《悄逝的记忆1、2》在艺术之家的公映每场爆满，谢谢支持！Diminishing Memories I & II's public run at The Arts House has concluded, all screenings FULL HOUSE

 

 

Diminishing Memories II is travelling to Italy for its film festival tour at the VII Asian Film Festival of Rome, Italy (4th-11th July 2009). However, the filmmaker is most likely not travelling... :p hehe

《联合早报》1/2/09

 

虽在商业戏院上映 拍纪录片无法当全职

——纪录片导演翁燕萍

 

　　虽然近两年推出的剧情长片约30部，不过素质普遍不行，叫观众眼前一亮的反而是纪录片。

 

　　纪录片从早期陈彬彬一人的默默耕耘，已演变到去年《解放的三寸金莲》（Feet Unbound）、《鬼节》（Ghost Story）和《我为英狂》（Mad About English）商业性戏院上映；另外，缅怀林厝港的《悄逝的记忆I & II》(Diminishing Memories I & II)在艺术之家上映，以伊朗女子足球队为题材的《梦的面纱》也在新戏院上映。

 

纪录片思路难掌控

 

　　纪录片素质叫好，是因为工作团队小，制作成本低，内容比剧情片容易掌控？

 

　　《悄》导演翁燕萍受访时说：“未必，奥斯卡得奖纪录片《企鹅宝贝》（March Of The Penguins）花了很长时间拍摄，讲述环保的《不愿面对的真相》(An Inconvenient Truth)用了很多视觉特效，成本也不便宜。”

 

　　她认为，剧情片凭着剧本走，纪录片最难掌控的是思路：“虽有重点和大方向，但无法掌控受访者要说什么，有时候整个故事因此改变。纪录片导演是一边拍一边发展内容。有时要补拍，所以等到剪片才做结构并不稀奇。”

 

　　本地纪录片成本一般不超过50万元。翁燕萍坦承投资市场不成熟：“我们的社会对艺术领域缺乏价值概念，很多基金慷慨支持教育、医药，但对纪录片的支持很保留，往往会说没有资助的先例；即使是新加坡电影发展司，纪录片的资助是在‘短片’项目。”

 

　　谈到戏院对纪录片的支持，她说：“院商片商对纪录片的信心还是不够。”

 

　　另外，国际上纪录片节不多，纪录片要靠走影展引起片商注意以发行不容易。

 

本地拍摄绑手绑脚

 

　　翁燕萍说，拍纪录片无法当全职，她劝请有志从事纪录片的人，尽力找资源，不要耗尽自己的精神和钱，否则难走长远的路。

 

　　谈到本地拍纪录片会绑手绑脚吗？她说：“当然会啊！本地人有个怕的心态，但怕什么，自己不清楚。有争议性的题材，导演怕踩到地雷，人们不愿意受访，投资者不敢出钱。不过，精彩的纪录片题材，往往是富争议性。”

 

　　那本地纪录片能走到海外吗？她说：“承载的内容若广，就可以走出去。”

 

　　（文／李亦筠）

Hello Everyone!

Catch me in one of the segments on Channel U programme- "Love Singapore" at 9:30pm, 18th Feb 2009. The programme will be repeated on the same night at 11:30pm.  Thanks for your support! ;)

 

大家好！

想回顾及了解我对林厝港的情意结？请在2月18日晚上9:30pm观看优频道的《新加坡极爱极短篇》节目，我会在其中一个小节里出现。节目也将在当天晚上11:30pm重播。谢谢大家的支持！

Another childhood incident that happened in Lim Chu Kang. ;p

 

早报副刊：《四方八面》专栏

刊登日期：07/01/09

 

圣诞佳节，翻看礼品商业广告册子。发现一个熟悉的产品包装。是一个我好久都没见到的巧克力品牌。巧克力的大包装内有三大颜色的小包装。小包装里头包裹着的是三种不同口味的小型片状巧克力。分别是米色、褐色和深红色的。我已经二十多年没见到它了！

　　小时候过着乡村生活朴素、节俭的日子。农村小朋友可没有今天的小朋友那样，有那么多随手可得的汽水、糖果等。就因为没有那样的诱惑，糖果、巧克力的魅力对我们小孩子来讲却相对有着更大的吸引力。

