It finally happened! "The Elephant And The Sea" finally had its Malaysian Premiere at the Curve Cathay Cineplex this morning to a crowd of press, friends and family.
And I just got back in time for it! Many thanks to Edmund and the three-muskateers-interns for their hard work, and also to the people of Da Huang pictures for helping out!
After traveling to some 30 festivals or more, it's finally coming home. It's a great joy for me on a personal level to see the film finally hitting the theaters. Even if we don't do the business of films like Transformers or Dark Knight, I won't be disappointed... hehe. As I said, having it screened in Malaysia was one of the goals I had while making this film, so I was really happy today. And this is genuine happiness, which is rare. This is like having that realization that you're in love with someone, and there's that possibility that that someone loves you back. You're not totally sure, but it doesn't matter, because you're in love with her. or him. And it is this knowledge that makes you happy, as I am happy now. In this cynical world, I'm glad that I'm constantly falling in love. It's a great feeling.
And it was great seeing the old gang again. Berg, Meng Hui, Chung Kok Keong, Liang the cinematographer, Gan Hui Yee our PM/all purpose person. Having everyone together again and catching up is one of those things that just makes me feel that everything we've done, all the obstacles we've been through, they've all been worth it.
I felt like we had some sort of big family reunion. I mean, even if we haven't really been complete strangers all this while, an event like this, it makes your heart kinda fuzzy and I'm just glad that we're all friends and we're still together. Sometimes when you make difficult films, friendships are lost, and the bitterness lingers. I'm glad that did not happen. We were tight throughout the film, and we're tight now.
When I look back, it's been almost 2 years, this journey of The Elephant and The Sea. The journey's almost over, but hell, we've had a great ride. I'm up for the next one, for sure!
The film comes out on August 21! Only at Cathay Cineplex! I saw the malaysian edit with Edmund's additional music and I must say I was happy with the new cut. It's quicker paced, and generally very audience friendly. I am pretty confident the public will enjoy it, whether they are used to art films or not.
For the rest of you, I hope you'll take the time to find out!
Love and Kisses,
Ming Jin
