Matino

When international audiences think of films set in Kenya, they think of scenes of poverty, unpaved roads, corruption and revolution. You don’t think sci-fi. Which is why female director Wanuri Kahiu’s latest film, a short that premiered at Sundance last month, made such a splash. It’s the country’s first sci-fi film ever to hit the festival, which sounds like a ridiculously slim record to win — but it’s one that’s culturally so important.
While often, Western film crews dash over to Kenya to make those films that look like the ones you expect, there’s not really a system for local filmmakers to make and distribute to an international audience. The success (read: $$$) of the South Africa-originated District 9 might have changed all of that. Focus Features launched an Africa First short film program and foreign audiences may be warming up to the fact that the vast continent has more than one story to tell.
That’s certainly what Kahiu and her backers hope. Pumzi (which means 'breath' in Kiswahili) is a film that could have been made nowhere other than Kenya, yet which tells a universal story. It takes place 35 years after World War III, which we’re told took place as a fight over fresh water, in a community of Kenyans who have hunkered down to live below Earth’s dead surface. The story is told through the eyes of the protagonist, Asha [South African actor Kudzani Moswela], who is living in an enclosed underground community. The camera follows the Wall-E-inspired tale of an East African government employee who, when she finds a living soil sample, is determined to go up to the surface to find more.
Of course, having this type of tale set in Kenya is not only revolutionary for the image of Kenyan cinema abroad, it’s a revolutionary statement about race. Who says that the future is a country of stolid white males, with only the occasional black man serving as “magical” advisor (think The Matrix) or foppish showman (think The Fifth Element). Why can’t black women be kick-ass future explorers? Why can’t they be the government employees that control the world? And who says the world won’t be entirely black?
While it might seem like Pumzi is a departure from Kahiu’s last film, the feature length From a Whisper — a thriller based on the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam (which snagged five African Academy Movie Awards) — it’s also political. As Wired noted, “Like recent standouts District 9 and Sleep Dealer, the short film taps into Third World realities and spins them forward for dramatic effect.”
In this case — a lack of water and fresh air, very real threats that could devolve into something like what Pumzi captures.

Film director Wanuri Kahiu is indeed visionary, as well as consciousness-raising, adding to her growing track record of her use of the power of film as a tool to express important topical issues in a manner that ignites reflection and hopefully spurs action.



Kahiu on Moswela

"She breathed into the film unimaginable softness and courage. She became the heart of my heart. Her interpretation of Asha and the story was painfully tender and through it new, undiscovered layers of the film came alive."
Source

One thing I really love about Nairobi is that it is a place of possibilities. The excitement that this generation is creating and defining concepts, spaces and moments in our young history is palpable. A moment like this, a first, where a dream becomes a reality, paves the way for other dreamers, in that it feeds them the courage to continue dreaming. For we would be stagnant and stale without our dreamers.
(original article: sci-culturist)

Trailer:

Directed by: Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang
Genre: Fantasy / Horror / Mystery
Cast: Angelica Lee, Lawrence Chou, Siu-Ming Lau, Qiqi Zeng
Country: Hong Kong/Thailand
Running Time: 108 minutes.
Language: Madarin/Cantonese
Also known as:Gwai wik
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498311/

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SYNOPSIS
A successful young writer working on her highly anticipated sophomore novel struggles with a crippling case of writer’s block. Isolating herself inside her apartment in a desperate attempt to regain her inspiration, she gradually loses her grip on reality as the bizarre world of her unfinished book comes to life before her eyes.
REVIEW
One of my favorite horror movies to date is the Pang Brother’s The Eye, which told the story of a blind woman getting a corneal transplant through a donor. Unfortunately for her, the donor had the genetic predisposition to see ghosts. Of course, like all asian horror movies, it was remade for the American audience to digest. So if you’re in the mood to have the shit scared out of you, go rent the original; it’s that good.
Ending sermon though, I have come into contact with the Pang Brother’s latest outfit, Re-Cycle. A visually stunning and emotionally driven film. What’s different about this movie than Eye is that it’s not much of a bonafide horror movie but more of a psychological thriller, reminiscent of movies like Jacob’s Ladder and Stanley Kubrick’s version of The Shining.

