I had the pleasure of talking to James Lee late last year, and this long podcast episode is the result. I can't tell you how much I learned in these 1.6 hours. James Lee is such a filmmaking dynamo. He's precise, generous in sharing and loaded with filmmaking stories and anecdotes.  I don't want to swing the overused word 'masterclass" here but  I can’t tell you how much I learned in these 1.6 hours.James Lee, an esteemed filmmaker originating from Malaysia, made his mark in the world of theater before transitioning seamlessly into the forefront of indie digital video filmmaking. Proficient in directing, producing, and acting, he has garnered international acclaim with awards at prominent film festivals in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Philippines, and Singapore. James became a focal point at the 9th Deauville Asian Film Festival in France, solidifying his status as a pioneer in digital filmmaking. Noteworthy accolades include the prestigious Cannes Silver Lion Award in 2016 for his compelling work on "Last Day of School." James Lee's influence extends beyond the screen, evident in his role as a speaker at TEDxKL in 2015, where he shared valuable insights into the evolving narrative landscape.

FDW is back!!! Huge apologies. But FDW will be back as regular as I can keep this up. A nice slate of new activities planned and new energy an vigour. Let me clear the backlogue first. I was worried that these were recorded some time back that its not relevant coz the subjects have went on to great things BUT I found the conversation still very interesting and even more so with some hindsight. Kindly enjoy Sunny when he just came back from hobnobbing with Forest Whitaker and Tom Hardy on the set of Havoc. 1. 00:00:00 Just back from shooting in a Gareth Edwards Hollywood movie "Havoc" in UK2. 00:00:24 How did Sunny Pang get into the industry in 19933. 00:03:31 1999 Sunny felt that he wanted to act more than doing ONLY stunts but after a lot of rejection, he became a bouncer in clubs.4. 00:04:20 Sunny gets casted in 'Perth: The Geylang Massacre"5. 00:06:19 Working with Lim Kay Tong in 'Perth'6.  00:10:06 How disappointments affect his career7.  00:12:47 How Perth was not seen as a commercial success8.  00:14:04 Working with James Lee - a prominent Malaysian Director/Producer9. 00:14:20 Working with his Sifu ?Aleelb Said - a HK/Indonesian Martial Arts Master Action Director working in Asia.10. 00:15:16 Working with James Lee on "Call if you need me"  (2009)11.  00:17:16 Meeting Timo Tjahjanto the first time for "Night Come for Us"12.  00:18:07 Meeting "The Raid" Gareth Evans too.13. 00:18:25  Then "Night Come for us" production stalled during prepro training.14. 00:18:38 Then he was approached by Timo for "Headshot" since "Night Come for Us" stalled15. 00:20:37 Screening of "Headshot" in Toronto International Film Festival16. 00:21:50  Sunny recalls the first day of shoot for "Headshot"17. 00:24:30 Learning to hustle as an actor18. 00:26:52 Importance of being independent in getting jobs19. 00:32:44 On Singapore's potential in the international arena20. 00:37:13 Shooting for TV in Singapore - everything is too sanitised 21. 00:41:55 Shooting 'Gareth Evans international action flick "Havoc"22. 00:43:52 What Forest Whitaker said to him after a take on 'Havoc'23. 00:45:09 Whats next for Sunny Pang (Nov 21)24. 00:46:52 Working with different directors25.  00:49:47 Working on dramatic scenes requiring more focus for Sunny Pang 26. 00:51:37 Working with Indonesian Directors like Timo and Gareth  27. 00:52:42 An actor needs to understand the script well before shooting28. 00:53:49 On rehearsals29. 00:54:18 Rehearsal Process with Malaysian Director Zahir Omar30. 00:55:35 Was there lots of rehearsals for 'Havoc'?31. 00:56:59  Next projects (Nov 21)32. 01:00:48 His experience working with Anri Okita a Japanese AV star33. 01:04:47 His take on crying or emotional scenes34.  01:01:08 On acting, no actinga nd over acting35. 01:11:19 Sunny Pang on Inspector Han one of his memorable popular roles36. 01:12:10 Sunny Pang's management style with Ronin Action Group37. 01:15:23 About the 'Macho Man' in asian cinema38. 01:22:16 About being open in the industry39. 01:26:27 How was Craft Services on 'Havoc'?

