God and His relation with Film

One of my friend who is taking a class in art and Christianity asked me one night while i was driving her back home,
"What do you think is the relationship between God and film??"
"Um... i guess God is the director and he is the creative control of everything that happens in our lives...
the screenwriter, all the story plots, how the character develops, it is all under his plans,
Also the producer, controls all the budget that is avail. in this "film"...
Well.. the rest of the production crew, you pick them up along the way, who are our friends, co-workers, partner, enemy..."
(I did not give her this answer at that time, only the director part, the rest are just add ons just now..)

After that night, this question is still on my mind and think that there is something that should in a deeper level...
on the tip of my tongue and just can't get it out...
and to think or call myself a movie lover...

So i had to ask for help...
since i do have the honor to drive Joey in and out from her friend's house, and also work on the fundraising video with her day and nite.. i can get lots of advice from her...
just to intro her abit.. Joey is someone from HK breakthrough who is on vacation here for a month...she is very friendly and funny, but also very knowledgeable and deep yet humble at the same time...
learnt a lot from her...

When i asked her this same question...
she shoot another question back at me...
"What is the most important element in a film??"


I thought about it for a while and said,
"I think it is the director and his passion with the story...
the director needs to be touched by the film's story himself first,
before he can make the audience feel the emotions of the characters..
and the director needs to believe in the msg that he is telling,
because it is really hard to make a film, tough work,
if the director don't believe in it..
he will give up easily and can't lead the rest of the team to complete the project..."

Joey thought about it for a while and responded,
"That's true too...haha..
but i didn't expect it to be that deep of a level..
just what is the most necessary thing that you need to doing a shoot...
.....
.....
it is LIGHT...
You cannot do anything without light...
because light is the most basic thing that is needed to print the picture onto the film stock..
without light, nothing can be done...
and GOD IS LIGHT...
without God, nothing can be done..."


Then i am like WOW...
"That's right, how can i forget the most basic and important and obvious thing there is...
and just like we forget about God all the time...
depending on our talent or skills...
but without God...
what we do is meaningless..."

Thoughts on 927 fundraising

The fundraising is over...and had some thoughts and reflections on it after...
i was suppose to lead the video team in the fundraising video..
because the time is so limited, just 2 wks time, need to edit together a 5 min video with like 10 tapes of material...
and with the film fest going on.. just don't know how to do it...

at first i really have no idea how to begin..
cause i was just depending on my ideas and think that it is an easy job.. no problem..
but then i realized how limited i was...
because there are interviews of 5 volunteers, 2 pair of parents...
just too much footage...too fragmented..too little screen time...
was totally frustrated...

then the J4 and Eugenie had meeting and had done some interviews in Parcific mall with youths..
the video flow begins to come out...
and because this is a fundraising video...
needs to be touching and have tears in it..
so more tears.. more chq writing...
we calculated carefully which parts will be the most touching..
how we lost our best friends, how parents all moved back to HK, living alone here, with no one to celebrate with for holidays..
the music are all enchanting the effect...
i thought.. hey it is going to be great.. the most touching video we can do in this limited time...

then on the fundraising nite..
everything was great...
the speakers are really touching...
and the video played..
and what happened??
the voice for the most important parts.. the parts where it should be the most touching...
is gone.. just have the video images and no sound.. and only those parts...
which was tested before the actual show...and everything was fine.....

I was really unhappy and disappointed..
because the video is incomplete...
and it is one of my great piece of work yet.. and it is ruined...
but what can we do about it.. it is over...

Then last nite.. at Joey's farewell dinner..
she said that the tech problem of the video...may have some meaning...
we calculated all the parts that are touching..
but have to remember..
that it is not our work that touched ppl...
it is God who touches ppl...
we depends too much on ourselves and what we say....
but it is God who do all the work...

I guess i can see God's presence everytime had to do a video for an event...
like the City Mosaic video..the Refeel event.. and the 927 fundraising video..
it is everytime that we need to print it to a DV tape that it doesn't work..
and needs to have prayers to support the "tech" side of the computer that it comes out..

maybe it is a way to remind me again and again of His presence...

