SFS at the Picturehouse: "Respire", "Rain Dogs" & Q&A with Ho Yuhang

1 July 2006 marked the SFS's first event at Cathay's resurrected The Picturehouse. I couldn't think of a better place to screen Saturday's lineup btw. Cathay-Keris's heritage is rooted in Malayan, then Malaysian and Singaporean, film, and Cathay in Singapore was one of the first commercial operators to screen non-mainstream stuff. But all that's for another post.

First was Ho Wi-ding's short film Respire. This won Best Short Film during International Critic's Week at Cannes in 2005.

(Interview with Ho at All Malaysia.info: Masking Triumph)

Next was an exclusive screening of the rough-cut of Ho Yuhang's latest film Rain Dogs. Funded by Focus Films as part of its First Cuts program.

Ho Wi-ding couldn't make it for the Q&A afterwards, so Ho Yuhang had the mike to himself.


If you haven't met Ho, he's a very affable person. No airs at all, down-to-earth in his speech and demeanor.

-- The editor for Rain Dogs is Liao Ching-Sung, who edited Hou Hsiao-Hsien's early work.

-- He's most comfortable writing about what he's personally experienced in his life so far. That's why all his stories have been set in Malaysia. But he's also spent some time in Iowa, so he's not ruling out a story set there.

Cinema Online on Rain Dogs

Focus Films: Rain Dogs