The Icing on the Cake

I have taken an interest in the films selected for the Cross-Strait cum Hong Kong and Macao College Student FilmFestival at Cinematheque.Passion. I enjoy the films partly because they satisfy my curiosity about the skills of young directors still in the infancy of their exploration into the filmmaking world. My greatest pleasure, however, is attending the post screening talk. To a certain extent, I find it identical with a class in the Film Critics Program, from which I have derived so much joy and satisfaction.

Guided by the host, each individual director shares about his/her experience of film production and the message he/she wants the film to deliver. And there is inevitably discussion about some techniques used. To my great satisfaction, some of the techniques mentioned happen to be those I focused on while watching the film. On the other hand, I also get happily inspired by some details I have left out.

The interaction between the guest speakers and the audience is a great highlight, too. It reminds me of the Q & A session of the Film Critics class. But this time, instead of our lecturer explaining the techniques, it is the director talking about his own movie. As mentioned previously, questions usually arise on my mind while watching a film or afterwards. What can be more delightful than having the questions answered by the director himself?

During the talk after the movie “The Premise”, I asked a question about its Chinese name “Egg Wash”. In his answer, the director explained that the expression “egg wash” referred to a deliberate explosion in protest against an unfavourable condition. In the movie, people throw eggs at a farmer’s window in an attempt to make him agree to sell his farm. And the director’s mentor, who was among the audience, further explained the implication of the expression, referring even to its relation to democratic movements. This is a detail we audience may not have expected to learn from the movie.

I was particularly impressed by the director of a Hong Kong film named “Bomb of Love”. The pretty young girl’s sharing clarified some of my doubt about the film. Then a lady beside me raised questions about a few shots used. Obviously a director herself, she spoke so fast in PuTong Hua that I could not figure out what it was that she wanted to know. But seemingly without much thinking, the director responded to the questions fluently, also in PuTong Hua. I marveled at how the young girl took the challenging questions in stride. 

That is why I enjoy the post screening talks so much. In my opinion, while a well presented movie is already an art of self-expression, the director’s interaction with the audience is the icing on the cake.