Review of past month's activities of the Penang Film Club

A quick recap of our activities in the past month or so…

Aug26: Screened Soylent Green (1973). Starring Charlton Heston (Ben Hur, Planet Of The Apes) as Robert Thom, a police detective working in an overpopulated New York City in an overpopulated Earth. Due to diminishing resources, the citizens are fed synthetic foods such as Soylent Red, Soylent Grey, …and the new Soylent Green. Heston discovers the true ingredients of this new product… giving a whole new meaning to the term “you are what you eat”.

Sep9: Brick (2005). Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Brendan, a high-school kid who infiltrates a drug gang to destroy it, and find out who murdered his ex-girlfriend. Influenced heavily by hardboiled film noir in terms of plot and dialogue, the film was found by many in the audience to be too slow, too confusing, and perhaps too pretentious. At the end, the audience of around 15 had diminished to just 4 people…

Sep21-23: Freedom Film Fest. On the last day, we screened the documentary we had made about the Penang Clan Jetties. Reception from the audience was very positive.

Oct7: Equilibrium (2002). Last Sunday, we screened to an audience of 12 people. This movie was about a civilization that had successfully eradicated hatred and war. The catch: the population has had their emotions and feelings suppressed with mandatory administration of a drug. Failure to take the medication to become an emotionless, harmless zombie could lead to arrest and execution. Christian Bale stars as a government agent tasked with enforcing the Government’s law and eradicating rebels who have refused the medication. Very close similarities could be found with movies like “The Matrix”, “V For Vendetta”, and George Orwell’s book “1984”.


Upcoming Schedules:

Last Sunday, we also discussed our schedule for the next two months. Below are the dates for future screenings:

October 21: “Sicko” (2007)

November 4: “This Film Is Not Yet Rated” (2006)

November 18: “Fahrenheit 451” (1966)

December 2 : “Brokeback Mountain” (2005)

Freedom Film Fest coming to Penang Sept 21st-23rd

Freedom Film Fest 2007 -in its 4th year, is returning to Penang with 32 films to show over 2 and a half day and night, starting from evening of Sept 21st(Friday), at Actors Studio, Green Hall.In view of the feast for the film lovers Penang Film Club will skip the next screening on Sept 23rd -so our next screening (`Equilibrium') will be on Oct 14th(Sunday) 7.00pm, at D' Space. We will be distributing leaflets of the Penang Film Club to attract more members to the club-so any members who are keen to join in please contact Ong 013-5900339.

As to the titles to be shown and synopsis of the FFF screenings you can actually obtain a copy of the glossy full colour program sheet from us. Just call the same number above.

Some previews of the FFF: of the 32 films there are 3 films which are the creations from 3 winners of the Justin Louis Award from KOMAS. Each winner won Rm5000.00 to make their film based on their winning film idea. The 3 films are : `Forgotten' by Ong BK, on the endangered clan jetties at Weld Quay; `10 years before Merdeka' by Fahmi Reza, on the forgotten Merdeka fighters, and `She is my son' by Indriani Kopal, about a transgendered Malaysian. All 3 films are about 30min in length.

Among the 32 films is also another Penang made film `Old but not dead' by Bus Users Group(12min).

You are welcome to come with all your friends to support the Penang films and all other human rights based films which you don't get to see in the Tvs and cinemas. For details see here.

UPDATE: 8am Breakfast Show at NTV7 this Friday Sept 14th, will feature a joint interview of the 3 winners of the FFF film awards. The winners had previously been featured by the 8TV's mid-night program `Quikie' over 3 weeks. The Sunday Star had also featured the 3 films and film makers over the last 3 weekends. Look them up if you are interested.

Ong BK

August 26; New Movie: "Michael Collins"

Note: Because of some technical problems, we had to screen Soylent Green instead. Our apologies! We will be showing Michael Collins on Sep 9 instead.

2 weeks ago, we screened "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" to an audience of around 11 people. This movie was about the War of Independence in Ireland, and the men who continued their insurgency (this time against their fellow countrymen) after the founding of the Irish Free State which they felt was a puppet state to the former British rulers.




This movie will detail the story of Michael Collins, one of the key members of the Irish Republican Army who fought the British, and later accepted their offer for the establishment of the Irish Free State.

