KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — Like every other boy in his early teens, Paul Gan was always fascinated by action flicks but it wasn’t until he discovered The Matrix, the 1999 Wachowski siblings-directed sci-fi film, that he realised he wanted to make films.
“The film blew my mind – they’re the first directors that made me realise you could combine entertainment, action and philosophy into one great movie,” said the 28-year-old filmmaker, reminiscing to a time when he was still an imaginative young boy growing up in the humble town of Malacca.
Gan started making short films and videos when he finished high school and even tried his hands on being in front of the camera, nabbing occasional leading roles in TV commercials while studying at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. His passion for filmmaking grew even more during this time, particularly after watching Slumdog Millionaire, a powerful drama about a Mumbai teen growing up in the slums.
“It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before – the film opened up the ugly realities of the world for the audience to see,” said Gan, who has a degree in broadcasting.
“And the triumphant feeling you get at the end is priceless. It’s because of this film that I began to realise that I want to entertain, to educate and to inform through my work.”
Gan’s latest work, the award-winning short film entitled The Boy Who Rocked The World, features a scene that pays homage to the Danny Boyle-directed film.
“My short film was partly inspired by the movie — it is about a boy from a poor family too — and one of the last shots was dedicated to Slumdog Millionaire.”
The Boy Who Rocked The World is a short film about a boy from a poor family who finds an escape from the harsh reality, spurred on by a dream of becoming a rock star.
It was one of the entries for the Sundance Channel Short Film Contest, judged by representatives from Sundance Channel, Astro and the Malaysian filmmaking community.
Each entry was judged based on creativity, entertainment value, original storytelling and production value.
Gan emerged as the grand prize winner, with the panel of juries calling the film “creative, imaginative and extremely well executed with attention to detail and storytelling that are properly accented by the technical skills on display”.
The film has a local flavour to it and was shot entirely in Bahasa Malaysia, which was a natural move for Gan as he grew up with the baba nyonya culture from his mother’s side and Bahasa Malaysia has always been one of the major dialects spoken at home.
Besides the influence of Slumdog Millionaire, Gan revealed that the short film was in fact based on himself, drawing from his own childhood experience as a poor kid. He recalled the time when he would watch his friends play video games that he could not afford and would imagine a world of fun using ordinary items at home, much like the boy Aiman in the film.
“The boy in the short film – a misunderstood, often bullied and constantly finds escapes from life using imagination – was me,” said Gan.
“I grew up with a lot of pain and my family didn’t have much money. Nevertheless, I’m very thankful for the life I have and enjoying life’s simple pleasures,” he added.
A good cast was required for the script to come to life and while the entire casting process took not more than two months to complete, it was particularly challenging to find a boy who could play the main character, Aiman, who needs to be able to act subtly while still being expressive with vivid facial expressions and motor skills.
After searching high and low for a boy to play this role, including street casting at random places, he finally found Faiq Hazeeq, who came for the audition after his mother was told about the casting.
“Faiq was amazing. I asked him to change and switch between multiple scenes and emotions and he did it all effortlessly,” he recalled.”That’s when I knew I had found the right boy.”
Besides wanting to tell a story about his life as a boy, Gan also hopes to raise awareness on the state of poverty in the country, an issue he feels very strongly about.
“There are many poor communities in the country who are voiceless and through my film, I want people to ponder, perhaps even motivate them to help tackle poverty issue here in Malaysia,” he said, with a hopeful smile.
“I hope when people watch my film, they can bring back something with them – something that would inspire them to become better humans.”
“Just as long as I’ve made you think (through my film), then I’ve done my job.”
Catch Paul Gan’s The Boy Who Rocked The World on Monday at 7pm, exclusively on Sundance Channel HD (Astro Channel 438).
