JB Film Festival

OPENING RECEPTION

OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE 2ND JOHOR BAHRU

FILM FESTIVAL 2016: A RED CARPET RECEPTION

10 NOV, THU | 7.30PM - 10.45PM | BLACKBOX | RM10

Starting at 7.30pm, the 2nd Johor Bahru Film Festival invites esteemed filmmakers and professional figures in the film industry to a red carpet affair as we celebrate a big first night. Special guests include the royal patron, YAM Tunku Tun Aminah, festival curator, Hassan Muthalib, Maya Karin, Yasu Tanaka, filmmakers, directors, screenwriters, actors, sound designers and many more.

8.00pm Arrival of Guests and Opening Addresses

8.30pm Short Film screening of Dream to Fly (Sabah)

8.45pm Feature Film screening of NOTA (Malaysia)

10.25pm Q&A with Yasu Tanaka, producer & director of NOTA and Maya Karin, lead actress of NOTA

TALK

IN CONVERSATION WITH U-WEI HAJI SAARI

11 NOV, FRI | 4.00PM - 5.30PM | BLACKBOX | RM10

Over a career spanning 30 years, U-Wei has directed 16 TV dramas, 6 films, 3 stage plays and also authored books. His first film, Perempuan, Isteri & Jalang (Woman, Wife & Whore, 1993) took 5 awards at the Malaysia Film Festival, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. His film Kaki Bakar (The Arsonist, 1995), was screened under Cannes’s Un Certain Regard, as well as at Berlin, Montreal, Nantes, Fribourg, New York, Busan and Singapore, winning the Grand Prix at Brussels. With a grant from NHK Japan, he made Jogho (The Bull Fighter, 1997), which has been invited to festivals in Singapore, Busan, Cinemanila and Nantes. The Nantes Film Festival had a retrospective of U-Wei’s films in 2001. His short film, Sepohon Rambutan Indah Kepunyaan Ku di Tanjong Rambutan (My Beautiful Rambutan Tree in Tanjung Rambutan, 2006) was chosen for the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes 2006.

In 2011, U-Wei received a grant to make Hanyut (Adrift, 2013), a film that had a cast and crew from Malaysia, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Australia & Poland. The film has since screened in Dubai, Poland, Jogjakarta, Kolkata and Australia, being nominated for Best Screenplay at Brisbane’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards. After a commercial screening in Indonesia in 2014 under the title, Gunung Emas Almayer (Almayer's Golden Mountain), Hanyut will meet the Malaysian audience on 24th November, 2016.

HANYUT, based on the novel, Almayer’s Folly by Joseph Conrad, is the story of Almayer, a Dutch trader struggling to survive in Malaysia at the turn of the 19th century. Almayer's dream of finding a mythical gold mountain is at odds with his plotting wife, colonial authorities, the political machinations of a local chief with Arab traders and his daughter's love for a freedom-fighting Malay prince.

FORUM

GOING GLOBAL:

STRATEGIES OF FILM STORYTELLING

13 NOV, SUN | 4.30PM - 6.30PM | BLACKBOX | RM10

It has been said that a filmmaker should ‘live in a small pond but have a global outlook’. In today’s borderless world, stories arising from one’s own country and culture appear to resonate with a global audience. This forum will explore the kind of storytelling that will appeal to an international audience and is aimed at young filmmakers who want to cross boundaries.

The panelists in this forum are award-winning or internationally-connected filmmakers who have travelled to international film festivals and film markets. They will discuss and share their experiences in crafting narratives that arise from one’s own country but will also appeal to audiences around the world. They will also discuss the importance of having a film distributor and how the distributor plays an important role in marketing the film - and sometimes even before the film is made.