipei-set Filipino migrant tale "Pinoy Sunday," from Malaysia's Ho Wi Ding, and Betrand Mandico's "The Man Who Hides the Forest," about a filmmaker's crazed expedition into the depths of Siberia.

South African John Barker will be pitching "The Umbrella Man," about a minstrel carnival, and Egyptian Atef Hetata brings "Oblivion," a Cairo-set portrait of the pursuit of money and virility.

Rounding up the selection are Andrea Segre's "Shun Li and the Poet," which won Rome Festival's European Project Prize for its original take on immigration, and Turk Seyfi Teoman's "Our Grand Despair," a male friendship drama adapting Baris Bicakci's novel.

The Atelier boasts a high success rate: nine of last year's 15 projects are now completed, according to Goldenstern.

A masterful minor exercise in telling a story with a twist and an equally masterful exercise in the dramatic use of what's known as a Steadycam, a camera with flowing motion. The car journey with one lover too many gets completely out of hand. And after the twist, another one follows. Cleverly filmed.

Link: http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/en/film.aspx?ID=d72fd0c3-e116-4390-a8f7-dfe7bd20886e

2009

International Film Festival of Rotterdam, Netherlands 荷蘭鹿特丹

Festival de Cinéma des trois Amériques (FC3A), Quebec, Canada 加拿大

Torino GLBT Film Festival, Italy 意大利

EuroAsia Shorts, United States 美國

2008

Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes, France  法國坎城國際影展
Pusan International Film Festival, Korea  韓國釜山國際影展
Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada  加拿大溫哥華國際影展
FESTIVAL du NOUVEAU CINÉMA de MONTRÉAL, Canada 加拿大
Palm Springs International Shorts Festival, US (Nominated) 美國
Taipei International Film Festival, Taiwan (Nominated) 台灣
Sao Paolo International Short Films Festival, Brazil 巴西
Curtocircuito International Short Film Festival, Spain (Competition) 西班牙
Toronto Reel Asian Int'l Film Festival, Canada 加拿大
Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, Hong Kong 香港
Asiana International Short Film Festival, Korea (Competition) 韓國
Thai Film and Video Film Festival, Thailand 泰國
Substation Asia Symposium, Singapore 新加坡
South Film Festival, Taiwan 台灣

Second wind
Ho Widing, a Malaysian director based in Taiwan, is taking his
career in his stride.
By ALLAN KOAY

WHILE the big news for South-East Asia this year was Singaporean
filmmaker Eric Khoo entering the main competition in Cannes with
his independent feature My Magic, few are aware that a Malaysian
filmmaker had his second short film compete at the same film
festival.

談“夏午”
 
很多人好奇地問我，完成短片“呼吸”後，為什麼不拍長片而選擇再拍短片。其實那個導演會不想拍長片？從年輕的時候我一直就想拍長片，接受這個挑戰，只是苦無適合的機會。在“呼吸”後，我就開始籌備兩個長片計劃。一部是“台北星期天”，另一部是“Lonely Together”。籌備過程讓我覺得拍長片不能勉強。每個片子有它自己的時間。籌備長片計劃的過程也讓我不斷反思自己是不是己經準備好拍長片？雖然“呼吸”反應很好，入圍坎城影展，拿了些獎， 但這就代表我已經準備好拍攝一部長片嗎？我心裡還是不很踏實；我仍然覺得我是幸運的，或是只是時機好。

我必須拍另一部短片再度挑戰自己和磨練自己。