7th Asian Film Symposium Closing Night

Tonight marks the closing of the 7th Asian Film Symposium, after the past 4 days of short film screenings, and a Forum on the Asian Film Festival circuit. And closing the symposium are two films, one Japanese docudrama, while the other is a local documentary on Chek Jawa, which I thought aptly closed the Symposium on a strong note, with strangers coming together, forming friendships, pooling resources and tackling a common cause, mirroring the Symposium's platform for the meeting of the minds.


Director Eric Lim of Remember Chek Jawa was present with his crew and subject interviewees for a Q&A Session after the screening. Below are some of the nuggets of information shared during the session:

• This screening is the 4th public screening of Chek Jawa.


• He had spent about 3 months since December last year to put the movie together, with the help of Online Editor Gek Lisan.


• The footage that we see of the effort is mostly shot in Aug 2001


• Some of the wildlife stuff were filmed on and off between 2002 to 2004.


• The DVD is expected to be out at the end of the year, and is to be distributed by Objectifs.



• Those who wish to request for screenings can click on this link.


• It will be travelling the film festival circuit starting with "Planet in Focus" International Environmental Film & Video Festival come 24-28 Oct 07.


• But of course Eric feels that he would prefer more locals to watch this documentary, which I agree, since it's something that's directly relevant to us.
  
• Besides his much needed vacation, Eric has also finished filming his next project, which is a documentary on a Chinese opera family living at Pulau Ubin, and editing should be completed by mid 2008.

Besides Eric, one of the key players in Remembering Chek Jawa, botanist Joseph Lai, was also on hand to share a few words. Joseph was a key player in noticing the treasure trove and galvanizing like-minded volunteers to save the habitat. His current project is to save some patches of forest, which is home to a number of animals and rare species, at Sentosa, which will be directly impacted with the building of the Integrated Resort. You can read up more of Joseph's works at Eart-Heart, and contact him too if you're interested in outreach and nature walks programmes. There are plenty of links, pictures and information for nature buffs and amateurs alike who want to have a jumpstart into the interesting locations that you thought couldn't exist in our concrete jungle. Joseph made a poignant point before he ended though, and that's a reminder that the treasures of nature that we have here, is ours, and nobody else can take care of them other than ourselves.


Photo Credit: Richard Lim