‘zero waste home’ film today

this is a long overdue post. i attended this recycling talk on 7 sept and was suppose to blog about it at least  a week after but due to too many political matters and issues popping up, i blog about those instead. actually i had already prepared the write-up in the beginning of sept on my PDA – waiting for post to blog with pictures. i decided to blog about it today since today what i am going to blog about will be shown as a film today!

ok this is the write-up i had made much earlier…. (CnP from my PDA).

Most people in Penang has heard of Don Theseria and Mylene Ooi, the husband and wife team, known as ‘the green crusader’ couple. (picture)

They had been going around Penang island and mainland giving talks countless number of times, as  many as over 200 times! The talks were given to large corporations like Intel and Nestle, NGO, schools,  churches and also government bodies.

For their efforts in so passionately promoting recycling, readers digest gave them a ‘everyday hero’  award in 2002.

Now, remember BK Ong, Penang’s well-known ‘long hair, long beard’ activist? Aware of the couple’s  efforts going round giving talk, he thought why not film them giving the talk. In this way, he’ll be killing two  birds with a stone – he get to make a film and he’s doing Don and Mylene a favor by having their talk  recorded on film. This augers well not only for Don and Mylene but for others who can get to hear their talk on film instead of getting Don  and Mylene in persons for the talk.

Not many may not know BK Ong is also a film-maker. At the freedom film fest organised by Komas last  year, he was one of the winner. Well, for this year’s fest, he will be submitting this recycling film as a  producer.

The filming was done on 7 sept at D’space, Weld Quay, with an audience of over 30 persons. I was one  among the audience. Audience participation with questions at the end of the talk was also filmed.

I had attended Don and Mylene talk 3 years ago, when it was organised by our church (btw, yes, they are  catholics like me), and blog about it too (but can’t seems to find the post though i searched high and low).

Basically, their talk all the time were the same (covering same topics). Briefly, their talk covers 5 parts, ie.

1. Items that can be recycled.
2. How to handle the recycled items.
3. Items that cannot be recycled.
4. Going green.
5. How to start a project.

They brought along all those items mentioned as samples (can be recycled and cannot be recycled) to the talk, as you can see from the 2nd photo here. (and that doesn’t even show all the items!). note: these 2 photos were taken by me during the talk itself.

Don and Mylene, who live in Taman Bukit Indah, had very successfully started projects, and the cash that  they generated from the sale of the recycled items were all donated to charity. To date, they had  donated over RM50, 000.

Impressive indeed. That’s why I admire them. They are doing a great service to the community.

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ok the above were what i had written much earlier (but posted now). now the good news is that the film of don and mylene giving thier recycling talk is ready and will be shown today at d’space, weld quay. it is open to anyone. here’s the info from the penang film club blog:

Screening this Sunday (Oct 26th) :
`Zero Waste Home’
(85min) starts at 8.00pm
Venue:  D’ Space (3rd floor, 62 Weld Quay, above Damacai shop)

Introduction to film:

The film to be screened is a home made film on a decade long recycling campaign by the well known Penang couple Don Thesiera & Mylene Ooi of Bkt Mertajam. The film shows the seldom seen faces of the 30-year-old Jelutong Landfill -which has grown up to over 3-storey high, and if left to push into the sea, may well create a 2nd Penang-Prai Bridge at no financial cost to the tax payers! (But the environmental cost may send some shivers up your back!) To stop such garbage mountain from crowding out Penangites’ (and Malaysia’ns’) living spaces the committed couple have been making their recycling presentation to almost anyone who requested it in the country. The film was made as a way to document the presentation after some 200 times that Don & Mylene have done it on face-to-face encounters with residents groups, schools, clubs, corporations and even government officials! The film will help extend their green message, especially considering that they will get too tired one day. Come to meet the tireless couple and give them a pat on the back! You are also welcome to check out their web site through the link above.

Background to the film making:

The idea of making the film has started at least a year ago after the film maker (BK Ong) won a Freedom Film Fest award in 2007. Don & Mylene had been resisting the idea of filming their  presentation because they prefer face-to-face talks which they rightly consider to be more effective. But they then saw that making a film and sending it to festival is also a very effective way to push their green message at well attended festivals. So they approached the film maker to make a film about their presentation and to look for a  suitable film festival to send the future film to. When a suitable film festival was found ie the Eco-film Fest the film making was set into motion. But there was some unexpected twist: the film fest only offer financial support to film proposals from first time film makers. That information did not come to the film maker until after the proposal was sent out-which meant it was at quite late stage. To salvage the film project some calls were made around to locate alternate sponsors.

Luckily and quickly USM RCE (Regional Centre for Expertise) program offered RM3000.00 to sponsor the film’s making! By the time the finances came through and Don & Mylene found time for the filming it was quite late before the submission deadline on Sept 20th (later extended). But thankfully some 50 people turned up for the shooting to play the live audience!

On top of that the film fest limit the films submissions to less than 15 min, which mean that the film maker need to make another shorter version of the presentation for submission. With the help of another few more volunteers and Don’s neighbours the 15-min version film was successfully shot and express-edited by editor Johny Goh before the deadline.

So the screening will be joined by a number of the original audience of the shootings of the 2 versions of the film. For all others who had not seen the presentation before the film is definitely a recommendation! So cancel all appointments this Sunday evening and bring your family and friends to the FREE premier screening!

Penang Film Club

NOTE:  don’t forget the ‘book reading’ by kee thuan chye today too at 2.30pm.