　　一天，有人送了一盒巧克力给我们。为了不让我们毫无节制地把巧克力统统在几天内就吃光，母亲把那盒巧克力藏起来了。每当母亲分派巧克力时，都要我们把眼睛闭起来。其实，妈妈不知道我和哥哥有偷偷张开眼睛看。知道她就把巧克力收在她的双人床头的暗格里。我们没有因为知道真相而偷偷偷巧克力，因为我们知道这么做只会被识破，结局会更糟糕。所以我和哥哥就每天耐心地等待一天一片巧克力的日子。

　　每天只有一片小小的巧克力。如果我们其中一人不听话，那一天我们俩都没有巧克力吃了！所以我们要做乖孩子。因为稀少，所以珍贵。巧克力一拿到手后，我们并没有一手将它放进口里。我们把它握在手里。我们舍不得跟它分离，所以我们要把它握在手里带着它到处去。包括上厕所。

　　麻烦大了！巧克力掉进马桶了！哎哟！好可惜，怎么办？我的回忆却在这个时候就空白了。不记得我们是怎么“处理”掉进马桶的巧克力。只记得我和哥哥好不痛苦地在讨论，犹豫着应不应该跟妈妈说。告诉她后，她会不会补偿我们那个丢失掉的巧克力？还是会把我们痛骂一顿？又或者是，那天我们就算少吃一片巧克力好了？

　　有一点我很确定的是，我们没有被痛骂或痛打一顿。遗憾的是，我记不起这段有趣的童年小插曲有没有一个比较美丽的结束？我的记忆还停格在那片小小巧克力——那片连包装纸都还完好无损地包装着里头的巧克力的画面。它在蹲式冲水马桶里头，还没掉进马桶沟里的样子。

Diminishing Memories I & II earned me a nomination for The Singapore Women's Weekly "Great Women of Our Time" Award (Arts & Media category). Although I do not know who are the other nominees, I do not expect myself to win. This is simply because I thought I have much more to offer and I have only just started the journey.  Below is an article about my experience on the makeover photo shoot recently.:) I was very much being pampered!     

 

早报副刊：《四方八面》专栏

刊登日期：31/12/08

 

被某女性杂志推选为年度杰出女性奖。虽然知道自己只有陪衬的份，但是我还是很欣然地接受这项提名——因为好玩！为了这项提名，必须出外景拍摄一些形象照片。哇！原来我有专业的发型、化妆、服装及摄影师。加上服装、摄影助理跟杂志形象设计师一共七人组，比我拍纪录片的人数还要多！据说，这比新娘子拍结婚照还要隆重呢。

　　连个人化妆品都没有的我要把自己的脸蛋和头发交给专人了。好吧，就让它去吧。没有释放自己，又怎么会看见不同的自己？化妆师贴近我的脸跟我化妆时，我能感觉到她的呼吸，还有一股淡淡的烟草味。她的眼睛很大，眼形很美。我在想象她没有上妆的样子。我这一辈子都没修剪过我那有点儿男孩子气的粗大眉毛。我听见刀片在我眉下挥动的声音。每一个动作都那么地干脆利落，有点儿像武侠挥动武刀的那种大气。

　　好恐怖。看见自己脸上完整上完妆后的样子，我不太敢看镜子。感觉上真的有点儿夸张，颜色深得让我感到不好意思。不过我知道他们一定有分寸。我更知道拍摄外景照片的妆，肯定跟一般上街的妆不一样。我把自己交给他们。

　　一共要换三套衣服。我太瘦了，其中两套衣服都需要服装师帮我在衣服后面“做手脚”。用夹子和胶带固定住衣服，不让整件衣“掉下来”。那三套衣服都不是我平日，或者是隆重日会穿的衣服。以玩乐、勇于尝试的心情，我愿意穿上它们。风大，每拍完一两张照片，发型师就跑来给我喷一喷发形凝固剂、“修理”我顽固的发丝。一路上还有服装小妹帮我拿衣物、穿鞋、戴首饰。我的任务就只是听摄影师的指示，更换肢体动作，还有对着镜头笑。

