Boy Wonder – Azharr Rudin

Initially, I am always confused as to whether there is only a single ‘R’ in his name. Perhaps it is a slight attempt to mark himself out a bit more differently from the rest. If that is the intention, then he needn’t have worried so much; Azharr Rudin can safely assume the mantle of ‘Boy Wonder’ for the Malaysian independent film scene. I don’t know how pleased he would be with me bestowing that title upon him, but really…he does look very young.

Then again, he is still young, in relative terms. Yet, he can already sit back and look upon the awards upon praise that has been bestowed upon him since his very first film, ‘Dancing Kites’. With the release of his first feature film, ‘Punggok Rindukan Bulan’, late last year, the kudos has not stopped raining on him; if showering such praise is a crime, then Ben McKay may well be locked up for it.

Filmmaker Disconnected – Edmund Yeo

Don’t mind the title, it is merely a reference to Edmund’s film, ‘Girl Disconnected’. He himself is very much connected when it comes to filmmaking. In truth, I had actually wanted to go with ‘Yeo Yeo, Ma!’, but, despite the classical influence evident in his film’s soundtracks, I doubt whether he would very much appreciate being compared to Grammy Award winner.

Then again, he might. Here, the maker of ‘Chicken Rice Mystery’ and associate producer of ‘The Elephant and the Sea’ sits down in front of his computer in Japan, and discuss with us his videoblogging antics, Woo Ming Jin’s ‘Elephant’ and why it will only be released only in one cinema in Malaysia.

West Meets East: Juliane Block

Interesting, that in a time where people would always want to go beyond the borders of this country, there are those who want to come in. Even more interesting that that person would choose to come into the filmmaking world here. And that person is Juliane Block.

Describing herself as “the only white female German filmmaker in Malaysia”, she recently finished post production on her feature film, ‘Emperor’. Adapted from a Braham Singh novel of the same name, ‘Emperor’ looks at the underworld of gangsterism (if that is a word) once again, a theme she has visited plenty of times before in her previous movies. Why is that so? Why does she love the Internet so? And what the heck is the Factory? (a secret society of contract killers who have special powe…oops, got that mixed up with The Fraternity ).

You Can’t See Me: The Anonymous Filmmaker

For all of our filmmaking talents in Malaysia, there’s not many outlets for short films in our own country. Filmmaker Anonymous, then, is one of the few that provides much-needed oxygen to our short filmmakers (not necessarily filmmakers who are short, though ). In light of the upcoming 6th edition of the screening, we collar the organiser, Filmaholic. Despite our best efforts, he (she?) really didn’t want to reveal anything about him(her?)self.

Not even his (her) gender.

The Write Stuff: Benjamin McKay

Benjamin McKay is a prominent film writer/reviewer in Malaysia, regularly contributing to the likes of Criticine and Kakiseni, amongst others. And when I say prominent, I mean “You met Tan Chui Mui? Ah yes, I had dinner with her” prominent (OK, so that’s not an exact quote, but you get the idea ).

He’s also an academician, currently lecturing in film studies at our alma mater, Monash University (ancora imparo, everyone!). Not that he always planned it that way. Here he talks about his early ambitions to be an actor, teaching films, and why Malaysians like to watch horror movies…