The Real Shaolin

Hi Blog,

One of the projects, which I worked on and that I've had to keep mum about for the past year and half, is called THE REAL SHAOLIN. It's a documentary that I co-wrote with the director Alexander Sebastien Lee about Shaolin Kung Fu and the allure/mystic that surrounds it. It's a real labor of love by Lee who spent a lot of time, energy and money over the past four (actually almost 5) years making it. We had a great time working together on it and more importantly a good friendship was forged out of it.

So why do I mention it now? That's because THE REAL SHAOLIN's world premier will be at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival!

Here's Toronto's Press release:

7/29/2008| TIFF Documentaries Explore Worlds Of Youssou Ndour, Valentino, Lebron James, Jimmy Page, Agnès Varda, Eco-Warriors, '68 Rebels, Swingers And More!

Toronto - The Toronto International Film Festival announces 26 documentaries to screen in various programmes as part of TIFF08. One documentary will screen in Mavericks, two will screen as Special Presentations, one as a Masters title, and 22 as part of Real to Reel, showcasing the finest in non-fiction cinema from around the world. Highlights include a look at a fashion master in Valentino: The Last Emperor and a self-portrait of French auteur Agnès Varda in Les Plages d'Agnès. Guitar heroes Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White are profiled in It Might Get Loud. Two films, Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love and Soul Power, explore the musical exchange between Africa and abroad. Three films examine crusading eco-warriors - controversial Canadian activist Paul Watson in At the Edge of the World, authors Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan in Food, Inc. and Native Americans of the Hoopa tribe in Upstream Battle. Two films revisit cases of injustice - from the courtrooms of California in Witch Hunt to a tarnished legacy in Israel in Killing Kasztner. Several films intersect with various sports, including kung fu masters in The Real Shaolin and LeBron James's high school basketball team in More Than a Game. Two films have the backdrop of Ivy League schools in the tumultuous year of 1968, with Tommy Lee Jones playing college football in Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 and student strikers at Columbia University in A Time to Stir. Not to mention the sexual revolution uncovered in American Swing.

"Documentary-making continues to flourish," says Thom Powers, Documentary and Mavericks Programmer. "Every year there are more films that command the big screen. There has been a short-sighted focus on the recent lack of a documentary blockbuster. In the larger picture, more docs are getting funded and released theatrically than ever before."

Now live at tiff08.ca/blogs, the Festival's Doc Blog returns to offer visitors all of the exciting details and comprehensive information surrounding this year's inspired non-fiction films, and will feature contributions from programmers and filmmakers alike. Ticket packages now on sale. Purchase online at tiff08.ca, by phone at 416-968-FILM or 1-877-968-FILM or in person at the Festival Box Office at Manulife Centre, 55 Bloor Street West (main floor, north entrance). Box Office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The 33rd Toronto International Film Festival runs September 4 through 13, 2008.

And here's a link to THE REAL SHAOLIN's webpage. It's kind of slow loading and a bit out of date, but I think that'll be rectified soon. There's more to tell, but I'll save it all for a later date!

I'm very happy about this!!

Opinion: Yasukuni Doc Should be Leaked onto the Internet

Hi Blog,

Recently, it seems like every day-- multiple times of day, even-- when I hit my usual news sites and clear out my RSS reader, there are more and more articles about the whirlpool of controversy and bullshit engulfing Li Ying's YASUKUNI documentary.

I have to say, that those conservatives who are handicapping the release of this film and are stifling the very right to free speech and expression in Japan are in violation of the basic freedoms guaranteed under Article 21 of the Japanese consitution:

Article 21.Freedom of assembly and association as well as speech, press and all other forms of expression are guaranteed.
(2) No censorship shall be maintained, nor shall the secrecy of any means of communication be violated. (Link.)

My anger surrounding this has everything to do with my belief that if the pro-censorship nationalists and conservatives win here, then I believe that Japan's constitution, and by proxy, the social freedoms it guarantees will be severely compromised.

But I have a simple solution to this problem. Argo pictures should just eat the loss and leak the film to the Internet-- once the genie's out of the bottle the enemies of this film can stew in it. I say, put it up on YouTube in sections; let people download it via Bittorrent; put it up on iTunes and charge for it! Hell, there's NO need to even do subtitles, let translators around the world do it for you.

The point is, the film can't be resigned to a traditional death and burial at the hands of those who have an agenda antithetical to the will of the country and the people. It's that simple. That's my unsolicited opinion.

Link.
Yet another link.

Yasukuni

Hi Blog,

I haven't had any time to write about the documentary YASUKUNI, by Japan based Chinese ex-pat Li Ying, and the controversy that is swarming around it but fortunately people who are much smarter and more articulate than me have!

Because I think this is important, I'm including a link to a great article about the film, that also includes an interview with Li Ying. The link can be found below.

In the meantime, here's what you need to know:

• There's a major freedom of speech issue that has developed as a result of this documentary. Nationalists and conservatives both within and outside of the LDP have decried the film as a Chinese campaign to discredit Japan, and by proxy, the Emperor.
• At issue: Movie theaters around Japan that had agreed to screen the film have backed out at the last minute citing safety and security issues that might arise out of the inevitable [violent?] protests by Japanese nationalists.
• Defenders of the film and those who believe in the constitutional right to free expression claim that it is a well orchestrated campaign by conservative LDP leaders in cahoots with nationalist groups (that act as their strong arms) to stifle diverse and free expression in Japan. Critics claim that it represents an abuse of public arts funds to support what they believe to be essentially anti-Japanese film.
• What the real issue is: Freedom of expression in Japan. With recent political trends there are questions about whether basic civil liberties are being compromised -- or destroyed -- in Japan by members of the LDP... Certainly things there have become much more difficult recently for foreign nationals.

At any rate, at the Japan Focus e-journal David McNeill and John Junkerman have assembled a very good article and interview with Li Ying about the documentary YASUKUNI and the issues surrounding it. It is recommended reading. Link.