Featuring our prolific Filmmaker Wee Li Lin. This was recorded last June when we were coming out of a CB and we may be heading towards a new CB as we speak.It's ironic that it is twelve months apart- nothing has changed much and yet everything did. She has of course done a lot more since but this series serves to a be a time-librarian of filmmakers in flux. Think its highly relevant and always cool to hang out with WLL- Our WW fllmmaker. 00:5:00 intros 00:39 "Such an effort to document and revise your showreel." 01:00 On how LiLin decided to put her showreel in order 01:32 How doing a showreel made her feel 'better about her work' 02:14 "when you put it together then you realise on you can do waht you do" 02:33 Overall Consistency in her body of work 03:46 How she conceive the short film title "Areola Borealis" 04:15 The use of Dialect Cantonese in "Areola Borealis" 05:10 LiLin on her tackling the use of Cantonese even when she is not versed in the dialect 06:31 Indirectly wanting to 'pay homage to her mom' who is Cantonese. 07:27 "Areola Borealis" had more ad-libbing than her previous works 08:49 The ad-Libbing and the delivered dialogue made the work very natural 09:00 On how English 'doesn't seem natural' in our works 09:45 Mentions on "Areola Borealis" writing being tight 10:11 LiLin on whether she directs mostly her own writing or otherwise 12:12 To be hired for one's unique 'Director's Voice'- about 'Directors having free reign over the scripts' 13:00 on Her personal successful relationship with a fellow writer- Jean Tay 15:02 "Keep chipping at the same Block" again on LiLin's on the type of stories, themes , characters and outcomes. 15:40 On being a craftsman in your work 16:00 LiLin on challenging herself to do things that are not in her usual domain 16:53 About being older and pushing herself to try new stuff, genre, characters and themes. 17:25 LiLin's love for her characters. 19:20 Same same but not necessarily different and doing something different for being different sake may not be beneficial 19:28 "Always a sense of fun" in all of LiLin's works 20:03 Always the 'nerdy underdogs' in all of her works 20:31 Where LiLin psycho-anaylsesing that this theme may be form her formative years as a teenager 21:28 Beyond the eye candy pastel visuals and 80's syths, "CP Kids" was a forgotten stigmatised counter culture in SG 21:45 On how "CP Kids" was supposed to be a docudrama but she couldn't find anyone to commission it. 23:50 On her trying to emulate the fashion and style in her school days (CP Kids) totally ‘out there’ 25:50 CHIJ uniforms 26:24 Autograph vs My Autograph 2015 27:50 Time-slips and time jumps concepts 28:15 On her prolific shorts filmography-how she keeps it going 30:00 on doing personal passion projects. Thirties was occupied with two feature films and going back to school at Tisch 30:15 in her forties she decided to go back short films and how Nicholas Chee facilitated her going back to her Utter Short "That Loving Feeling" 31:04 on her time stamping her works with her own age 32:56 Talking about Box Office 'success' and the true 'merit' of the film 34:42 Looking for a local audience 35:00 End of Part One.

Apologies for the long long long delay between the last episode and this. Big disclaimer is THAT: this was done in June 2020- yes-a world ago so I hope most things are still relevant. If it's not- blame me- ask for a refund. Trust me its still full of useful tips. Yuni needs no introduction to the Singapore Film Scene and her helping me with this lil podcast has certainly elevated this chat shop. So so happy she agreed to do this. Even though I think she must be regretting agreeing haha.

