Tonight, I met someone whom I consider a legend.
I am not a very big fan of many things from Malaysia - except for my own stuff - but there are a few things that stuck in my head.
Eight years ago, I was a judge for the now-defunct Malaysian Video Awards. It was the first time I met Yasmin and I was immediately annoyed by her extremely positive outlook on life.
However, that optimism was what you needed in order to sit through over 500 short films in three days.
Honestly, most of the shorts were just okay. Some were really bad. A few, though, stuck in my mind perhaps forever. One of those was Wanita Kosmos - an animated short by Diffan Sina.
It was done in a naive style of picture books complete with labels. There were jokes concerning Dr M's administration, but done in that light-hearted manner that few comedians have managed to do. Most comedy and satire often fall into being too light or too harsh. Wanita Kosmos was just nice.
It was satire without being too much, commentary without being pedantic and an overall good story.
Together with 6horts by Amir Muhammad, Wanita Kosmos made me want to do short movies.
It has been eight years. I have done exactly one short and then found myself disliking the task of directing. I don't care enough. I have so many stories, but no one to do them, and not enough time to properly execute everything myself.
These days, I only want to do movies if I can have a great deal of creative control, without being the director. Scriptwriters are often pushed to the side and I can no longer step aside.
I do, however, have a network of friends who want to do these things anyway. So let the the games begin.
Tonight, I met Diffan Sina and watched his short film Kekasih, amongst 10 other movies at Malaysian Shorts. I also met some people who still have the drive to aspire for things.
I am much too old, much too jaded and my energies focused on survival to focus on creating something, so I would have to work with other people just to create stuff for the hell of it.
But enough about me. Diffan Sina is one of those creators who take their craft seriously but don't take themselves seriously. Someone like Lat. So it was no surprise Kekasih bagged the audience choice award tonight, and I start dreaming of doing things for fucks.
Overall, a very good night. Most of my gastritis, I believe, stems from stress. Stress from chasing after some payments and dealing with reality. But tonight, tonight I will dream.
