With the great changes happening in electronic applications and networks, most things are, by definition, going through a transition. This is true for the film industry as well, not least in how movies are funded: it is currently still using the conventional studio financing method.
But over the next decade or two, we should see more adventurous film funding ways becoming mainstream. Crowdfunding, for one, is a method that’s been picking up speed lately, with films like Rob Thomas’s Veronica Mars and Zach Braff’s Wish I Was Here being produced through global crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.
And the latest to employ this rather novel way of making movies is none other than renowned cinematographer Christopher Doyle, of Chungking Express, In the Mood for Love and 2046 fame. Together with artist and upcoming director Jenny Suen, they are reaching out to the public to help fund their project, Hong Kong Trilogy: Preschooled Preoccupied Preposterous – a three-part film which is a reflection of the people and culture of Hong Kong in today’s turbulent times. We all still remember the city’s recent Umbrella Movement, a pro-democracy political movement that faced a harsh crackdown from the government.
The film encompasses three generations of Hong Kong: children (Preschooled), the young (Preoccupied) and the old (Preposterous). We speak to Doyle and Suen about the project, among other things, and why Malaysians might do well to pay attention.
