02.06.2008

La odisea cotidiana de dos niños malayos en Cines del Sur

fotografia
 

Having lost their mother, two boys and their complicated life, with a father addicted to work and negligent with his sons, are the protagonists of Flower in the Pocket, first of the two films that today are presented in the Official Section of the competition of the Cines del Sur Festival. Several Asian films have treated in the last few years this theme of fractured families, “although no film does it with the subtlety of this Malaysian film,” according to Mirito Torreriro, one of the programmers of the Festival.

 

“The movie is called ‘Flower in the Pocket’ because it relates with an Asian Mother’s Day custom,” said the director of the film, Liew Seng Tat, in a press conference preceding the showing. “In our culture, the color red of a flower signifies a tribute to the living mother, and the color white homage to the dead mother. The title wants to reflect a delicate flower, strange, that symbolizes the dead mother: in the movie we don’t see any flower in order to reflect the maternal absence.” For this filmmaker, author of various short films, “to work with children brings me a lot of experience, and enriches me. The important thing is not that you should be a better or worse director, rather to choose the children well. The director and all of the technical and artistic team have adapted ourselves to the children, to such an extreme that many of the toys that are seen in the movie or the furnishings of the house where the film develops, are the real dwellings of the little protagonists. 

 

One of them, nine year old Zi Jiang Wong, has come to Granada in order to be present at the showing of the film at Cines del Sur. “It happened in a large shooting,” the young one confessed, and when asked if he plans to continue in the world of cinema he responded, “Absolutely. I want to be a star,” and in fact already has starred in various publicity campaigns in his home country, while other directors have showed interest in his acting.  With respect to his grand rapport with the other boy protagonist he admits that he achieved it “thinking that we were truly brothers.”

 

The film, which also subtly reflects about the multiracial character of Malaysia, is shot in a digital format “fundamentally for economy’s sake,” recognizes its director. Another new and prominent Malay director, James Lee, participates in the film as an actor, in a habitual collaboration between the independent filmmakers of the country, “because since we don’t have the money, we need to resort to other means, since our common goal is always to film. We help each other mutually, and it is a collective force that reflects the common goals we have.” About ‘Flower in the Pocket’ he says “that everything was very much planned, was shot in 30 days, and had very clear objectives as well. In this comparison between the world of children and that of adults, it is clearly seen that the children are more flexible, more open, and do not have problems with the color of the others’ skin. The adults are more inflexible.”