Episode 11 -In this episode Don talks about working with actors and DPs. Another very Director-centric episode- here he shares his experiences with- diva actors, so called trained actors n non actors. Working with CYNTHIA KOH for the first time in a Mandarin language drama. Discussing about building that trust between the director and actors. 'Working the ‘magic’. Being impressed with a young inexperienced JABU DEEN and see how he has developed so far. He also shares his varied experience working with DP SHYAN and DP MICHAEL ZAW. I have known Don since 2015 on the set of ***Tanglin***. It was Singapore's longest English TV long form series- running at more than 800 plus (half hr) episodes and it had a number of directors on board. And we were part of that. Super ep. Enjoy.

Episode 10 -In this episode Don shares his beginnings with Vasantham ***Vettai *** and Channel 5's ***Tanglin.*** I have known Don since 2015 on the set of ***Tanglin***. It was Singapore's longest English TV long form series- running at more than 800 plus (half hr) episodes and it had a number of directors on board. And we were part of that. It is super interesting for me IMHO to have two directors talking about it because strangely we seldom do- sharing our experiences coz we mostly kept to ourselves. This is one of the most Director-centric insdier talk sessh. Most of all, I love his sharing his concept of success.

A FDW CCB Spinoff. Here we talk to the other filmmaking departments. We did an 'Actors Talk Back' with Kheng Hua and now its 'DPs Talk back' with Amandi Wong. Amandi was the first DP i met nearly 15 years ago. In this episode, Amandi talks about working with directors Ho Tze Nyen, Chai Yee Wei, Jacen Tan and Jack Neo. He shares what his lighting and shooting philosophy is like nowadays and sheds some info about the SGSC, the SG association of Cinematography. Perhaps one of the Singapore's most prolific feature film DP. I'm so glad I manage to 'bottle' this convo.Amandi Wong's first independent feature film as a Director of Photography was in 2006, ’Truth Be Told’ directed by Teo Eng Tiong. During his journey as a Cinematographer he has worked on 13 feature films.

Episode 9 - Chai Yee Wei. We have known each other through the years but only a lil closer after he really helped me out with the DCP of 'Diamond Dogs' and even recently 'The Last Song". Always a trusted friend and ally in the SG film industry, he had put aside his Directing for a good few years and then came back in a big way after his Win in Short Shorts Tokyo. In this episode, he shares his journey and his candid views of directing in Singapore. Enjoy. “In the early days I couldn’t get that trust easily from people, I was really... I don’t want to say, bullied but I learned a lot from the people that I had worked with, not just the actors but from the crew too.” Chai Yee Wei, Grand Prix winner of Short Shorts, an Academy Accredited Festival, with his short film "Benjamin's Last Day at Katong Swimming Complex”(2018), has a career as diverse as his interests. He has co-written and directed several feature films across genres ranging from horror (Blood Ties), to dark comedy (Twisted), and musical rom com (That Girl In Pinafore). And being a tech enthusiast, he also started Mocha Chai Laboratories, and built Singapore's first boutique digital film lab with a state-of-the-art Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos facility. Today he splits his time developing and producing content, while advocating the use of new technologies to tell better stories.

A FDW CCB Spinoff. Here we talk to the other filmmaking departments. We did an 'Actors Talk Back' with Kheng Hua and now its 'DPs Talk back' with Amandi Wong. Amandi was the first DP i worked with nearly 15 years ago. First DP in relations to Narrative work. I already had a good decade working with other DPs on TVCs and such but narrative work, Amandi was my virgin first. We didn't get to work together much these few years and that's because he became so sought after and every time I call him for a job, he always says "NA" and then he realised he forgot to ask... pauses... THEN he ask "When ha?". But the heart is already broken :) A most interesting sess.

Episode 8 - Chai Yee Wei. We have known each other through the years but only a lil closer after he really helped me out with the DCP of 'Diamond Dogs' and even recently 'The Last Song". Always a trusted friend and ally in the SG film industry, he had put aside his Directing for a good few years and then came back in a big way after his Win in Short Shorts Tokyo. In this episode, he shares his journey and his candid views of directing in Singapore. Enjoy.