What Mixed Drink Are You? / Keys to Your Heart Quiz

You Are An Appletini

Most of the time, you're a typical party girl / guy.
But when you get super sauced, you really up your sex appeal.

What Mixed Drink Are You?

Keys To Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free.

In love, you feel the most alive when your partner is patient and never willing to give up on you.

You'd like to your lover to think you are stylish and alluring.

You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please.

Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with.

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment.

You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage.

In this moment, you think of love as something you thirst for. You'll do anything for love, but you won't fall for it easily.

Keys to Your Heart

Post Secret

I discovered a very interesting blog from other bloggers..
it is to post a secret that you dare not to tell anyone..
you can just make your own postcard and mail it to the address provided..
and you can then finally let your secret out of your system..

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.

Maybe Tony Leung in "In the Mood of Love" could have used this method instead of the tree hole...

If you are to post your secret..
what would you tell??

Check it out..
postsecret.blogspot.com

Youth Voice

What's your challenges today/nowadays?
What did you learn from Across?
How did Across influence you?
Why do you love Across?

Because of the fundraising dinner for Across U-hub,
volunteers are asked to answer the above questions..
to give our sponsors and guest a sense of our challenges we are facing today...


The challenges that i am facing today,
is the search for my path...
I believe that God has given me a purpose in life,
i have tried to step out to trust on God to lead the way..
I am attending night school for my continuing education for Film Production..
I have decided to continue to work at Across to help our youths in Toronto..

But what's next?
What can i do?
What can i do with the knowledge that i get from film,
the volunteering experience that i gained from Across??
Have to be still, and listen to God's voice...

I learned a lot from Across...
I learn that being a Christian, doesn't not mean that you have to live a boring life...
People always think that Christians are restricted and can't do lots of things..
but i learned from Across that we are here on earth with a mission..

I learned to have discernment..to tell what's right/wrong, in messages given by the media, peers, community, government..
to collect different opinions from different ppl, and make a decision or judge with my mind what is really correct, instead of just listening to what others think...

I learned to open up my mind to different things, to appreciate the multiculturalism in Toronto..
To appreciate our roots, to the advantages that we have as a Chinese in Canada..

People in Across have a lot of passion in life..
they stress on "life influence one another's life"
Gives me the courage to chase after my dream...

I love Across, because it cherish all the youths, volunteers that cross its path..
the mentors in Across have lots of passion, really great teacher in giving directions on future, career paths..
friendly, approachable, never too busy for the lives of the young people..

Blog the Fest: The Willow Tree, a film with great msg and gospel

The Willow Tree
Director: Majid Majidi
Country: Iran

This is really a great film, the best i have seen so far in the fest..
the cinemaography is beautifully shot, lots of imagery, symbols of meanings...
lots to think about
it is based on a true story, about a professor who had been blind since he was 8 by firework sparks..
he had a great family, a caring wife and a loving daughter..
his world is a paradise,
he never complained a bit for his blindness for 35 yrs..

Until one day, he found out there maybe a tumor under his eyes and he had to go to Paris for an operation..
which happens to give his sight back...
Upon his return to Iran, Youssef is overwhelmed by sensations both visual and emotional. Soon he is no longer grateful for all he has been given, but instead begins to see his life as a series of experiences stolen from him by his years of blindness. Turning away from the devotion of his wife, he becomes obsessed with the beauty of a woman he hardly knows..

When Youssef first regains his sight, he saw his own reflections in the window,
just like how a new born baby sees themselves in the mirror..
and Youssef was given a new life, a new chance...
but all he sees is his old aged face, the ugliness of his body..
never give thanks to God whom have give what he wished for all his life...
Youssef only sees what was taken away from him all these years, losing the best years in life...

The film is full of gospel messages..
when Youssef gives his prayer to God, he promised that if he was able to get through this, he will follow his God forever..
When he was given another chance in life by getting his eyesight back, he quickly forgot about his prayer and is obsess with his new desire for women...
What he thought was a paradise when he couldn't see, turns out to be just a brokendown old house that he is living in...
I really like the contast of images between the before/after sight scenes..
It really shows how human are not satifise with what they already have...
and is easily tempted by material things, and bodily desires...

