One Ton Q and A

An informal One Ton Q&A...


1. How did the stories come about?

One Ton Cinema is about originating content so this story and others that we will work on following Armful, is out of our own conception and development sessions.

We have a Mantra that we firmly believe in - Story and Idea. First and Always. If it's truly brilliant, it will convert. We develop our stories, ideas and projects with this Mantra in mind and in will.

2. At what stage of production are the One Ton projects and what is needed to move forward?

We're still in development stages at the moment. Pre-production will take place closer to production and we're finalising production details right now for our first project.

The people we have chosen to work with and others that will eventually come on board will be because they are passionate, believe in and subscribe to the vision and potential of our projects. We've got partial funding. We're looking for a bit more and more of the people described above to move forward at the moment.

And at the later stages, we need audience participation to move beyond.

3. What can you tell us about the vision and hopes for the projects?

Our vision for each project is detailed if we got into it, but in simple and summarised terms... something new, exciting, entertaining and engaging - originated, designed and produced in Asia.

Our hopes for the projects are even simpler... We want to make good films, work with the best people who are like-minded and passionate and finally, to have as many people here and everywhere else watch, enjoy and be engaged by what we've conceived and produced.

4. Is funding the biggest problem?

Funding is a hurdle and an inevitable stage of project development, so therefore, not necessarily viewed as a problem. But we can ultimately do with more source options and choices. Especially on home turf.

5. What has One Ton previously done before in terms of production and how did the company come about?

One Ton Cinema is a new company and Armful will be our first production. One Ton is a spin-off of Spoon. Spoon is a boutique creative agency that works on commissioned branding, design and advertising projects.

Michel Gondry's Science of Sleep

The Magnificent Michel Gondry has a new film out called "Science of Sleep". Check out some amazing first footage here.

Gondry's reel is super impressive and includes films - Block Party, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (a favourite of many), Human Nature - as well as music videos for The Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack and Björk.

Top 10 Strangest Lego Creations

Top 10 Strangest and Geekishly Cool Lego Creations on the Tech Blog. Includes Lego iPod case, Han Solo frozen in Carbonite, knitting machine and air conditioner.

Play: Temasek Design Show 2006

Organised by: Temasek Polytechnic

Date: 31 March 2006 - 02 April 2006
Time: 10:00 AM
Venue: National Library, The Plaza, 100 Victoria Street
Locality: Singapore
Weblink: www-des.tp.edu.sg/

Play is irrepressible and irresistible! This exhibition showcases fresh, innovative ideas in communication, media, products, apparel, and interiors, by Final Year Design students from Temasek Design School. See how they play to explode the contemporary creative scene. In addition, get engaged in fun design and creativity workshops with students, staff and alumni members of Singapore’s premier design school. For programme updates, please visit our website - www-des.tp.edu.sg/. For workshop registration, email your name and contact to deshotline@tp.edu.sg or call 6780-5133. Seats are limited.

Wisit Sasanatieng talks ARMFUL

Singapore, 7th March 2006 - Thai New Wave Director Wisit Sasanatieng talks about Armful, his new feature film project produced by One Ton Cinema.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

This will be the first time ever I’ll be directing a film from abroad. The film is in a language that I don’t speak so I am nervous but curious at the same time.

However, there are a couple of things that engaged me about Armful.

Firstly, the script presents, potentially, a new genre of martial arts and action - one that I think I’ve never seen before. It will allow me to create something new, very new!

Armful also has elements and themes that will let me pay homage to classic wuxia films from the seventies era - which are amongst my all time favorites.

Lastly and most importantly.

It’s because of what the producer said to me “This is not a Thai, Chinese or Singaporean film. It is a South East Asian film. One that will show, collectively, who we are to the world.”

Very exciting!

Wisit SASANATIENG

For production updates, please visit the official website at www.Armfulmovie.com

DOWNLOAD DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT IN PDF FORMAT

Thai New Wave director Wisit Sasanatieng to direct Armful, a South East Asian film produced by One Ton Cinema

ONE TON CINEMA NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Singapore, 5th March 2006 – Singapore-based One Ton Cinema announced today that Thai New Wave director Wisit Sasanatieng will be directing their debut feature film project Armful, a stylised tragicomedy set in 1970s South East Asia. Armful marks Wisit Sasanatieng’s first Chinese language project.

Wisit’s directorial debut in 2000 was the genre-blending Tears of the Black Tiger (Fa Talai Jone), the first Thai film to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in Un Certain Regard. A colourful homage to classic Thai cinema and spaghetti Westerns, the film also won the Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema at the 2000 Vancouver International Film Festival. His second film was Citizen Dog (Mah Nakorn) (2004), a contemporary romantic comedy set in Bangkok. The film’s surreal palette and fantastical characters have drawn comparisons to Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amelie. The two films were picked up for distribution by Miramax and Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp respectively.