The film revolves around a singular female protagonist, Tsui Ting-Yin (Angelica Lee), a successful novel writer whose books have been made into Lifetime/Oxygen Channel-esque movies. You know, the type of movies with a lot of romance and unnecessary tragedy, real tear jerkers. She announces a new book, Gwai Wik (or “Re-Cycle”) which is more aligned with the supernatural.
Along with the stresses of writing a new book, her estranged husband returns to her after 8 years and wants to reconcile with what they had. Unfortunately, the movie’s handling with this conflict is set aside for the majority of the movie to put more focus on the events that transpire. So, character development between the two isn’t put in the spotlight until way later at the end of the movie.
Indeed, these events, like the estranged husband, are anything but welcoming to Ting-Yin. As she progresses deeper and deeper into putting herself into the main character’s shoes, things turn belly-up. We are treated with typical asian horror cliches: long-haired ghosts wandering around behind opaque pane doors, scaring the shit out of everyone (including the audience). However, that is the least of Ting-Yin’s worries as she begins to slowly delve deeper into the world of “recyclables.”

AKA: Bodyguards and Assassins
Year:2009
Directed: Teddy Chan
Genre: Action, Drama, History
Runtime: 131 min.
Country:China, Hong Kong
Language:Mandarin
Subtitles:Chinese
IMDb : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403130/
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Cast:
Donnie Yen, Leon Lai, Xueqi Wang, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Nicholas Tse

Impressive action sequences and a cast of memorable characters breathe life into Teddy Chen’s Bodyguards and Assassins, a Chinese blockbuster set in 1905 Hong Kong.
With major Asian stars appearing in virtually every significant role, Bodyguards has no single protagonist. However the standout performance is clearly given by veteran actor Wang Xueqi (Forever Enthralled) as the tycoon, whose innate sense of humanity gradually overcomes his reluctance to get involved.
Genre fans in the West may at first be disconcerted by the almost complete lack of fighting sequences in the film’s first half, but the final hour is wall-to-wall action. Particularly impressive is a standoff between Donnie Yen’s gambler and an assassin played by Vietnamese kickboxing champion Cung Le. Indeed, the acrobatic energy of the scene makes a subsequent confrontation involving Leon Lai seem flaccid by comparison.
The $23 million production was shot within a massive set of 1905 Hong Kong built outside Shanghai that significantly contributes to the film’s spectacle. Technical credits across the board are strong, including cinematography by Arthur Wong (Warlords) and production design by Kenneth Mak (Fearless). The score, by Chan Kwong Ming and Peter Kam, though lacking unity, ups the energy in the latter half.
Bodyguards and Assassins is the first project from Cinema Popular, a joint venture by Hong Kong based director Peter Chan Ho-sun (Warlords) and Beijing producer/director Huang Jianxin (The Founding of a Republic) to produce films targeted at the mainland Chinese market.


Synopsis/Plot:
"Bodyguards and Assassins" tells the story of a group of bodyguards protecting Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) from assassins in 1905 Hong Kong.

Directed: Oxide Pang Chun, Danny Pang
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Runtime: 110 Min
Country: Hong Kong
Language: Cantonese
Subtitles: English
Cast: Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Kenny Ho, Nicholas Tse, Charlene Choi
Imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1186371/

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Synopsis / Plot

Japanese evil warlord Lord Godless desired to conquer China. He imprisoned a large number of martial artists and tried to make them subjugate. Among the prisoners were Cloud and the martial arts elder statesman Nameless. Wind came to the rescue. The trio was badly wounded by Lord Godless’s evil martial arts attack. Chu Chu was also knocked out when she blocked Cloud from Lord Godless’s strike. The remaining martial artists sacrificed their lives to save the trio, in the hope that the trio would beat Lord Godless one day and save the country.