"Have you seen enough yet?
Are your eyes satisfied?"

It is just like God asking if we have been able to get what we want in life..
are we satisified with all the material things, worldly needs that we set our eyes on,
and is blinded by them and do not see what we truly need??

Is your heart satisfy?


When One doesn't appreciates what God gives them, rather it is a special skill, or his mighty love,
if you don't know how to appreciate it..
God will take it back, since you have no use for it..
which also happened to Youssef in the end of the movie...

God also takes back Youssef's eyesight because God loved him,
love him so much that doesn't want Yousset to go on the wrong path again..
to stop him from doing anymore wrong...


Willow Tree in Persian means it is a really weak tree, it sways with the wind wherever the wind blows..
and it symbolizes Youssef's morals as the world blows by him..


The Rain is another symbol being use a lot in the film,
like when Youssef was in Paris for the operation,
he was revived by the rain, and able to see again..
when Youssef is back in Iran and searching for his new path and direction, it is raining in the city again..
Towards the end, when he has lost everything, his mother, his family, his eyesight..
he just runs around the city and was trapped inside a metal fence..
again it is raining really hard, which acted as a means to cleanse his sins away...

I give it a 4.5/5

Blog the Fest: Seven Swords

Film Title: Seven Swords
Director: Tsui Hark


Early in the Qing Dynasty, the royal court has imposed a ban forbidding the practice of martial arts in an effort to prevent an uprising. A military official named Fire-Wind (Sun Hong-lei), sees an opportunity to make a fortune by helping enforce the prohibition. After massacring countless innocent people, he targets the last hold-out: Martial Village. Retired executioner Fu Qin-zhu - played by famed Shaw Brothers Studio director Lau Kar-leung - resolves to protect the community and travels to distant Mount Heaven to procure the services of Master Shadow-Glow (Ma Jing-wu), a legendary swordsmith. Together they enlist a number of young warriors and bestow seven unique swords upon them to use in battle against Fire-Wind ruthless army.

The latest from Tsui Hark, never really a big fan of his work, the last one of his work that i saw was Time and Tide, and i liked his "Sinnui yauwan" serie...
since i know this is a pretty big production for Seven Swords, and my friend is a big fan of TH's films, so i guess i will give it a try and see it on the big screen..


WHICH, is not that great of a decision...
The camerawork is alright, the Kung Fu style that Tsui always employed, just the usual Lau Kar Leung work..and what i expected to see in the film..
BUT the story just failed really bad..
Because the movie title is named "Seven Swords", so i expected the characters with these 7 swords will be more in depth and more defined...
we do not see the characters get trained, how they developed their skills, why there are these swords, how did they exist, nothing..
why they are so good and kick everyone's ass...

The intro to the 7 swordsman really sucked, the village was under attack, so they just went to the mountains to get help, and boom, some fire fell out of the sky, all the characters blacked out and out comes the swordsman from nowhere, no explaination of where they came from, and they just agree to help the villager just like that...


Wu Yuan Yin (Charlie Yeung), a normal villager who almost got kill at the beginning of the film, also was able to inherent one of the legendary swords, when she doesn't even know how to use it and almost hurt herself..

The storyline just doesn't flow..
Tsui added a few romance lines into the film,
in one scene, Yang Yun Cho (Leon Lai) just teaches Yin how to use the sword, in the next scene they are together, Charlie already fell for him..
another incident, Chu Zhao Nan (Donnie Yen) just gave a bowl of wine to the elder's daughter and bing,
she is in love with him, what she was fed a love potion in the wine??

And i don't understand when the villagers have to give up their horses, and Han is really sad to see one of them go (Joy Luck), there is none what so ever why he misses that one horse so much.. is it his childhood friend or something? the horse that he learn how to ride on?

The movie is adapted from a novel, the same author as the White Hair Bride, i have never read the novel itself, but the story/plot of the movie just is cheating its audience...

