After the Queen’s Museum of Art, O Zhang brought her short film back to where it was created – Ed Bennett’s Bennett Media Studio in the West Village – for a 2nd screening of the film in New York City.
O showed one of her earlier films, “Hair Impossible,” and her newest work “Piccadilly Revisited.” The screening lasted for about an hour, followed by a Q & A session. O Zhang, Ed Bennett (music composer for the film), together with the producers of the film spoke on stage about their work and the creative process.
Here is a full album with photographers documenting the production process by Cynthia Chung.
When May Ling first suggested she take a music composition I wrote and turn it into a vocal song, I had no idea how far this project would go.
And surprised I was. She not only wrote some beautiful lyrics and a haunting melody, but she sang it with such heartfelt passion, that the goosebumps were typical.
May then assembled a talented team of artists and friends to produce a magnificent and emotional short film. Director Scott Gabriel and the rest of the team, actors Shing Ka, Cheutine Fong, and the child Princess Lam, were all stars. We filmed 2 of the 3 segments in the Studio and House here at Bennett Media Studio, and it equaled some of the Network Shows shot here (Law and Order, White Collar, to name a few).
Expressing the theme of domestic abuse, the video was produced in conjuncton with the New York Asian Women’s Center, one of the largest NY area domestic violence help centers and shelters. The video became a kick off for the annual campaign for the New York Asian Women’s Center. The official screening of the video also took place at Bennett Media Studio at the annual fund raiser for the organization. At the event, May and I performed on stage as well, a song we co-wrote called “Only An Angel,” also fitting the theme of the evening.
Since then, Scott and May have been showing the film to festivals. It was a winner at the Garden State festival for the “Best Music Video,” and at the Canadian International Film Festival for the “Award of Excellence.” It was also an official selection at Palm Bay’s ’15 Minutes of Fame’ film festival as well as the upcoming SENE film festival in Rhode Island. And most recently, it was chosen as a finalist for the 2010 Las Vegas Film Festival on June 4th, 2010.
May Ling was happy to pass along some anecdotes to me about some responses:
“At both the SENE Film & Music Festival in Rhode Island and Garden State Film Festival in NJ, many of the professionals in attendance came up and personally commented on how much they enjoyed all of the production, lighting, and the acting. I had numerous lengthy conversations with people who were truly moved by Shing and Cheutine’s performances. Without fail audience questions immediately asked how we were able to find such amazing child actors for all of the scenes. Of course, everyone could not imagine how we were able to get the sets to look so stunning, and realized the amazing amount of attention to detail that must have gone into creating the correct imagery for the house, basement, and shelter scenes. ”
So congrats to the entire team (see below) for this fantastic effort and I am so happy to see the momentum behind this worthwhile project continue.
CAST
May Ling…………Singer
Princess Lam……Daughter, Young Singer
Shing Ka…………Father
Cheutine Fong….Mother
Susan Finch……..Social Worker
Caleb Gitlitz……..Young Boy
Mothers: Lillian Kui, Stacey Van Gorder, Jyoti Singh, Kelly Reeves Susaye Lawson, Emma J, Denise Violante, EJ An
Children:David Kim, Maria Kim, Paige Simunovich, Avery Violante, Kiana Shell Josiah Pujols, Ryan Leung, Wesley Leung
CREW
Scott Gabriel………Director
MinhTu Van……….Executive Producer
May Ling…………..Producer, Songwriter (Lyrics & Melody)
Ed Bennett………..Exec Music Producer, Songwriter (Musical Arrangement)
Sean Nerney………Music Producer
Ryan Halasz………Assistant Director
Milan Habijanac…..Lighting Tech
Douglas Kehl & David Goldfrank….Production Assistant
Reynaldo Carter……………………..Production Designer
Josh Dowd & Curtis Rapp…………..Set Design & Prop Master
Justin Bennett………………………..Key Grip
Rachel Stawinski……………………..Hair/Make-up
Celia Au………………………………..Casting Director
Celia Au& Ha Tran……………………Set Photographer
Nari Kim………………………..Production Assistant
NYAWC Volunteers: Kiko Kitani, Louis Mendoza, Diana Lin, Qiao Gao, Lina Wu, Leana Lung, Linda Shum, Kazuko Ishida
Special Thanks:
Tony Lam & Bun Soho Restaurant
Click HERE to see the official site of the project created by May Ling
Click HERE to see director Scott Gabriel’s creative reel.
