RECENT PRESS
30.04.10 WASHINGTON POST's exhibit review, BLOCK B at the Smithsonian's HIRSHHORN MUSEUM
02.04.10 KLue Magazine, Chris Chong's BLOCK B at the Smithsonian
08.04.10 ARTNET, TWENTY TOP SHOWS BLOCK B at the Smithsonian Institutes' HIRSHHORN MUSEUM
06.11.09 ART IT, Tokyo (Japan) interview, HEAVENHELL
20.10.09 Moving Pictures Magazine review, USA, KARAOKE
10.09.09 Karaoke as Magic and Artifice, USA, director's contribution, KARAOKE
10.09.09 TORONTOIST review, Canada, KARAOKE
04.09.09 EYE WEEKLY review, Canada KARAOKE
13.09.09 NOW TORONTO review, Canada, KARAOKE
13.09.09 THE NATIONAL, 'Fanciful Visions', UAE, KARAOKE
13.05.09 ARTE TV interview with CHONG, director of KARAOKE, Cannes' Directors' Fortnight 2009, France, KARAOKE
24.04.09 TWITCH FILM - KARAOKE: First Malaysian Film in Cannes in 14 years, USA, KARAOKE
21.01.09 INTERVIEW - Tiger Competition: 2009 International Film Festival Rotterdam
01.01.09Block B wins in Argentina - AFP
Download Block B : Blueprint Asia Jan'09 article
01.01.09KARAOKE awarded Krishen Jit Astro Fund 2009 - NST
"The best of the more rapidly moving films are from Asia, one (film) of a gentle tempo bears mentioning... a poignant fusion of Eastern sensitivity with Western technical proficiency. The nearly doc-like shots of trees and factory interiors, studied in the best way, are seductive."
- KARAOKE, Howard Feinstein, Fall 2009 edition, Filmmaker Magazine, USA, Sept-Oct 2009
"For its ingenuity, freshness of vision, and creative command of cinematic language; for the vitality of its expression and the rewards it offers viewers who rise to its challenges; and for embodying the spirit of fearless originality and trailblazing optimism..."
- KARAOKE wins $25,000 film prize, head juror and Toronto film critic Geoff Pevere, Calgary Int'l Film Festival, Canada, 3 Oct 2009
"Chong delivers a serene yet often striking debut feature ..."
- KARAOKE, Eye Weekly, Toronto, Canada, 4 Sept 2009
"One of the most beautiful discoveries of this year's Cannes … A filmmaker is born."
- KARAOKE, Les Inrockuptibles, 26 May 2009, Paris, France. (Eng trans)
"…(KARAOKE) serenely surrounds you with its unique approach to reminiscence and undisclosed grievance."
- KARAOKE selected as Film of the Day, NisiMazine, 21 May 2009, France
"… mature directorial poise…"
- KARAOKE, Screen Daily, 22 May 2009
"... Observational cinema at its extreme ..."
- Alex Rogalski, Shortcuts programmer
Toronto International Film Festival 2008 on Block B
"... a gorgeously formalist portrait of humanity with one masterfully restrained long shot ..."
- Gisèle Gordon, jury selection of Block B, 2009 Canada's Top 10 Shorts Films
"... audacious ... simple, graphic, hypnotic - this is an achievement of bringing cinema to its bare essentials."
- Jury, 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
Rotterdam International Film Festival programmer Peter van Hoof,
filmmakers Louise Archambault and Min Sook Lee
Block B, winner of the Best Canadian Short Film prize, 2008
“Block B observes its subject from a distance, in one long shot, mirroring the city’s disparate cultural enclaves.
The monumental scale contrasts with the intimate real-life fictions that spill out of the monolithic structure
in expressions of resilience and hope.”
- Andréa Picard, programmer
2008 Toronto International Film Festival
"... startling perspective ... stunning ... highly memorable tours of physical spaces ..."
- Jason Anderson, Eye Weekly, Sept 2008 on Block B
The jury states, “in an unforgettable film about overcoming devastation, the main and title character is a water reservoir.
The award goes to Kolam for telling us this story with restraint, subtlety and compassion.”
- Jury, 2007 Toronto Int’l Film Festival
Brad Peyton (Showcase), Rachel Fulford, and Berlin-based curator Stefanie Schulte Strathaus
Kolam (Pool), winner of the Best Canadian Short Film prize, 2007
“Touching and lyrical, Chris Chong’s subtle documenting of a young group of children and their reunion with water
after the devastating tsunami, is an original and poignant piece."
- Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo, programmer,
2007 Toronto Int’l Film Festival, on Kolam (Pool)
"Chong brings queer chops into new sightlines with this elegant mini-essay on desire...
A series of peek-a-boo mattes admit moments glimpsed in passing.
Scars of seeing. The throbbing, hand-processed emulsion begins with clouds
then descends through traffic to arrive at the aching towards some new moment of release.”
- Mike Hoolboom, Images Festival of, Toronto, 2000
commenting on Music Might Have Deceived us (2000)
“Chong offers a shocking cultural comment as well as a witty portrait of a country named Malaysia.”
- Eric Sasono, film critic, Layar Perak/Silver Screen, Jakarta, 2006,
commenting on Tuesday Be My Friend (2006)
© Tanjung Aru Pictures 2009
