Press Coverage

The SUN's VOX: MARCH 11, 2001
Indie horticulturist

Multimedia specialist Vernon Adrian Emuang made a commitment to be executive producer to both Amir Muhammad's Lips to Lips and Snipers even before reading the scripts. What is he on?

You seem eager to support the 'independent' filmmaking scene (well, at least the two feature films shot on digital video) with a gutsy disregard for what the films are about. Why?

I just happened to be in a capacity to be able to help... so help lah. Creative and innovative young people with the conviction and energy to pursue a dream perchance came my way, and I extended a friendly hand of support. 'Gutsy?' Other people wouldn't think twice to blow several hundreds or thousands of ringgit at the Turf Club or at Genting - allow me my peculiar vices, please (grins). James caught me at the right time, when I could afford to extend some help, financially and otherwise. I wish I could have stepped in earlier, and perhaps with more moolah, but let's see how we'll make.things happen. It's a challenge and that alone is exciting. Anyway, why read the script and kill the excitement of opening night? I want maximum rush.

What drives you to commit so much time, money, effort based on your trust of Amir's and James' capabilities?

I was a big fan of Amir's. There was no possibility I would be embarrassed by my association with him and his movie. As Lips gets its fifth film festival invite, what can I say? I feel like a proud grandfather or uncle. I guess it's having an inside track on these talented young people that makes me wanna do it the second time around.

Hopefully, it will also send signals to other (more money-ed) people that, really, the risks are minimal, the investments can be very worthwhile, and that new talent needs an unfettered environment to do stuff. Frankly, I wish I was in a capacity to run an incubator for young arts talents... I personally derive lots of pleasure from seeing ideas flower, whether they be my own or someone else's.

What impressed you about James Lee?

I knew James from his roles in [the Actors' Studio piay) Chicken Parts, his web work on Doghouse 73, and from his starring role in Lips to Lips. I saw his stage directorial debut of Harold Pinter's' Dumb Waiter and was completely blown away. Post-performance discussions concluded for me that James has an exceptional imagination. I was very impressed. About a week and a bit later, I bumped into him cold-calling on potential sponsors. His dogged determination to make it work really moved me.

There has been quite a buzz about our local filmmaking scene beyond the Yusof Haslam-Suhaimi Baba sphere recently. What do you think has genqrated this excitement?

Daring, gutsy, let's-just-get-off-our-asses-and-do-it initiative from the likes of the Amir and James gangs, and the fabulous flexibility afforded by DV [digital video]. Most people aren't aware of the kinds of sacrifices guys like James make to do what they love doing and in the process give so much enjoyment to others, The young turks of filmmaking, including people like Osman [Ah], Zallee, Bernard Chauly, et al; the ability, initiative and energy to circumvent the usual limitations and mindsets - that's where the excitement is coming from.

The trials and tribulations of guerilla film-making -> Next