What would you say if we told you that the first-ever Malaysian film to win an award at the Venice Film Festival (back in 2006) was a short film by the same director?

Would you know the name of this director?

Do you know the title of this new award-winning comedy that's going to hit our screens on 7 May 2009?

Venice Film Festival 2008: Critics and members of the international press queuing for the press preview of the first Malaysian comedy ever to be in competition at the world's oldest film festival.

It was written, produced, composed, directed and edited by first-time feature filmmaker Yeo Joon Han. Joon Han's first short film, "Adults Only" was the first Malaysian film ever to win an award at the same festival. Truth be told, it was actually the first Malaysian film to win an award from one of the top 3 film festivals in the world (Cannes, Venice, Berlin). It also went on to win several awards at other European festivals.

"Sell Out!" was the most enquired-about film at the Venice Film Festival. In fact, it was the most enquired-about subject, second only to George Clooney's presence at the festival! It was probably also the best-loved film at the festival. A quick Google search (using [Sell Out! joon han] or [$e11.ou7!]) will give you a hint of the kind of excited response this Malaysian film received in Italy. Italian critics thought so highly of it that they voted it the best film in its competition category and a top film publication literally exhorted distributors to "BUY SELL OUT!" The film also walked away with the Young Cinema Award for Alternative Vision, a prize awarded by a jury of 80 young cinephiles.

Fans asking director Yeo Joon Han for autographs (and the movie soundtrack CD!) after the world premiere of "Sell Out!"

Peter Davis (centre) and company pleading for Money to love them in a scene from "Sell Out!".

Since the Venice Film Festival in August 2008, "Sell Out!" has been invited to numerous festivals (see list below) around the world. It has been to Canada, Switzerland, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong. It will play in the Arctic Circle in mid-January 2009 and then travel to Argentina, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic, etc.

The Bangkok Post calls "Sell Out!" "A STORY OF OUR TIME," embracing it as a truly Southeast Asian film. In Taipei, a reviewer declared that it was funnier than "Cape No.7", the highest-grossing Taiwanese film of all time! Playing to full houses at the Taipei Golden Horse Festival, "Sell Out!" also walked away with the NETPAC Award, given by a jury presided by renowned Chinese film director, Xie Fei.

The filmmakers' most anticipated screening, however, is its Malaysian premiere because, as Joon Han tells everyone around the world, "Sell Out!" was made for Malaysians, especially ordinary Malaysians who have nothing to do with film, like our parents, family and friends.

The good news is: at least one Malaysian who caught the film when it played at the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea is calling it the best Malaysian film ever. (http://filmgarmott.blogspot.com/2008/10/review-ll0u7-sell-out.html)

Let's hope others will agree when "Sell Out!" premieres in Malaysia in May 2009!

In the meantime, the production team, cast and crew are ready and eager to spill the beans about the film.

Jerrica Lai (right, foreground) in a scene from "Sell Out!".

SELL OUT!
Chinese title: 死了都要賣
Language: English, Manglish, Cantonese, Mandarin
Malaysia-wide release date: 7 May 2009
An Astro Shaw presentation.
An Amok Films production.

Official site:
www.sellout-themovie,com
Facebook: Group name: Sell Out

The official "Sell Out!" poster for the 2008 Venice Film Festival.

WINNER
Young Cinema Award for Alternative Vision
Venice Film Festival

WINNER
NETPAC Award
Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival

Best Film of the Venice Critics Week 2008
-Italian Critics Poll, Cineforum

* * * * *

LIST OF FILM FESTIVALS (as of 25 April 2009):

1. Venice Film Festival
2. Vancouver International Film Festival
3. Karlovy-Vary International Film Festival
4. Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI)
5. Pusan International Film Festival
6. Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival
7. Zurich Film Festival
8. Hong Kong Asian Film Festival
9. World Film Festival of Bangkok
10. Troms International Film Festival, Norway
11 Era New Horizons International Film Festival, Poland
12. Barcelona Asian Film Festival
13. Rome Asian Film Festival
14. Singapore International Film Festival
15. Festival Paris Cinema
16. Melbourne International Film Festival

