By Masaki Fujihata
By Masaki Fujihata
osage
World Premiere in Hong Kong
Title Kowloon Forest
Running Time 8 min
Year 2018
Language Cantonese, Tagalog, Korean
Date 5 Jul - 31 Aug 2019
Time Mon - Sat: 10:30 – 18:30
Sun: 14:30 – 18:30
(Closed on public holidays)
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Venue Osage Gallery, 4/F, 20 Hing Yip St, Kwun Tong
ABOUT THE VR FILM
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SYNOPSIS
A journey through the private lives of five strangers in Hong Kong.
A VR film about finding intimacy in a city of density.
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DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Kowloon Forest is a unique VR film which brings audiences into the extremely personal spaces of its protagonists. In contrast to VR films that place us in huge environments, this is a new sensation of being extremely close to people during moments of intimacy.
The story is drawn from my own experiences; from living in the infamous Chungking Mansions when I first came to Hong Kong, to doing laundry on the rooftops of Sham Shui Po. The film's cast is equally grounded: Toonyun, who plays a performer, is a Hong Kong musician; Sara, who plays a Filipina maid, is born in Hong Kong as the daughter of a Filipina domestic helper; Raghuram, who plays a Hong Kong-Indian astrologer, is a spiritual teacher from South India; and Ming, who plays a Chinese businessman, worked in finance in China. We hope to immerse audiences in these unique moments of Hong Kong and to create new cinematic experiences of intimacy.
DIRECTOR'S BIO
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Alexey Marfin is a film director interested in life in contemporary cities. He is currently based between Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
Born in Leningrad in the USSR, Alexey emigrated to the UK in the 1990s. He studied at the Architectural Association in London, where he became interested in designing worlds for film. He began his filmmaking career as a visual effects artist at the Sundance-award-winning studio Factory Fifteen, before directing his own films.
Alexey’s films have screened worldwide – at the Academy-Award-Qualifying L.A. Shorts Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, BiFan, Berlin Interfilm, and many more. He has been featured in VICE, Motherboard, The Creators Project, and other press.
Alexey has also taught and lectured internationally – including MIT, Harvard, Princeton, UCLA, the Royal College of Art, and City University of Hong Kong. He co-founded the Fiction & Entertainment Masters program at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, which works with collaborators from Framestore, Sundance, Netflix, and more.
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CREDITS
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Presenter Osage Art Foundation
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Writer / Director Alexey Marfin
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Starring
Toonyun
Ming Lo
Angie Kim
Sara Beatriz Meredith
Ainah Lágrimas
Raghuram Shetty
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Co-writers Toonyun, Paul Krist
Producer Paul Krist
Production Design Vivian Xin Zhen
Cinematography Nate Nguyen-Le
Additional Cinematography Jerry Lam, Tim Wei
Makeup Artist Stephanie G-M
Script Consultants
Charmaine Chan
Vivian Xin Zhen
Fiona Ng
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Consultants
Insoo Hwang
Aman Sheth
Kiran Nayak
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Special Thanks
Greg Feingold
Jake Falk
Ruby Ng
Carmen Cheng
To Chun Man
Leung Lai Chong
To Shing Yau
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Equipment Sponsor
Zotac Technology Limited