Wednesday, May 02, 2012

A Celebration of Life

On 11 March 2001, Wong Stanley departed this world prematurely owing to neither ill health nor physical impairment but a most unfortunate highway accident. He was aged 42, still in his prime & living life to the fullest. His death was a shock to his family, colleagues, students and friends who were too stunned to react to this piece of tragic news. In April 2012, a group of his childhood friends & schoolmates came together to contribute their amateur talents in making this movie to remember him and celebrate his years of existence on this earth.

The idea of making a movie to commemorate Stanley’s life & the happy times that he shared with his friends was first mooted by Khor Ah Lek who came back from Sweden for a vacation in July 2011 but the actual filming process did not quite take off due to a number of reasons. The emotional nature of the subject made it difficult to broach it to those who were close to him at one time or another, and coupled with the Chinese New Year celebrations that were to follow, forced the producers to put the project on the ‘back burner’.

Interest in the project was reignited & given a nudge by some celestial forces which set into motion a series of events that seemingly happened by pure coincidence, including the return of Joey Tan aka Tan Sow Hoong from Canada & Khor Ah Lek making his third trip back to Malaysia within a span of eight months for his mother’s funeral. This presented the opportunity to interview some of those who knew Stanley well while every effort was made to track down as many of his friends as possible, quite a monumental task in reality, as quite a number of them have moved away from his hometown or emigrated. Nevertheless, the comments made by the handful that remained proved to be just as poignant & meaningful & in a way represented what the majority would have felt even though they were not present for the filming. Special thanks must be given to Shirley Wong, who loaned us the priceless photos of her late brother, without which, this movie would not have been successfully made.

The producers are proud to present to you the completed video clips made with lots of love, a few drops of tears & a dash of humour for your enjoyment. Part 1 consists of the interviews of the participants while Part 2 is a slideshow made from the photos mentioned above.

A Celebration of Life (Pt 1)


A Celebration of Life (Pt 2)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

eric, i chanced upon your video when i googled joey tan aka tan sow hoong. hock seng and i are meeting him on friday nite in kl. i must commend you and team members for the good job done. Your video accurately depicted stanley's naunces & quirks. I lived a few doors away from his corner terrace house in taman sentosa (where shirley wong was interviewed).


kah heng

Hong said...

The write up is good in terms of the introduction and it explains the aims and objectives in the making of this video. Those were the expressions and thoughts that some of us may want to put them into words and you have said it all and I for one have a feeling of content. The theme music fits the video; poignant and melancholic. The first time I watched part 2 of the photos and as I listened to the piano rendition, tears welled up..a forlorn sadness seeping in..and yet towards the end of the video..happy moments of Stanley were related and it ended well with laughter and happy memories.. A mixture of both to commemorate him. Well edited and making some of us looking natural and at ease..thank you!

Hong said...

..and yes, you gave us ample time to read the introduction in the video.. :-) yes, not forgetting to thank Lek and Lay Bee for spearheading this project with the agreement of Lau Choy of course!