A SELECTION OF QUOTES FROM REVIEWS

"a gem from Malaysia"
- Gertzan Zuilhof, The New Straits Times

" A story of our time. ... (a) humourous, wink-filled comedy"
-Kong Rithdee, The Bangkok Post

"a film that involves and
constantly surprises the audience"
- Jury, Young Cinema Award

"punchy songs and comic routines"
- Derek Elley, Variety

"the daffiness and enthusiasm are infectious...
one of 10 best films of 2008 not yet released in the USA"
- David Walsh, the World Socialist Web Site

"moments of pure brilliance that
let you know Yeo Joon Han will be around
for a very long time"
- Matthew Tsang, Schema Magazine

"spunky performance from lead actress Jerrica Lai"
- Derek Elley, Variety

"a film that (feels) really new"
- Emma Engstrom, the Gotenborgs-Posten
(Swedish press)

"an infectious energy, brilliant at all levels"
- Jean Noel Nicolau, Ecran Large

"Sell Out! is one week's worth of laughter in 100 minutes"
- Now News, Taiwan

"the biggest surprise of the festival!"
- Taipei Golden Horse Festival

Her name is Rafflesia Pong (Rafflesia=largest flower in the world, which reeks of animal carcass; Pong=stink). She's a bottom-ranking arts show host who's disillusioned with "those over-rated underachievers we call artists." He's Eric Tan (Eric=Eric, Tan=typical Chinese surname), a product designer who's just about to learn that it doesn't pay to be creative. They both work for FONY, a multinational conglomerate whose mission statement, copied from a Taiwanese company, is to be original. In the face of such pressure, will Eric and Rafflesia retain their artistic integrity or will they finally sell out to fame, fortune or some other nasty thing that also starts with "F"?

CAST LIST:

1. Jerrica Lai as Rafflesia Pong
2. Peter Davis as Eric Tan
3. Kee Thuan Chye as The Smoking CEO
4. Lim Teik Leong as The Forgetful CEO
5. Lee Szu Hung as Tony
6. Wong Wai Hoong as Yew Fai, the cameraman
7. Hannah Lo as Hannah Edwards Leong

TECHNICAL CREDITS:

1. Director: Yeo Joon Han
2. Producer: Yeo Joon Han
3. Screenplay: Yeo Joon Han
4. Director of Photography: Eric Yeong
5. Sound: Sean Chia @ Ram
6. Editor: Yeo Joon Han
7. Production Designer: Jimmy Bong Soon Meng
8. Hair and Makeup: Monicalee Face Art Academy
9. 1st Assistant Director: Kareem Koh
10. Music: Yeo Joon Han, Bruno Brugnano, Jamorn Vathakanon
11. Original songs written and composed by: Yeo Joon Han

DIRECTOR'S BIOGRAPHY

Born in a then small Malaysian town called Seremban on 8 August 1969, Joon Han fell in love with literature and theatre in Singapore; skived off Law classes and wrote a musical in London; went to Court, wrote advertising copy and finally became an impoverished filmmaker in Kuala Lumpur. For years, he took in empty promises and attended year-round meetings with people who were going to produce his short film, only to be stood up at the last minute. In 2006, 13 years after he first came up with the idea and 5 years since he shot it with his own savings, Joon Han's first short film "Adults Only" won the Special Mention at the Venice Film Festival. With that credit, he managed to wangle enough money to make "Sell Out!", his first feature film.

Joon Han directing actress Hannah Lo on the set of "Sell Out!"

After I got away with the Venice Film Festival's Special Mention for my short film, "Adults Only," I was finally given the chance to make my first feature film. However, the offer came from a multinational conglomerate whose raison d'être, like all multinational conglomerates', was to make money. Although I instinctively put aside my screenplay about three dead people, I struggled for months to come up with a film that would be both personal and artistic as well as appealing to millions of people with money to spend at the cinema.

I have yet to make that film. But I hope you enjoy "Sell Out!"

