In an interview last week with The Macau Post Daily, local director Wesley Hoi Ip Seng talked about his latest movie “Tales From The Occult” and film production in a café near Praça do Tap Seac.
“Tales From The Occult (失衡凶間)” comprises three eerie stories happening in cramped spaces– “Dead Mall” and “The Tenement” as well as “The Chink” – the latter was written by Hoi and is also his directorial debut. The film has been shown in film festivals such as “Udine Far East Film Festival 24 (Italy)” with its premiere at the Hong Kong International Film Festival earlier this year. It will also be shown at the “Asiatiska Filmfestivalen (Sweden)” this month.
Without too much of a spoiler, Hoi said that “The Chink” is a suspense film with a “dark twist”.
Since his graduation in multi-media in 2003 in the UK, Hoi has been engaged in the film and television industry in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China, and has participated in several Hollywood productions such as “Forbidden Kingdom” and “The Dark Knight”. After he deepened his roots in Macau in the last decade, Hoi has also directed over 20 advertisements and public service announcements. Hoi has been a member of the local Association Audio-Visual CUT since 2000.
A ‘miracle’ comeback
At first, Hoi followed the horror-film trend in the 2010s in the mainland and sent a script to a Beijing film-making company a few years ago. “In a way, once a script is submitted you wouldn’t expect to see it anymore. Perhaps the script will be left behind, or turn out to be something totally unrecognisable. Of course, some good producers are respectful to the original script, but overall, the experience is like giving a baby to someone else, and that’s it!” Hoi said.
After submitting the script, he felt the film-making industry in Macau was feeble and changed his career to work in casinos. “Nonetheless, two years ago Hong Kong producer Matthew Tang asked me whether I was interested in directing ‘The Chink’ as in some kind of miracle my script flowed back to Hong Kong. Being a film-making ‘nutcase’, I quit my job and agreed to be the director of my own script and went to Hong Kong as soon as possible.
“Time was so scarce, and we needed to start filming in two weeks after my 14-day quarantine. When I came out, we still hadn’t looked for filming locations. Fortunately, our team is very professional. In less than a week they managed to turn an empty and tiny room into an ideal set that was used until the end of the movie,” Hoi said.
Hoi showed huge appreciation to his colleagues throughout the interview, and often described himself as a mediator rather than a decision-maker. “A woman specialising in costumes came up and asked a middle-aged director which dress is more suitable for the actress: there’s no question who is the expert here.
“Most of the time, a capable director has to trust his colleagues, and constantly adjust his vision based on others’ advice and the environment,” Hoi said, adding: “A screenwriter envisages the scene creatively, while a director must deal with the concepts he is given. Communicating with the actors, explaining to the crew what’s going to happen, and budget and time management are also the director’s responsibilities which are vital to the film-production.”
Filming-making environment
Surprisingly, Hoi did not describe himself as a film-making nor a movie enthusiast, but as a person who’s passionate about the film-making environment. “When I was young, going to the cinema was almost like a ceremonial activity, like a festival you may say, and there’s a unique sentiment built inside me with films. Once, we went to see the ‘Police Story’ starring Jackie Chan, and I was fascinated by the outtakes in the post-credits. The stunts, the camera work, and the post-production scenery created fantasies for me to work in the industry.
“In a production set, things are always rushing because every minute counts. Any problem needed to be immediately dealt with: a fire hose without water coming out for the raining scene, the street too narrow for a truck to drive in. One time, I, still a rookie, was being sworn at in front of everyone in the set for over 10 minutes, but you know it is not personal. Everything is very tense and demanding, but that’s exactly why I loved it so much as well,” Hoi said.
“A now-deceased director once told me that the ‘miracle’ of film-making is that it can assemble all sorts of people to produce a masterpiece. From labourers to movie stars to directors, they worked together for months to produce something that can make you shed tears or laugh out loud or both,” Hoi said.
The grey-haired Hoi can’t agree with his precursor more, and underlined that he has been able to get rid of his film-making “addiction”.
Hoi noted that “Tales From The Occult” will be released in various local cinemas on September 15. For more information, watch the trailer and behind-the-scenes-footage: youtube.com/watch?v=lpF0B16Ajvw&ab_channel=MediaAsiaFilm
These undated photos taken in Hong Kong show the filming of scenes of Wesley Hoi Ip Seng’s “The Chink” in the film “Tales From The Occult”. – Photos provided by Hoi