Wisit entered the film industry as a screenwriter for two of Nonzee Nimibutr’s films, 1950’s gangster flick Dang Bireley and the Young Gangsters (2499 Antapan Krong Muang) (1997) and the ghost thriller Nang Nak (1999). Both films were critical and box office successes and marked the beginning of a “new wave” movement in the Thai film industry.

“We are very excited to have one of the most talented directors and colourful visionaries in the region working on our first feature film.” said producer and One Ton Cinema’s creative director Kevin WY Lee. “Armful is an ambitious project so we’re absolutely thrilled that Wisit, the sifu of surrealism, will be the one to realise it. We are currently working on the second draft of the script with Wisit and look forward to telling a great story with him. We’re also casting our net near and far now to get the best team on board, including cast, crew and production partners.”

“Coming from similar creative backgrounds, we all clicked immediately on sensibilities.” said co-producer Ronnie Lee, also of One Ton Cinema. “And Thailand and Singapore have much in common beyond just geography so it was a perfect fit.”

Armful tells the revenge tale of a failed paper merchant who loses one arm, a fact Wisit muses since the protagonist in his previous film Citizen Dog lost a finger.

Armful is scheduled for release in 2007.

For production updates, please visit the official website at www.Armfulmovie.com

DOWNLOAD PRESS RELEASE IN PDF FORMAT

For further information, please contact:

Kevin WY Lee
Producer
armful@onetoncinema.com

ONE TON CINEMA
15B TEMPLE STREET #03-01
SINGAPORE 058562
TEL: (65) 6323 4660
FAX: (65) 6323 2664
WEB: www.onetoncinema.com
EMAIL: one@onetoncinema.com


ABOUT ONE TON CINEMA

One Ton Cinema is a new Asian content creation company and spin-off from Spoon, an award-winning boutique creative agency based in Singapore. One Ton Cinema is dedicated to producing fresh, unique and engaging content in Asia for international audiences. This includes originating and sourcing ideas and scripts with potent appeal and successfully developing them to fruition, in the form of film, television, print/electronic publications or interactive/new media projects.

One Ton Cinema is currently developing a slate of feature film projects. Its debut project Armful is scheduled for release in 2007.

Coca-Cola Co. : Making every drop count

You've always known them as Coca-Cola, the soft drink.
Now It's time you knew them as Coca-Cola the company.
And the best way to do that is one drop at a time.
Because drops are what we're ultimately made of.
And in everything we do, we give up drops of ourselves.
So they want to give us drops back.

What do you think of Coca-Cola's (the company, not soft drink) new branding and positioning statements?

Should they keep it or drop it?

The Amazing Race Asia

The first ever Asian edition of the US Emmy award-winning hit The Amazing Race is up and running (pardon the pun). Application deadline closes on the 15th March 2006 so you still have 2 weeks left to get in there. Although the Asia prize money (100K) pales in comparison to it's US counterpart (US1Million), AXN Asia must be applauded for this brave experiment in geography, audience and border-bending entertainment.

We can only hope it's a success as this will lead to even more bigger and better border-bending productions in Asia. And not necessarily just limited to television entertainment.

A curious point to note though is that 'Asia' excludes Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Middle East. Hmm... New Zealand we can understand. It was never included to begin with. But Australia? The prodigal son of Asia? And no Japan? But the Japanese make compelling television! We must have them! Ratings. Ratings. Ratings!

Check out the Amazing Race Asia website for more details.

The Picturehouse Returns

Singapore's favourite and only art house cinema nostalgia - The Picturehouse - returns with an opening festival, funky suede 'Oscar" chairs and a T-shirt Design competition from 24th March to 29th March 2006.

A Brief History of The Picturehouse

The Picturehouse was originally launched in 1990, at a time when film goers were exposed only to mainstream commercial films. Early independent films like Pulp Fiction, The Wedding Banquet, La Femme Nikita and Cinema Paradiso were all screened exclusively at The Picturehouse, and many Singaporeans remember experiencing their first foreign and arthouse titles there.

The original Picturehouse cinema was a stand-alone hall with one screen and 220 seats, located next to the historic Cathay Building. Gazetted as a heritage site in Singapore, The Cathay Building was the country’s first skyscraper when it opened in 1939. The Picturehouse was eventually shut down in 2000, when the whole building complex was marked for renovations.

Check out The Picturehouse website for more details.

Plug: + T R U S T +

TRUSTMUSEUM.COM

"'Trust' has never been a more relevant concept then it is today with the volatile state of political affairs that has come to affect everyone from the ground up. We live in a society that treats an unattended bag as a very dangerous item as opposed to an innocuous object someone might have left behind. We now live in a very alert state, and with that, we lose a semblance of trust, or do we?"

Interpreting the notion of 'Trust'... curated by Laid-back Lawler (Steve)

Thai TVC Brilliance

Check out some brilliantly humorous television commercials from some of Thailand's leading tv commercials directors (including Wisit Sasanatieng & Pen-ek Ratanaruang) and production company on The Film Factory Website.