Chu Chu was badly wounded and stayed unconscious. Cloud was filled with remorse and vowed to take revenge. Wind chose to take the evil way to quickly boost up his martial arts skills, so that he could protect the people. During his training, he met the girl who changed his life, Dream. Meanwhile, the troop of Lord Godless came to attack. Wind’s training was interrupted when he tried to save Dream from Lord Godless’s assault. After some killings, Wind ran away and disappeared....

Lord Godless took The Emperor in captivity and stationed his troops in Heaven Cave. Cloud arrived alone and started a combat with Lord Godless. Lord Godless had the upper hand. In the meantime, the half-evil Wind appeared and joined the battle. During the fight, they inadvertently discovered the secret of the sovereign. The real intention of Lord Godless’s invasion was related to an ancient tomb, a forbidden ground buried with the Royal family’s secret. The truth was finally revealed. At last, how would the battle end? Who would eventually rule over the country?




















Review
A tempest of CGI clouds the vision of "Storm Warriors II" but is not enough to smoke screen the action-fantasy's lame plot and appropriation of Hollywood style, especially the grainy texture and buff males of "300" and the production design of the third "Mummy" film. Its December release recorded a moderate take of about $1.8 million in Hong Kong and about $6.6 million in China over a three-week period. Followers of the careers of directors Oxide and Danny Pang ("Bangkok Dangerous") may be tempted to catch this, but there is not enough authentic physical combat to satisfy the typical Asian genre film audience.

"Storm Warriors II" is a sequel to the 1998 Hong Kong mega-hit "Storm Riders," which made memorable screen renditions of the original comic's heroes -- free-spirited but righteous Wind (Ekin Cheng) and cool but competitive Cloud (Aaron Kwok). Each action set piece in the first edition derived its own flavor from being choreographed to mirror the characters' personalities and dramatize their rivalry.

By comparison, the sequel feels bland as it dispenses with the characters' backstories, and abstracts the serpentine plot into a trite battle between good and evil. Even a 2008 animated version delivered a more polished storyline.
 

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Johnny To
Cast: Johnny Hallyday, Sylvie Testub, Anthony Wong, Lam Ka Tung, Lam Suet, Simon Yam, Cheung Siu Fai, Felix Wong, Michelle Ye, Maggie Siu, Vincent Sze
RunTime: 1 hr 48 mins
Released By: Shaw
Rating: M18 (Violence)
Official Website: http://www.vengeance-lefilm.com/_en/vengeance.html

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With Hong Kong director Johnnie To having long been admired as an auteur by French film critics, his desired collaboration with European talent has been a much mooted and anticipated possibility. Finally, it arrives in the form of “Vengeance”, which sees To teaming with legendary French singer Johnny Hallyday for a thriller written by Milkyway regular Wai Ka Fai. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the film is heavily reminiscent of two of the director’s signature works, namely “The Mission” and “Exiled”, not least since its cast includes the likes of Anthony Wong, Lam Suet, Gordon Lam and Simon Yam, with support from other familiar faces including Michelle Yip, Eddie Cheung, Maggie Shiu, Felix Wong, Berg Ng, and Stanley Fung. Despite underwhelming some critics, the film played in competition at Cannes 2009, with To being nominated for the prestigious Golden Palm Award.
All things considered, the narrative is pretty much standard fare for To and Wai Ka Fai, with Hallyday playing a French Chef called Costello, who heads to Macau after his daughter’s husband and children are assassinated by triad hitmen. A former killer himself, Costello, soon falls in with a trio of mercenaries in Kwai (Anthony Wong), Chu (Gordon Lam), and Lok (Lam Suet), who he hires to help him take revenge – a task made all the more pressing my his own increasing memory problems, caused by a bullet lodged in his brain. Unfortunately for all concerned, the man who ordered the hit turns out to be none other than the boss of Costello’s new friends (Simon Yam), leading to a violent conflict of interests which looks increasingly unlikely to leave anyone left alive.
Although the plot of “Vengeance” is strictly standard, and indeed predictable stuff, few know this kind of material better than To and Wai Ka Fai, and the film certainly benefits from their magic touch, which helps lift it to being somewhat more than the sum of its parts. From the first frame, it’s obvious that comparisons with “The Mission” and “Exiled” are more than well founded, and indeed the film comes across throughout as a spinoff or not too distant cousin. Of course, any complaints of originality aside, this is by no means a bad thing, and the usual themes of brotherhood and revenge are trotted out to good effect.
As is so often the case with Milkway productions, the strength of the film is in its characters, and “Vengeance” is certainly populated with an interesting, idiosyncratic bunch of cool, moody murderers and offbeat oddballs, in particular Yam’s morally ambiguous but gleeful mob boss. This does make the story more engaging than it might otherwise have been, and although the whole value of revenge theme is somewhat undermined by the tacky and obvious device of Costello’s fading memory, the film has a winningly melancholic air and vaguely philosophical underpinning. As a result, whilst a downbeat conclusion is pretty much a given from the start, the film still manages to be moving, thanks in no small part to a great performance from Hallyday in the lead and from Wong, Lam and Suet as his hitmen comrades, who make for a likeable and believable band of brothers.
To’s direction gives the film a very similar look and feel to “Exiled”, featuring plenty of rich colours and a pronounced use of shadows. Graceful slow motion gunplay is very much the order of the day, with most of the fire fights coming complete with misty eruptions of blood filling the air – which although a little stagey are infinitely preferable to the kind of CGI seen in most other productions. Visually, the film includes all of the expected flourishes expected from the director, and although some of these are immediately recognisable from certain other productions, there are a few genuinely delightful moments scattered throughout.

