Showing posts with label Event reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Event reviews. Show all posts

20170126

Catatan tentang Temasya Wayang@Budiman dan reviu 'Return to Nostalgia' / '#AntologiROTI'.

Risalah acara Temasya Wayang@Budiman

Risalah ehsan laman Facebook PKAF
Sabtu, 21 Januari 2017 ialah satu hari yang gila. Aku rasa dah banyak kali jugak aku petik nama Pusat Kajian dan Apresiasi Filem / PKAF dalam blog aku ni. Kenapa? Sebab aku penyokong tegar depa ni. Depa ni punya hasrat memang murni; nak ketengahkan dan membincangkan serta menghargai karya-karya hebat seantero dunia dan lebih fokusnya sinema Asia yang atas sebab tertentu tak masuk dalam radar penonton filem Malaysia dalam skala kecil. Diorang ni dah lama wujud sebenarnya, sejak 2012 lagi. Tapi, diorang baru mula menonjolkan diri secara perlahan menerusi sesi tayangan filem diorang yang pertama iaitu Wayang@Budiman pada tahun 2015 dan kini telah mula melebarkan sayap depa di luar Alam Budiman serta menganjurkan pelbagai aktiviti berkaitan sinema secara kecil-kecilan mahupun besar-besaran. Siapa sangka, usaha murni depa ni dah masuk pun masuk tahun ke-2. Demi menghargai khalayak yang berterusan menyokong dan juga hangpa yang baru berjinak nak mai ke slot tayangan sebegini di samping meraikan sinema itu sendiri, depa adakan satu Temasya untuk meraikan perkara tersebut.

Ruang yang agak sempit di rumah kedai dekat Alam Budiman tu serta jaraknya yang agak hulu tu tak menghalang para pencinta sinema lokal, Asia dan antarabangsa untuk datang berdiskusi pasal filem. Acara ni bukan acara biasa-biasa. Orang-orang yang dijemput untuk slot pertama Temasya tu bukan calang-calang orang; semuanya player industri filem Malaysia yang ada kalibernya tersendiri. Lepas tu, ada pulak dokumentari pasai usaha seorang pembikin filem mencari antara filem terawal Malaysia yang dikatakan telah hilang. Kemudian, tiba-tiba dapat tetamu tak diundang yang mengejutkan! Pada malam hari, kemuncaknya pulak ialah tayangan filpen (baca: filem pendek) yang dihasilkan oleh para khalayak yang sering datang ke sesi Wayang@Budiman hampir setiap malam bertemakan roti yang kita selalu jumpa kat kedai mamak yang dinamakan #AntologiROTI (dua filpen dalam antologi ni aku tolong buat sarikata; ada jugak kerja terjemahan aku yang lain kat sini 😆). Mari selami perasaan aku pasal acara ni (amboi!).

20160908

An experience of sorts: Japanese Film Festival 2016 opening ceremony & 'After the Storm' thoughts

Hello, there! This time around, I'm giving a throwback of me saying things about what happened that I think matters to me: writing a long-ass post about it! And also, why not throw in a new banner for my blog, right? Oh yeah, those are totally characters from The Boy and the Beast, one of the films that will be screened at Japanese Film Festival Malaysia 2016, and I'm keeping it! It's not just a promotional thing! NARNIA is long gone!

Fret not though. I know this is supposed to be a blog dedicated to reviewing films (and other things). It's here because a film was indeed screened after the opening ceremony attended by PRESS members for this year's edition of Japanese Film Festival organised by Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur in association with Golden Screen Cinemas. A brief review of that film, titled After the Storm, will follow suit.

My gut-feeling as one of the few guests of honour
Which begs me to this question; how the HELL did this wild invitation appear in my inbox while I was doing my job? And why, oh why, did it have to clash with the screening for a free movie which I won tickets to thanks to Movie Addict? World is cruel.

The mysterious email in question. That person in the screenshot of this screenshot is Kiki Kilin, one of the actors for the film I watched that night, and she is KILIN' it with her role! More on that later. And sorry not sorry for the lame pun.

How the heck did he get my email? And how am I a press member now? What kind of credibility do I have? Is it because of THIS article?

My review is the third one. Not lying mah!
Yeah. One of my reviews got featured at The Daily Seni - AGAIN! This time around, it's sandwiched between THE Fadli al-Akiti (a renowned film critic and owner of TontonFilem) and New Straits Times' review excerpts, and it's for a film currently showing in local cinemas right now, Pekak. And yes, this is totally a legit article.

Whatever the case is, since I already went to a few screenings with the awesome group, I decided to give up my tickets and pass it to my siblings instead, so I can take up this invitation, to see where things would go from here. The unfortunate thing was, I was stuck in traffic when the press conference was commencing. It was then I would have the chance to maybe get closer to the aforementioned veteran actress whom I think was indeed very likeable both on-screen and off-screen judging from a video tribute played before her speech during the festival's opening ceremony and the speech itself, through the way she conveyed her message.

Here she is, straight from the red carpets draped under her feet just outside the theater hall. I was too hungry munching on the finger foods to even care about her, 'cause a brother's gotta eat. Gomenasai!

Photo by Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur.


While it was awkward and all, with me being just an ordinary guy being thrown into a world of press screenings (with this one being the totally official one), I guess it was a pleasant one, even if I talked to only very few of them, introducing myself like the amateur that I am (and I rue the day that I didn't get the chance to drop my non-existent contact card!). This occurrence might seem normal to some people, but for a socially awkward human like myself who just happens to write film reviews for fun, this is a huge deal. It gives people like me, the low self-esteem guy, a high purpose. Which means people still need guidance on what is or what is not a good film, and I am stamped as that kind of guy who does just that. And me getting recognised as an ACTUAL member of the press by being invited to this kind of event was kind of something. Ookay. Not much else I can say about the event. On with the film review.

20111012

An event review: 'Rockaway 2011'


This is my second big-time paid event of the year (AND of my life for that matter; the first one being Urbanscapes 2011) called Rockaway 2011; a Rock music festival that bands together a handful of independent Malaysian acts as well as three big-time United States acts which was held last Saturday (8th of  October) from 12.00 pm to 12.30 am (initially, it was scheduled to end at 12.00 am, but was extended 30 minutes longer; I'll tell y'all why later on) at Carpark A, Bukit Jalil Stadium, KL.

I guess y'all know how to read, right? :P