Lorna Tee (producer) and James Lee (director) from Malaysia
“How far would you go for love?” asked Lorna Tee in Locarno, where she presented her project “The Dog Man Chronicles” at the OPEN DOORS pitch. Directed by James Lee, one of the so-called “First Generation” of filmmakers in Malaysia, the story of “The Dog Man Chronicles” tells a modern day fairy tale about the unanswered love of the protagonist Wong Yew Fai who rides the crest of a wave both personal and professional: He is a about to marry his childhood love Jackie and got a promotion as a supervisor. His “perfect” life seems to be up-side-down after he awakes being in the weird situation of being transformed into a dog man with a head like a dog while his body remained human. He can still understand the world around him, but as a result of the lack of the ability to speak, this world falls apart day by day: his fiancé Jackie leaves him, he got fired and his familiar surroundings treats him like a freak of nature.
“The Dog Man Chronicles is about the alienation and solitariness of individuals in society. It´s a romantic and fictional movie about superficiality of society and the longing for love and recognition”, tells Lorna Tee, currently Marketing and Distribution Manager for Focus Films in Hong Kong. Tee is widely known in the Asian film and art scene due to her energetic dedication in producing, promoting and marketing movies of emerging filmmakers in Asia through Focus:First Cuts funded by Focus Films and headed by Andy Lau. All First-Cuts films are shot on High Definition technology and in Chinese Language, but the six directors from throughout Southeast Asia colour their films with their origin, presumptions and education to mirror today´s multi-ethnic societies with all their intercultural differences and contradictions.
James Lee aims to detect the limitations of society in this docu-drama which he intends to be a mix of documentary and narrative fiction. Lee has directed award-winning features such as “The Beautiful Washing Machine” in 2004, produced by Lorna Tee and founded his own production company Doghouse73 Pictures in Malaysia. He produced Amir Muhammed´s awarded documentary “The Big Durian” (2003) and Ho Yutang´s “Sanctuary” (2004).
“Malaysia is a fragmented society and so is the film scene”, adds Lorna Tee who is a partner in Paperheart Limited, a Malasia-based production company and produced Ho Yuhang´s “Rain Dogs”, “but this condition at the same time is its potential”.
VY 2006