Artist and filmmaker O Zhang’s new film, “THE DREAMS OF ANNA MAY WONG “(shot at BMS on Jan 29,30, 31 see post), with original score by Ed Bennett, had a screening for friends and crew at the Queens Museum of Art on Sunday, March 7 2010. The film presents three dreams of this actress as she struggled with career, identity, and love as a chinese woman in Hollywood during the 20′s and 30′s. The screening received a significant amount of media attention in China as well as the US. It is featured in the arts news of one of the major Chinese TV Networks in the US, SinoVision (美国中文电视), as well as in China Press (侨报) and on the internet blog of SinoVision.net.
Click on the screenshots to view the full video of the featured news at SinoVision.
Bennett Media Studio has created “TIANDI” , a Record Label and Talent Management company for China. Working with Chinese artists and performers in China and the U.S., we will write and develop chinese language songs. We also will work with and develop any artist who is facile at Chinese singing, irrespective of race or nationality ( i.e. Ayesha Adamo,singer and writer of “Tian Ran De Ai” ). All these songs on the Player below were recorded and composed by Ed Bennett at Bennett Media Music in New York City. Artists Ed worked with on the record are:
May Ling Lai. Singer, and co-songwriter with Ed Bennett. Here we have her version of ” Someday”. This song also has a Music video which May, MinhTu Van and Scott Gabriel created to depict May’s writingof the song to bring attention to the theme of domestic violence. This song showcased the charity fund raiser for the Asian Women’s Shelter in New York. http://www.myspace.com/songs4charity
And listen to the song “Father Jaesy”, performed and written by Jaesy Wang (Wang Wanjung) who is originally from Taiwan and lives in New York. When she came to my studio, she laid this track down very quickly and I tried to make this master as polished as I could. Jaesy is a very talented writer and singer, and you can learn more about her on her Facebook Page.
And here is a video of Ed Bennett and Ayesha Adamo performing their song “Tian Ran De Ai”
This was a special day for me at Bennett Media Studio. I had the chance to host an event which featured I song I co-wrote with May Ling Lai called ” Someday”. Actually, the very talented May wrote the lyrics..very personal stuff, and I wrote/composed the music. However May took this song over the top by creating a short film around it, highlighting the issue of domestic violence, Here, she chose to partner with the Asian Women’s Shelter in New york City, a dedicated group which provides shelter, support and resources to Asian Women in need of help from this difficult and debilitating situation. We showcased the video, then played the Song ” Only An Angel”. The film was co-produced by Minh Tu Van, and directed by Scott Gabriel.
The show is being held at Bennett Media Studio on Feb. 16th at 1PM. Ed Bennett, composer, has created original music for this show. The theme of the music follows the design and art direction for the show: UNDERWATER.
The music is a reflection, a film score, of the feeling of being underwater. Recordings of beluga whales and dolphins were used in the mix. Taiko drums were beaten to provide rhythm and motion. And acoustic guitar was electrified and swept with deep water reverb. Ed used recordings of water from fountains, pools, faucets, and swirling in a teacup!
Click HERE to listen to the track on the show’s own website!
To know more about the amazing duo, visit their website.
I was inspired to write this song from my love of Haiku Poetry. This song is based on a poem by Matsuo Basho written in 1682 called “ Samadare Wo Atsumite Hayashi Magami Gawa”.
This means:
Samidare Wo: Gathering seawards
Astumete hayashi: The summer rains, how swift it is!
Mogamigawa : Mogami River
I then took the concept and expanded it into a proper song with fresh lyrics and a story of two lives flowing together into a river of emotion and passion. And the notion of time and people standing still in a relationship.
My singer, Ryland Angel is a British Opera Singer, whom I wrote and produced 2 records with before. ( Ryland Angel ( EMI) and “The New Voice Of Christmas” ( Koch), learned the Japanese and though he is western, his voicing is unique to the Japanese Language.
The dance piece is a rehearsal in New York which was eventually performed in Japan. ( New Video to follow). This was Choreographed by Kayoko Sakoh.
It was inspired by the Movie ” Holly” which addresses the issue of Child Trafficking and Prostitution. UNICEF estimates over 2 million children are sold by poor parents into this downward spiraling world.
The lyrics are meant to be sung by a 12 year old girl who finds herself trapped in this predicament.
May Ling performs the vocals , Ed played all the instruments. Lucia Lee made the Video.