　　青春期应该“发乔”（爱美）的时候我没有机会。因为满脸的青春痘，“青春”已经够逼人了。青春期后，又因为工作上的不需要，还有自己的个性使然，没有想要让自己“发乔”。看见妈妈看着我上了妆的脸，非常满意及欣赏的样子，再看见自己镜中眼睫毛往外翘，眉端细长的样子，眼神、轮廓真的居然也会因为化妆，而变得亮眼起来。有专人细心照顾的过程，让人有种独一无二被宠坏了的感觉。这份难得的经历，鼓动着我内心深处，原来也有点儿爱美的心理。

Everybody has a lost childhood and mine happened on the day I left Lim Chu Kang.  I will never forget those days spent in this lovely village, a farming village full of coconut and rubber trees.  I remember hearing the sound of rubber tree seeds hitting the ground making the “cracking sound” in a quiet afternoon.  My cousins and I would race to the rubber tree near our houses to look for those rubber tree seeds.  We collected them to make them our toys.  Such as rubbing the seeds against some solid surfaces to make them real ‘hot’ before we placed them on someone else’s skin to give them a shock! hehee :p And then we will play fighting games.  We would pick some tree sticks from the ground, straight ones, to be used as swords.  My brother and I would rehearse some fighting moves before we do it for real.  It was fun! J  He was normally the one who will win though. haha :p 

 

My father was the only wooden load lorry carrier carpenter in Lim Chu Kang.  He built wooden lorries for the farmers to transport animal feed in the area.  So mum would send us (my brother and I) to collect pieces of odd sizes wood from my dad’s workshop near our home.  I love doing so as I will be carrying a basket around, choosing and picking up woods that I like.  Mum will then ‘set fire’ to the woods that we collected to do her cookings and I always wondered why were there more than one colour in the flames?  There seemed to be some blue colour outlining the orange colour flame and it dances in the air like a wave!!

 

I do not remember studying much when I was in Lim Chu Kang. haha… maybe because I was only in primary one and two then but maybe because I really did play more than studying!  We have huge compound of our own at the sides, at the back and in front of our house.  My siblings, cousins and I love to cycle around in our own compound and when we couldn’t control our bicycles, we would drive them towards the bush and crash! It didn’t hurt much at all but bruises and scratches were always common.  Every time we fell down, we cried, stood up and then play again! 

 

Everyday, we looked forward to 2pm.  It was the time when a bread man would drive a huge red van past the road track just outside our compound.  My cousins, brother and I would run to the track that was connected to our house and we would wait.  We want to be the first one to spot the red van coming and the first one to open the ‘back door’ of his van.  The bread man did not only sell lots of bread but tibits and sweets! J  It was already an enjoyment to be able to look at those goodies even though we couldn’t have them.  Occasionally, mum would reward us by allowing us to buy some sweets from this bread man.    

 

We did not only play in the day but at night too!  Living in a village with huge area, we often organised gatherings and parties!  I particularly enjoyed the Moon Cake Festival as we would carry paper lanterns around lighted up by candles, and it was fun because it was really dark at night in the village.  The nights were so dark which made our walking trips even more exciting and yet scary.  We didn’t know what we would ‘run into’ as we couldn’t see very far.  However, the glow from the candles went a long way in guiding us home.  I see no more fun carrying lanterns in the HDB area today as the glow from the candles can never be as bright as those in the villages.  I started to appreciate those very dark and ‘scary’ nights.  In fact, I missed them.  :p

 

Anyway, during those days we didn’t have many toys.  But we have lots of bicycles in all shapes and sizes.  I had one that looked like a scooter and my brother had one that looked like a racing car. :p My brother’s ‘race car’ is still around today and it belongs to my nephew now.  Although time has changed, my nephew enjoys the ride as much as we did.