If you don't care if a movie have any content, just want to see some great action scenes, then i suggest you can just rent one of Tsui Hark's old Wong Fei-Hong or Dung Fong Bat Baai movies, which has more heart in its filmmaking and actually touches the audience..

Toronto Film Fest

"The essence of film begins when a director frames their first shot. At that very moment, the world comes into focus and another extraordinary story begins to unfold.

Among North American festivals, Toronto does the best job of being everything to everyone: a star-studded glamour tour, a collection of topical material for the casual moviegoer, a review of the current work of art-house stars, a recapitulation of the last six months of international art cinema. It draws films from over 60 countries around the world, from Vietnam to Iceland; Kazakhstan to Chile and beyond, it is a lavish collection of films from major directors, taking you on a worldwide cinematic tour.

Maybe the size of the Toronto Film Fest is a problem, lots of celebrities and media in town, creating a problem with getting tickets to movies that you want to see..I don't really hate the ticket system, having to get a coupon package in order to do a pick of films..
AND even if you have chosen your films in advance, doesn't mean you will get your film selection, you still have to have a draw out of all the other coupon holders..

So what luck do i have for this yr?? There are a total of 46 boxes..
my package was in Box # 32, and which was the box that they drew as being first??
# 36!!! so my film selections are being almost dead last, really really disappointed..
but that's life, what can you do about it..

So i will be trying to coverwhati have watched in the film fest...
giving u guys a glance at what is out there in the world cinema right now...

Paradise Now
Director: Hany Abu-Assad
Country: Palestine/ The Netherlands/ Germany/ France

The headlines are sickening, but they keep coming. Suicide bombers are now a fact of life. But the questions we ask after such carnage have become helplessly rhetorical: who would do such a thing? And why?

In the West Bank town of Nablus, Said (Kais Nashef ) and his friend Khaled (Ali Suliman) eke out a meagre living fixing cars. They squabble with hard-to-please customers; they take breaks to smoke a water pipe and chat. Then a serious, bespectacled man approaches and tells them their time has come. From this moment forward, they are in preparation for their mission.

The director looks at the struggles that the occupied Nablus are going through, where their freedom are taken away, most of the citizens are living under poverty, with unemployment, and even without clean water..

" If you are afraid of death, you are already dead;
If you are not afraid, you will have a quick and smooth death "

You will try to do everything that you can toavoidd it, which already let death be the center of your live...
The main character Said, wanted to sacrifice himself so that it can change the situation of the occupation in the country..
is it as a form of resistance? or just a form of revenge?
It will just give the Israelis an excuse to keep on the occupation and do more violence in Nablus..
then is there a way out of this loop??

This movie is a way that the director is doing his rebellion...
he is using this movie as a protest to the world, to the US who are funding the Israelis...
the movie is aneutrall look at what force pushes the good hard working citizens to become a suicide martyr...

But because the director was trying not to do any condemnation or manifesto, he is keeping a distance with the film, and the characters in the movie do not have enough depth, their development is not strong enough to leave a strong impression in the audience..
It is like an essay without a strong argument, just displaying the facts, without any personal opinions..
maybe because it is a sensitive subject, so the director do not want to give too much of his views

The movie gives a clear contrast in the living standards between Israel and Nablus,
skyscrapers, imported cars, cell phones, big billboards all other the city, while the other is packed with the most basic brick houses, old used cars...
it opened the audiences eyes in the area...
This movie has lots of heart, can really see the effort that the director had put into it..

The actors are all from stage drama, the first feature movie for most of them,
but the acting was really good, esp. when the scenes are all real locations where suicide bombers shoot their final statment video before their "heroic" deed...

One of the most impressive scene is when the two characters have their final supple before they headed out..
it resembled the final supple scene in the Bible..
Jesus was having the final supple with his disciples before he heads to the cross..
to die for all the sinners of this world..
to rebel against the world order and death...
a light from God lit Jesus from above...

In the movie scene, there are also the same number of ppl..
a light from the ceiling on the two main characters...
only these two are to rebel in a worldly order,
thinking that their deeds are cherished by God..
only in a human view...

i rate 3/5 for this movie..