DIRECTOR'S FILMMOGRAPHY

Feature Films

1. "Sell Out!" (2008) 106 mins, 35mm.

Short Films

1. "Adults Only" (2006), 10 min, 35mm.

Festivals (Official Selections) and Awards:

i. Venice Film Festival (Special Mention, Corto Cortissimo)
ii. Stockholm International Film Festival (Best Short Film)
iii. Lyon Asian Film Festival (Jury Prize and Audience Award)
iv. IndieLisboa 2007 (Onda Curta Award)
v. Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival
vi. Nantes Festival of 3 Continents, 2008
vii. Cinequest (San Jose)
viii. Prague Short Film Festival
ix. The Australian International Film Festival
x. La Ciotat Best of Short Film Festival, France
xi. Festival International du Court Metrage de Paris
xii. Canadian Film Centre Worldwide Short Film Festival
xiii. Seattle International Film Festival
xiv. Warsaw Short Film Festival
xv. DaKINO Film Festival (Bucharest)
xvi. Arcipelago International Festival of Short Films, Italy
xvii. Almeria en Corto, Spain
xviii. Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival
xix. Aspen Shortsfest
xx. Puerto Rico International Short Film Festival
xxi. Hong Kong Asian Film Festival
xxii. World Film Festival of Bangkok

2. "Girl in a Soap Bubble" (2007), 30 min, mini-DV to 35mm.

Festivals (Official Selection):

i. Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival (2007 and 2008)
ii. Festival International du Court Metrage de Paris
iii. Festival Paris Cinema
iv. Hawaii International Film Festival

CAST

Peter Davis (as Eric Tan)Peter Davis has an English father and a mum from Kota Kinabalu. He grew up in the UK and was working in finance companies when he decided to give it a go in Asia. Based now in Kuala Lumpur, Peter has been keeping busy with modelling work as well as appearing in TV commercials. And, lately, of course, he's also been working on "Sell Out!" and attending film festivals.

You may have spotted him in commercials for Nissan, Samsung, Mentos and Sony, on runway shows for Calvin Klein, Adidas, Levis, Canali, Roger Dubuis, etc, on billboards showcasing Obermain products or on the pages of FHM and Men's Health. Or perhaps you've seen him on TV, coaching wannabe models in the reality show, "I Wanna Be A Model."

On the other hand, if you surf YouTube more than you watch television, you might have caught him beating up some English guy in one of several mixed martial arts (MMA) professional fights.

Peter thinks of fights as sports and relishes them as much as he does BMX, downhill mountain biking and motorsports.

If you would like to shoot Peter (with a camera) or just chat with him, please book him early for his work takes him to all sorts of places, such as Shanghai, Singapore, Vietnam, Portugal, and it might get hard to pin him down.

Be warned, however, that Peter speaks with a thick English accent. Although many a person have found it sexy, it has caused us many a time to declare,"I can't understand a word you're saying!" so much so that that line wound up being part of the dialogue in "Sell Out!"

Jerrica started earning her 3 meals by selling her soul to advertising and PR. Realising they wanted not her soul but all her time, energy and commitment, she decided to take 1 meal a day and indulge in her love of theatre instead. Her resulting list of theatre credits is so long, it would read like a restaurant menu if we reproduced it here. Here's a taste of her work: The Road To Mecca, 7Ten, The Vagina Monologues, Ubu Roi, The Merchant of Venice, Lena & Lijah, Spring in KL, Manchester United and The Malay Warrior.

Jerrica has also worked in TV and on short films. In fact, she played the lead in "Girl in a Soap Bubble", a short film made by Joon Han, the director of "Sell Out!". Her performance was so well-liked, she became a celebrity of sorts at the world's largest short film festival: the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France, where the film played 2 years in a row.

In 2005, she moved to London to take advantage of its consistently fine tropical weather and ended up performing on the British stage and teaching in a school for special needs children. Half-suspecting that she was in fact enrolled in that school, Joon Han roped Jerrica back to Kuala Lumpur to play the ambitious and slightly nutty Rafflesia Pong.