昨天经过克兰芝蓄水池，发现那里的所有游乐场已经统统被拆除掉。几乎不留痕迹地那样，不太容易被人发觉。我有发现是因为我知道它们的位置，所以我有意识地在寻找它们。于是，我看到地面上分布在不同位置的白白的沙，平坦的地面，就是曾经伫立各式旧游乐场的所在地。

 

真的不见了。我的童年游戏场，真的不见了。即刻在心理骂了一句三字经后，心想：“又是这班家伙！” 只是，我的心里一点都不觉得痛了。其实，我早有心理准备。前阵子在报章上看到报道说克兰芝蓄水池一带将被发展成一处休闲的地点，包括很多年以后，这个点将跟其他的人行走道连接上，成为可环岛走一圈的道路之一。我就知道。

 

童年游戏场早就不见了。这次真的不见了。我一点都不觉得伤痛。只是，那些被拆除的都是那些很旧式的游乐场，在新加坡已经很难找到了！为什么发展就一定要翻新？

 

I happened to pass by the Kranji Reservoir yesterday and realized all the playgrounds which used to stand there were all gone! Now, my childhood playgrounds were really gone.

 

You wouldn’t take noticed if you did not know there were playgrounds there before as it was not obvious.  I could spot it simply because I knew where the playgrounds were located exactly, and when I tried to spot them, I could only see some white-coloured sands on the very flat ground.  White patches of them here and there, exactly on where those old playgrounds used to stand.  Yes, those were the very old-style playgrounds which can hardly be found in Singapore nowadays. And they were all gone.

 

I wasn’t heart-broken but I couldn’t help but gave those “whoever” who did it a good scolding in my heart.  Although I was mentally prepared that one day, they will all be gone when I saw the media report on the master plan of turning Kranji Reservoir one of the spots where they could connect the human walk-ways to make it a full circle round Singapore.  A pretty cool concept I thought, but why does development always comes with a face-lift?

 

联合早报副刊-现在 （四方八面专栏）

 

作者：梁海彬（2008-11-21）http://www.zaobao.com/fk/fk081121_508.shtml

 

又是记忆。当然，片名已经说得很清楚了，《悄逝的记忆》是翁燕萍对于那一段已经不复存在的回忆的再现。去看那部片，除了因为一律的好评如潮，也是因为那是一段我不曾参与过的时光，而如今机会来了。片子好像一篇日记，导演徐徐道出了自己的童年回忆，人与事。片子又好像一篇散文，娓娓道出自己的惆怅与欢愉。

　　导演试着从许多人的角度看那一段回忆。于是这一部作品就不只是属于翁燕萍的了，也属于那些“前林厝港”（我觉得这样的称呼很贴切）人们，属于看戏的人们，属于住过甘榜的人们，甚至也属于从未住过甘榜的人们。毕竟，当我们用“甘榜”一词时，就早已预设了观众群。

　　我不曾住过甘榜。但是，我早已从父母不时的叙述之中建构出当年的“甘榜”。服役时我与自然挨得最亲密，所以当导演在片中描述雨滴的声音、泥土的芬香，我是可以明白她的心情的。导演提及她的狗，我妈妈也曾提及她家的狗儿。当年搬迁计划一实行，我真不晓得有多少狗就这样随之消失，死去。如今街上甚少看见自由跑动的野狗，野猫却不少，我不禁担心哪一天，时代会走到一个阶段，连猫儿都必须退到岁月的幕后。我想我可能会很接受不了那个时代。

　　我想起了陈彬彬的《备忘录》。也是在挖掘记忆。回忆真的如此重要！人到了生命的尽头，就只能由记忆来证明自己曾经留于世间的印迹。影片中好几个人说：不可能再有“林厝港”了。对于这一点，有的人抱着无限的怀念默默走在人生之路；有人频频回顾却也很自在地走下去；有人拿起了摄影机给那段记忆作了一场简单的葬礼。

　　朋友Ｍ对翁燕萍的那一份想法很有感觉。她说，如果这是对林厝港的一个祭奠，那么翁燕萍释怀了吗？翁燕萍的母亲在镜头前含泪劝女儿放下，镜头后翁燕萍早已湿了眼眶。“前林厝港”已经“死了”，翁燕萍悄悄地安抚着坟墓。参与了她一部分的我们期待她自在上路的潇洒姿态。