Asian mobifilms go to town

No, I’m not Korean," I told the cute Thai guy talking to me near the Immigration counter at the new, mammoth international airport in Bangkok. He was looking at my medium-blonde hair and must have thought I came from Seoul. "And I am not Japanese either," I told the nice lady at the Holiday Inn later, who asked me for my surname.

I went to Bangkok on a whirlwind trip to attend the Mobile Filmmakers 2006 Awards sponsored by Discovery Networks Asia and Nokia. I just spent four days in Bali to attend a conference of scholars on Asian Studies, stayed in Manila for a day, and then flew to Bangkok the next day. I returned to Manila with a storehouse of images – short, concise, yet vivid images captured in the powerful multimedia computer of the Nokia N93 cellular phone.

Hardiyan Digwiyono of Indonesia walked away with the grand prize of $10,000 and a three-month stint with Discovery Networks Asia for his mobifilm, Children in the Hot Mud Volcanoes. I was sitting beside Hardiyan when his name was announced as the winner. Immediately, he leapt to his feet, yelped an anguished "Oh, my God!" then bowed down and prayed briefly. In near tears, Hardiyan thanked his people, his parents, and the great and merciful Allah for the gift of clarity that pushed him to make his short film.

Of his mobifilm, Hardiyan said: "I wanted to show one of Indonesia’s natural disasters – hot mud volcanoes, caused mainly by mine exploration and human failure. Four villages and 19 factories have been submerged in a sea of mud. I tried to expose the impact of this disaster on children, showing a before-and-after perspective. My father suggested that I make a mobifilm about this disaster that happened about 200 kilometers from where I live."

Hardiyan’s short film has the quiet but gritty realism of a documentary. He contrasts the luxuriant beauty of Indonesia’s greenery with harrowing scenes of devastation – and the children who, in the end, are the most painful victims of any calamity. The color green cools the eye, and then comes a wash of yellow, followed by the red that seems to clot around the screen, like blood. This young Indonesian film maker’s work is set squarely within the tradition of social realism that runs deeply in the aesthetics of Indonesian art.

True to form, Hardiyan is donating some of his prize money to the victims of the hot mud volcanoes. Then he plans to take a short course in cinematography to sharpen his eye, and the rest he will save.

The People’s Choice Award went to Tushar Joshi of India, who won $3,000. The winner was chosen by the public, who sent their votes online or via the Mobile Filmmakers Gallery on compatible Nokia phones. Tushar went onstage and – in a gesture worthy of a clip in a Bollywood movie – kissed his mobile phone and delivered a flawless speech. Trust the Indians who – along with the Filipinos – are the only Asians born with tongues of honey who could turn a moment into a magical flow of words.

I was amazed at Tushar’s mobifilm. The music, composed by Bhanu Dhande and sung by Shirish Pratap, floated above the serene images – the majestic Ganges where both holy men and ordinary people have bathed since ancient times. Then his camera – that square, tiny thing in his mobile phone – showed ripples of water and temples of stone, many monuments and gods in different forms. Blue and green and silver mesh and form, ending with this line: "A glimpse of divinity in every form of life."

Later, I asked Tushar if he had seen the works of Satjayit Ray, and he sheepishly answered, "I have. Do they show in my mobifilm?" I just smiled and said, "A bit," especially in the scenes of the Ganges River.

Bob Calabritto of Bali, Indonesia, won for Best Visualization. Bob, who runs a restaurant called Soho (yes!) in Bali, was dismayed when he found out that I spent most of my time in Denpasar a few days ago. "You should have left that sleepy town and gone to Kuta." I just shrugged and said, "Next time." Then I asked him how he managed that transition shot from the first to the second scene. Bob’s mobifilm is clever and wicked. It starts with a guy trapped in traffic, then it magically transforms into a scene of what looked like kites on boats. Or are they boats on kites?

Bob laughed, then said he took a top shot of a boat whose wooden designs where whittled down into the form of kites. Images of freedom, then, from the metal trap of a car into the boundless openness of the sea. It ends with the guy back in the car, startled awake by the incessant honking of the cars behind him.

Shane Bunnag of Thailand won for Best Editing. His mobifilm is called Bangkok is Sinking. Shane’s film had the most fluid visuals, indeed. He showed how the silted canals of Bangkok, and the river that borders it, are making the City of Angels sink deeper into the mud. Free from the clichés of some environmental activist’s dead imagination, Shane also focuses on water – a globule here, a cascade there, falling down the roof, and then tumbling down a flyover, straight onto the already wet heads of a homeless person.

"Urban planning should also consider the architectural patterns of old Thai houses," Shane told me. I noticed a faint Scottish accent somewhere, and asked him where he went to school. "Glasgow Uni," he answered. "My mom is Irish and I studied in Scotland." Just then, Shane’s Thai father came over and asked me why I also had a faint Scottish accent and I said, err, uh, that was ages ago, but I went to school at Stirling University, in Scotland. But his Dad had to leave for an engagement somewhere, congratulated his son and kissed him proudly on the cheek.

Alfred Hitchcock is Shane’s favorite filmmaker. "Hitchcock not only straddled the silent and sound periods of film, creating his own sub-genre, but he also managed to merge elegant artistry with a commercial touch. His films can be dark and disturbing, revealing sinister currents behind everyday circumstances, but they are almost always full of humor. In addition to crafting incredible stories with excellent dialogue, he also drew many of his own storyboards. Thus, Hitchcock was a true pop artist."

Vikram Channa, vice president of production and development, Discovery Networks Asia, said "the higher number of entries received (2,000 entries whittled down to 14 finalists) and the quality of the submissions shows that the momentum and excitement of the first Mobile Filmmakers Initiative has carried over to this year, and the concept of mobile filmmaking has appealed to a wide range of users – from the general public to seasoned professionals alike. Discovery is committed to helping develop talent in the region and we are certain that through initiatives such as the Mobile Filmmakers Awards, we will discover more budding filmmakers in Asia."

For his part, Jawahar Kanjilal, director, multimedia experiences of Nokia Multimedia Asia Pacific, said: "Technology as an enabler is clearly showcased in this initiative, and the finalists have shown what one can do with a powerful multimedia computer like the Nokia 93, which comes with optics from Carl Zeiss, and features that are similar to, if not better than, traditional digital cameras and camcorders. Already today, camera phones outsell traditional digital cameras and camcorders by 400 percent. Also, convergence is not only about features but importantly, lifestyle-changing experiences. For example, the ability to connect and instantly upload images and videos to the Internet via a Nokia Nseries device enables consumes to share experiences that words cannot describe."

What, then, are the themes found in this year’s winners of the Mobile Filmmaking Awards?

Images of protest from Hardiyan’s hot mud volcanoes, with the lava seething as hot as the people’s anger over government slowness and incompetence. The same image is found in Shane’s work, but cool this time, shown in the water that floods Bangkok seasonally and which is caused by industrialization. The city denizen as an imp is found in Bob’s film, where the man trapped in the city goes home to memories of Bali Hai, while in the end, Tushar’s film shows us the ageless beauty of Hinduism, that worships 330 million gods in different forms. In Hinduism, life is not even mythic but cosmic – life is beyond alpha, and certainly beyond meta. And it goes on again and again, in an eternal cycle.

It is in these rhythms – of protest, or escape, of faith – that the wheels of contemporary Asia turn. That is why I will never leave this vast, colorful and complex continent where the world’s oldest civilizations began, and its newest images are formed. Truly, only in Asia.

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Danton Remoto may be reached at danton.lodestar@gmail.com