Fala Chen’s Self Directed Short Film Wins Award
After leaving TVB in 2013, Fala Chen (陳法拉) attended the prestigious Julliard School for Drama. After completing her master’s degree, she explored other opportunities. Recently, her self-directed and acted piece, Passenger <人來人往>, won an award at the Sundance Film Festival 2018 Hong Kong Short Film Competition.
During a pop-up store-opening event, Fala expressed that she will be staying in Hong Kong for awhile. In terms of her recent win at the Sundance Film Festival, Fala shared with the reporters that she never thought she would win this award. During her schooling, she would even hide her projects because she did not have the confidence.
Though Fala has a lot of experience in acting with her background at TVB, directing is definitely a new challenge for her. She felt a little discouraged before because she didn’t know how difficult the process of directing and editing was. However, she wants to continue trying and improving her future works.
Her short film, Passenger, talks about societal problems, which makes it relevant to viewers. With this topic in mind, she wants to continue with this idea in her future works to bring more awareness.
The overachieving actress is apparently not resting on her laurels after her triumph, as she is already writing a new script for a film, which she revealed would be in a foreign language. Fala shared that she would be involved in acting, though not directing the film, as she wanted to focus on giving her role all of her attention and not be distracted by the multiple responsibilities of the director. While she is still making preparations for the project, she hopes to be able to finish the script sometime next year, and would share more details at a later stage. Looking out for potential investors to help finance her film, Fala joked that she would consider applying for a government grant.
As for the rest of this year, Fala mentioned that she would be heading to Inner Mongolia soon to work on a project helmed by a new female director, a project she is very excited about. As temperatures are expected to drop to below 5 degree Celsius over there, she would definitely be bringing many thermal packs along.
This article is written by Hailey and JoyceK for JayneStars.com.
Good luck to Fala but looking for an investor is easier said than done if it is a big production…
she should be so proud of her achievements. it just seem to me she gave sacrifices to her accomplishments. it’s a great thing for someone to be able to venture out of their comfort zone or what they normally do and do something else. directing is a good move and so is script writing for her to keep improving herself.
@m0m0
Yes. Fala is one certainly an exception to the ones mentioned in Anthony Wong’s interview. She realised her flaws and sacrificed to improve them and even venture into other forms of production. Other actresses in Fala’s shoes with her popularity would have milked as much money as possible in the years Fala went to study. I think this Fala decision has be at least slightly influenced after working with Francis Ng…
@jimmyszeto
why you say she was influenced by francis ng? did he do that too or just his perspective? i thought it had to do with her divorce at the time and realizing her career would at best be a tv queen had she stayed.
@m0m0
If I remember correctly Fala had trouble playing playing the character of ‘Holiday’ in parts in Triumph in the Skies II due to the huge difference between her character and her real life personality. Francis gave Fala some constructive criticism and advice. He was harsh but Fala realised her limitations so searched for a course to improve. The divorce would be enough to push her into hiding but not enough to study a seriously tough course for a few years…
@jimmyszeto
yea, i think she didn’t portray the character that well but it wasn’t just that character. she needed improvement in acting back then.
@m0m0
I think Fala is a serious person in real life so it was fine when she played roles as beauties with cold personality. ‘Holiday’ though was playful, childish at times and quick witted so Fala found it tough and a lot of scenes seems forced rather than natural. A good actor/actress should be able handle these roles with ease. Just take Stephen Chow, Anothony Wong and Francis Ng for example who are serious and explosive individuals.