However, this was opposed by some who felt they should not settle for what theyfelt was incomplete independence from the United Kingdom, as Britain would still have a large say in Ireland. They believed the armed struggle must continue until full Irish independence was acheived. From this disagreement, comes a civil war of Irish Republican Army militants against the Irish Free State's troops. This time, Michael Collins (now a Commander of the Free State Army) will have to battle his former comrades.



Date: This Sunday, August 26.

Time: 7 PM

Place: 60 Weld Quay, 4th floor

August 12, New Movie: The Wind That Shakes The Barley

Winner of the Palme d'Or at last year's Cannes Film Festival, this movie tells the story of two brothers in the midst of the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). Both are members of the IRA, conducting operations on troops from the United Kingdom. The war ends with the Anglo-Irish Treaty that allows the establishment of the Irish Free State.

However, the truce is not well received by everyone in Ireland. From this disagreement, a new war immediately begins. But this time, the enemy on both sides are Irishmen. The two brothers also find themselves on opposing factions; with one supporting the treaty, the other allying with the anti-treaty IRA...

Ok, we've decided: "Grizzly Man" this Sat (July 28)

This Saturday's screening will be "Grizzly Man", a documentary by reknowned German director Werner Herzog.



This movie is about the case of real-life American environmental activist Timothy Treadwell, who documented the lives of brown bears in Alaska's Katmai National Park over a period of 13 years. Unarmed and usually camping alone, Treadwell approached the wild bears closely (a very dangerous thing) to film and photograph them. Soon, he begins to blur the line between man and beast. And eventually...

Much of the footage of the animals were actually filmed by Treadwell himself. While most filmmakers would stay at a safe distance with a telephoto lens, Treadwell instead went up-close-and-personal. This gave a unique (but also foolhardy, depending on your view) perspective on the life of bears in the wild and their interactions with a human stranger.

In this movie, Herzog also details Timothy Treadwell's increasing affinity towards the Alaskan wilderness and wildlife, and his dissatisfaction & hostility with human society. As Treadwell died before this documentary was made, he was never interviewed. The closest we'll know about Treadwell in this film, will come from his loved ones and folks close to him.


As usual, time is 8PM at 60 Weld Quay... several blocks south of the ferry terminal.


Admission is FREE.

This Saturday (14 July): Screening & Discussion

We'll be meeting this Saturday at 8PM to view the documentary we've shot so far about the Chew Jetty. A couple of short films made by some of our members will also be screened. And after that there'll be a discussion on what was shown, where we get the chance to share our opinions, insight, suggestions, and... criticism.

Appeal for old photos of early Penang, clan jetties

The Clan Jetties filming project had come to a stage where we had finished the main shootings and looking forward to editing. We desperately need old photos and paintings of the Penang port, the clan jetties especially stevedores, sampan men, charcoal traders, fishermen etc, on top of women, children, old folks etc. So anyone with such photos/ paintings are welcome to notify us of the wherabouts of these photos/paintings ASAP ! Our contacts : democracy4now@gmail.com 013-5900339(Ong BK-Director)
Actually we had also got some of the photos from various sources : Dr Chan Lean Heng -researcher of the clan jetties-photos of 30-40 years vintage; paintings of the clan jetties by Penang's painter Chong Hong Fatt; google photos on early Penang, books by Teow Shiaw Kuan, the Koay Jetty campaign group etc. However they are not in sufficient quantity or quality yet. We hope that people out there who share our concern to conserve the history/heritage of Penang will come forward with their family collections to assist us in this project -which can be a start to wider documentation of Penang's early communities -from various ethnic backgrounds.

The life of the early communities are actually quite complex and diverse -and thus need more elaboarate (pictoral) colloborations. Eg Are the clan jetties fishing villages as propagated by tour guides ? How did the conflicts among the jetties managed -what was the roles of various other parties outside ? What changed the attitude of the authorities towards the barter trade there compared to policies else where ? What are the roles of women in the clan jetties clan-centred social structure?
The photos /paintings are important to bring to light/live the groups who contributed towards the success of Penang port -which propelled the island's economy to the height it achieved. Similarly the other communities who helped in the country's economy need similar treatment later. Your support is most needed to make this tentative step of reclaiming the people's history a success !
Ong BK
Director
Clan Jetty Filming Crew