And it's a wrap!
Sunday, August 20, 2006

Principal Photography for Sumolah is finally complete - as of early this morning at 3.22am. We shot out last scene beneath the towering Twin Towers in sleepy Kg Baru. And the moment Afdlin called "It's a wrap for Sumolah", everyone belted out mixed signals. Some of sigh of reliefs, others mostly of memories and friendship bonds made having come to an end, accompanied by hugs and handshakes, smiles and almost cries.

After spending 63 days, through thick and thin, with mad deadlines and the memorable 10-days in Fukuoka - how can any of the team members not feel a sudden void of missing the Sumolah family now that the film's over? I know, I'll miss everyone despite it all.

But for Afdlin and the Vision Works team, it's not over yet. There's still editing, audio dubbing, and a whole lot of other set of preparations to get Sumolah OUT THERE for you awesome people! Nokotta!

posted by zona marie @ 11:33 AM, ,


live from LUCCT: Sumo tourney, 3rd bout
Saturday, August 12, 2006

Outback Sushi vs Diamond Sushi

posted by zona marie @ 7:21 PM, ,


live frm LUCCT: Day 2 - Sumo Tournament

Welcome to the 15th Amateur Sumo Tournament organized by the Association of Sushi Restaurants Malaysia, sponsored by Celcom. Live on location, these photos comes to you from Cyberjaya.


The dohyo all ready to go for the first match of the day.


The scoreboard and Amateur Sumo Tournament


Afdlin and Heil, along with an army of cameras.


Referees and the rikishi blocking before take.

posted by zona marie @ 6:41 PM, ,


building the Dohyo
Monday, August 07, 2006

Leading up to our final few days of filming, our Art Department team has been working hard and challenged into builing a sumo dohyo set from scratch, where our biggest scenes of the film will be held.

Our confirmed location for this set is at the Limkokwing University College of Creative Technology's auditorium. And set building has been on-going since Friday evening. I dropped by this afternoon, and it's looking awesome.


They're still at the clay laying stage and it's going to take a few days for it to harden.


We've even got a roller to compact the clay to ensure it can carry the rikishi's weight.

Filming at the dohyo commences August 10th onwards. If any of you are still interested in being an extra as audience for this, please leave your phone numbers at sumolah (@) gmail (dot) com. Some of you who've emailed us, did not reply with your phone numbers. Please do. Cheers!

posted by zona marie @ 4:02 PM, ,


Domo arigato, Fukuoka!

The cast and crew are back in KL after an amazing 10 days of filming, which also turned out to be a touching fellowship exchange among us, the Japanese rikishi and the wonderfully dedicated Japanese film crew from AND film.

We're glad to have come through with such a tight schedule and now ready to take on our final 14 days of filming back in Malaysia.

Our deepest appreciation and gratitude goes out to the City of Fukuoka, the Fukuoka Film commission, Fukuoka City Hall, the rikishi of Kyushu University, AND films and all who've extended their help in one way or another. Not forgetting Amir, a Malaysian student studying in Fukuoka, who've delighted our Japanese film crew with his Japanese by being a part of our team.

Arigato gozaimasu!


The old dohyo, where we shot the sumo practices.


The student rikishi who helped us and were part of Sumolah.


Afdlin, Awie & Radhi among the rikishi at the dohyo.


They're excited and happy rikishi.


The cast & crew at Kawabata shopping street, where we filmed at.

posted by zona marie @ 3:41 PM, ,


behind the scenes
Wednesday, August 02, 2006

It was a proud moment for myself and the other Vision Works Company Directors, seeing the cast & crew gather at KLIA last saturday, all wearing their green & black vision works shirts. We had come a long way from the days we ran an office without a floor or airconditioning cos we couldn't afford it! We felt like proud parents sending the kids off to college. Sniff...sniff....brings a tear to my eye!

It's hard to describe the amount of energy that goes on behind the production process. The time and energy to organize it all so that people can do their work and make a film. While the majority of the crew & main cast are filming in Fukuoka, some of the crew stayed behind to get things organised for the rest upon their return to KL. over the last few days, Along (PM), Paul (Head Art Dept) and Nat (PM) have been working tirelessly to scout for locations and meet with the appropriate people to give us permisssion to shoot at those locations for the very big sumo tournament scene we are scheduled to shoot next week. Thanks to those 3, their helpers and the very kind people they met today, we have ourselves a location and much more! THANK YOU!

For the rest in Japan, they have been shooting like crazy! and the crew from AND Films Ltd have been ever so helpful and accommodating, not only ferrying the crew here and there, but also translating menus and acting as tour guides for everyone. Thanks to AND Films for all your help. If you live in Fukuoka, the crew will be out filming at Dazaifu Shrine tomorrow. It's gona be a busy scene with an estimated 1000 visitors to the shrine.

posted by Cilla @ 8:44 PM, ,