Kee Thuan Chye has been acting on stage and screen for more than 30 years. His list of credits is even longer than Jerrica Lai's! He has appeared in "Entrapment" and "Anna and the King", the Hallmark TV-movie "Marco Polo", and "Secrets of the Forbidden City" for the History Channel.

Kee Thuan Chye is also an established playwright and director, responsible for plays such as "We Could **** You, Mr Birch" (1994) and the recent "The Swordfish, Then the Concubine", which was staged by Ivan Heng as the opening play of the Singapore Theatre Festival 2008.

Lim Teik Leong writes:

"Sixty-four years old (the Beatles didn't know what they were singing about). Retired lecturer from Faculty of Education, University of Malaya. Did a course in drama under Joy Zimmerman in undergraduate days. He presently edits two magazines, is a software consultant for English, does voice-overs, lectures at universities on teaching methodology and gives free talks on Public Speaking and EQ (Emotional Quotient). His hobby is High Definition video shoots and editing and he does it free for religious activities and weddings of those who cannot afford to hire a regular videographer."

Mr. Lim is often as forgetful in real life as he is in "Sell Out!" but his performance is not one you'll forget in a hurry.

Erstwhile law graduate, sometime singer and writer; Szu is primarily an award-winning advertising agency Creative Director. Sell Out! is his first film.

Wai Hoong is a stage performer whose latest projects include a physical theatre piece based on Mitch Albom's book "Five People You Meet In Heaven'' and "Sybil", a true story based on a heroine during the Japanese Occupation.

When he's not having fun, Wai Hoong conducts classes for corporate- and kid-fitness.

Exuberant, eclectic, compassionate and talented, this stunner of English and Chinese parentage truly is beautiful inside out, and possesses the wit to match! Hannah started off as a model when she first returned from England - she has set many catwalks ablaze and graced numerous magazine covers, besides appearing in countless advertising campaigns. To add another feather to her cap, Hannah is now lending her talents in emceeing for various events. Her engaging style of presentation, coupled with a dose of wit and humor has successfully made simple events into memorable ones. She is extremely versatile and adept in different situations - from corporate functions to fashion shows and even children's parties!

Her most difficult direction from Joon Han was "Be bitchy!"

Yoyooh team were invited to watch the preview of this film yesterday at Midvalley. Here are the verdict.

An award winning, dark comedy about death, reality show & talent.

by [r][a][y] eusouff

I was a bit sceptical about the film at first. I have no idea what  is it all about. Then, only I found out that  this film had won numerous awards overseas. Yup...from the poster that I saw right infront of the GSC's hall.

How often do you watch non malay Malaysian film? Almost none.The movie was made for Malaysians, especially ordinary Malaysians who have nothing to do with films like our parents, family and friends. That's why SELL OUT is different than others.

I had a blast watching it. It is very entertaining. Sort of like watching Stephen Chow's film with Malaysian flavour in it.

It's also a musical comedy. The cast will be singing in some part of the film unexpectedly.There is also one part of the film, with lyrics on the screen, sort of a karoeke session for viewers to sing along. I've laughed out loud during this part.

What I like about this film is the script. Quite bold and sarcastic but I don't find any of it offends me. It's a comedy, a dark one and it's entertaining !

The acting was great and flawless. Especially Jerica Lai as the leading actor who potrayed a typical chinese  career girl who works as a tv presenter and try to survive in her career, struggling to keep up her tv ratings. Of course, the two big bosses played by Kee Thuan Chye and Lim Teik Leong. They are not the ordinary bosses you have ever seen. Even better than Meryl Streep as Miranda in The Devils Wears Prada.

I will definately watch SELL OUT again and this time with friends and actualy pay for the ticket this time.

I have no idea how other viewers would perceived this film. It's hard to tell when it comes to Malaysian audience. One thing for sure, it has captured many others viewers and crtitics abroad.

For those who likes something different, dark comedy and  musical ...it's a MUST . It's dedicated to Malaysians. and would be a  waste if we  don't even try to appreciate our local products when it's actualy recognised by others abroad.

4.5 out of 5 !!