The Brief:
UNIQLO was seeking an innovative way to build its brand awareness internationally,
and promote its business expansion into the global market.
We recognized the 70 million blogs worldwide as a powerful buzz-building media,
and created a functional and entertaining blog widget for the bloggers to spread the brand globally.
The campaign concept we developed was the fusion of a CLOCK which functions as a blog utility,
time signaling MUSIC, and DANCE performance videos with UNIQLO clothing.
We named it UNIQLOCK. As a 100% UNIQLO branded widget, this automatically became a tool
to connect UNIQLO and the world's bloggers.

The Launch And Execution:
As a teaser, we uploaded 16 audition videos onto YOUTUBE.
Then we launched the UNIQLOCK site to start distributing the blog widget.
The numerous dance videos and the clock counter appearing seamlessly one after another makes
the viewers eager to see more.
Since the widget plays all-year round, 24/7, the dancers change their outfits according to the season.
The bloggers were motivated by seeing the website’s world map which visualized the expansion
of all of the users.Screensavers and shop installations were also released to enhance
the UNIQLOCK experience, from personal desktops to the UNIQLO stores.
 
The Results:
Over 99000 widgets from 96 countries
Over 88 million views from 230 countries (the wedgets + the website)
Over 800 thousand views on You Tube (the audition videos)
Over 775 thousand downloads (the screensavers)
0 >> 974 thousand web pages (google)
(To Date: 10th January, 2010)

While in the state of Washington he became one of the "photographers of record" of the then nascent grunge music scene. His personal friendships with Kurt Cobain and other members of the group Nirvana gave him unparalleled access to create a visual record of that iconic group. He also photographed other grunge era bands such as White Zombie, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth and the The Flaming Lips. All these photographs were compiled in a 1996 Simon and Schuster book, Noise From the Underground.
One of Lavine's most known photographs is the cover for the CD Life After Death by The Notorious B.I.G., which was released fifteen days after Biggie's murder. The black and white photograph features Wallace standing alongside a black funeral hearse. In hindsight many saw this as portending his death. In another black and white photograph from the same shoot, Wallace is standing in front of row after row of headstones in a graveyard.
Since 1988, Lavine has been photographing music and entertainment performers, landscapes, politicians and artists, as well as daily American life and everyday people. His style of bold saturated colors, dynamic and extreme use of lighting, and his awareness of what works graphically and what doesn’t, have made him a sought after photographer. He has also received awards from Communication Arts' Photography and Advertising Annual each year since 1992, as well as from American Photography, the Art Director's Club and Photo District News.

