Seeds planted in first TropFest Southeast Asia

TWO CAMBODIANS won the top prizes in the first TropFest Southeast Asia, held last weekend in Penang, Malaysia.
Sothea Ines, 24, took first prize for “Rice”. The first-time filmmaker’s seven-minute short was in the style of a clattering silent black-and-white film, with spare traditional flute music as a soundtrack. It told the story of boys in a Khmer Rouge camp who hoard rice, grain by tiny grain, in order to have a big feast and stave off starvation.
“Rice” took its title from the TropFest SEA “signature item”, which all entries had to include, in order to prove they were made specifically for the short-film contest.
The first runner-up was Polen Ly’s “Duetto”, about a young classical violinist in Phnom Penh who loses her left arm. After struggling to figure out how to play again, she meets a young man – a guitarist who’s lost his right arm.
Second runner-up went to a Malaysian entry, “The Last Flight” by Ezequial Paolinelli. A combination of live action and animation, it depicted a boy who never leaves his room, and whose only means of experiencing the outside world is his pencil drawing of a bird, which becomes animated.
There was one Thai entry, “Rice Border Love” by Supawit Buaket. Set in the South, it told the romantic story of a young man trying to get the attention of a Singaporean girl at his school. Too shy to speak with her, he prepares a different rice dish for her every day.
Half of the 12 finalist entries were from Malaysia. “We Need to Break Up” by Bradley Liew had a young woman getting relationship advice from her adorably foul-mouthed four-year-old niece. “The Strange Detective” by Chan Kean Wah was strange indeed, depicting an eccentric policeman who solves cases by stirring uncooked rice in a bowl. “Grateful Moment” by Sean Kook was another animated effort, in which a small bag of rice follows a girl home and then animates itself in various shapes and colours. Yihwen Chen’s darkly comic “Chicken” had a woman sharing a meal with a boiled chicken, its bleached head still attached. “Congee” by Tan Chee Meng and Charlotte Lam took a serious turn, addressing the problems of rape and Malaysia’s laws against abortion.
A third Cambodian entry, “Laek” by Mony Kann Darung, dealt with trust among different classes in its story of a stern matron who suspects her maid has stolen her prized pearl necklace.
There were also two entries from the Philippines. “Moth in Twilight” by JE Tiglao had a 90-year-old widow – Philippines’ screen doyenne Anita Linda – taking delivery of a coffin and awaiting her death. And “Surprice” by Emmanuel Escalona Jr was a music video in which all the sounds were made by rice.
Top-prize-winner Sothea receives US$10,000 and a five-day immersion trip to Los Angeles, sponsored by Hollywood’s Motion Picture Association. Runner-up prizes to Polen and Paolinelli are all-expenses paid trips to TropFest Sydney and TropFest Arabia, respectively.
The panel of judges comprised Oscar-winning Australian stop-motion animator Adam Elliot (“Harvie Krumpet”, “Mary and Max”), Australian director Robert Luketic (“Legally Blonde”, “Monster-in-Law”), Singaporean director Glen Goei, Malaysian actress Sharifah Amani and Roger Garcia, director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.
The festival, held at George Town’s Esplanade, had around 4,000 attendees.
John Polson, the founder and director of TropFest, announced in a pre-recorded clip from New York that the next year’s TropFest SEA “signature item” will be “wheel”.
The Southeast Asia edition of TropFest is an expansion from the original Australian contest, which has been held annually in Sydney since 1992. Other editions include the US, Abu Dhabi and New Zealand.

WATCH AND VOTE
There’s still a chance to see the TropFest SEA shorts and vote on them in the Audience Choice Award.
The voting runs until February 9 at Viddsee.com/tropfestsea.
The winner of the audience vote will receive US$500 and a luxury cruise to Krabi, sponsored by Star Cruises.
For more details, visit TropFest.com/sea.