While everyone agrees that Marlena Shaw is a n amazing soulful singer, its difficult to categorize her. Both Downbeat and Record World have named her Best Female Singer, and many have compared her range, class and swing that of to eternal jazz lights like Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, and Nancy Wilson. But shes also been called a soul legend, both before and after her successful detour into disco. Marlena is a lyricist and composer as well.

Given her 40-year boundary-busting career, such labeling confusion is inevitable. Its easier and more descriptive to think of Marlena as a natural element: like water, which we recognize in a gleaming dewdrop or clear mountain stream, Marlenas music is unmistakable. Whether shes singing jazz, R&B, pop, rock, soul, disco, blues or gospel, her originality makes such distinctions irrelevant, and each song becomes intimate and new. Marlena is a soulful survivor whos been there, and more than once. But her music is never heavy -- where others might communicate pain or despair, she offers wisdom and hope, laced with humor.

Born in Valhalla, New York and raised on gospel and jazz, Marlenas first public performance was at the age of 10, at the legendary Apollo Theater. Her activities since then have been as diverse as her legions of fans. Marlena has fronted big bands and orchestras, among them Basies (both original and new). Frank Fosters Loud Minority Band, the Cologne Big Band, the Smithsonian and Seattle Repertory Orchestras, and the US Army Blues Band. Shes performed and recorded with Ray Brown, Benny Carter, and Joe Williams, toured with Sammy Davis Jr. for four years, and graced every major jazz festival in the world, as well as top venues like Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Its not unusual for Marlena to be on the road over 200 days a year.

The first woman vocalist ever signed to Blue Note Records, where she made five albums and several singles, Marlenas recording career actually began in 1966 with Cadet Records (a subsidiary of the ground-breaking Chess Records). Along with hit singles like Wade in the Water, California Soul, and Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (which she co-wrote, and which first brought her to Count Basies' attention), she made two well-received albums. At Columbia Records there were four more, including the disco smash, Take a Bite!, and Verve and Concord followed.

In 2000, her tremendous overseas popularity led to Anthology, a splendid collection from London's Soul Brother Records, and two hits for Sony Japan: Live in Tokyo (2002) and Lookin for Love (2003, both released in the US by 441 Records). The critics use words like astonishing, peerless, radiant and powerful, and marvel at her soaring sensuality. Marlena's appeal is so timeless that her songs have even been sampled by the download generation.

Marlena is universally admired for her warm, supple voice and relaxed charm; a natural storyteller, her spoken words before, during, and between songs is often hilarious. In fact, the set-up to her signature tune, Go Away, Little Boy has become a famous monologue in itself, entitled Yu-Ma. Marlena's smiling, spontaneous interplay with both her band and her audience invites the listener in like a valued friend.

But despite her long experience, there's no slickness or pretense in Marlena's style. Communicating directly from her heart and soul to yours, her undiminished creative vitality has no artificial ingredients. Like water -- or a welcome

This year’s contest winners are drawn from nearly 70,000 entries—the largest pool in contest history—in seven categories: Mammals, Birds, Other Wildlife, Landscapes and Plant Life, Backyard Habitats, Connecting People and Nature and, for the first time, Global Warming. This new category features species whose habitats or behaviors have been affected by climate change. Along with selecting the two $5,000 grand prize winners—one each for the professional and amateur divisions—judges awarded cash and other prizes for the first- and second-place winners in every category in each of the two divisions. One winner was also chosen in the youth division.

In a world of hipster poseurs that you too often want to punch in the face, Junya Watanabe is the real deal, a guy who knows it's not about swagger, it's about the glide. In this case, it's a bit Mingus meets the Mods. Un-vented, vintage-y looking suits in three buttons or double-breasted are cut tight and paired with wingtip shoes (and wingtip sneakers). There's a confident mix of fabrics and textures, all built for layering: denim with moleskin patching, waxed coats, corduroy topcoats in camel, andQuadrophenia-ish parkas in olive drab. In short, classics for the guy who appreciates classics, but digs seeing them reinterpreted.