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MalaysiaQuan, a loyal gang member has to choose between completing his mission and breaking the rules to save his brother's ass.
Synopsis2 brothers, Quan and Ming belong to the Waja Warriors, one of the oldest and most feared biker gangs dealing in DVD piracy. Quan is a loyal and traditional soldier who will die by the rules. When Ming is in trouble with the rival gang, CoD (Children of DamnedNation or Cash on Delivery), Quan has to make a decision - completing his mission for the Waja Warriors, or breaking the gang laws to save his brother.
Director's StatementI love Asian action movies. Being a female white director in Asia isn't necessarily a common thing, but Malaysia has proven very open and very supportive to my visions.
I met Chee Hong at an indie movie screening and immediately thought I need to get to work with these guys! In my previous movie projects I had action scenes, but they were more the 'Guys, get as busy as you can and I'll edit something out of it' type. Now I had the option to have real choreographed fight scenes! Chee Hong and his group of friends were very interested. They all have 9 to 5 day-jobs. The Malaysian industry is not know for paying good and the safety for stuntmen often lacks. Therefore the Ramly at War project, purely done out of fun and ambition, was totally along their lines.
Then I though about involving dC (Danny Chua) in the production. He's the cousin of my previous movie collaborator Adrian Lai and has extensive contacts to a lot of Harley Davidson bikers. The idea of an action / biker / martial arts mixed movie was born. dC proved to be a good actor and scriptwriter as well, next to being a resourceful producer. Nothing better then to find people being able to cover several jobs at once in a low budget production!
dC's friend Dexter, an Indonesian biker and cinematographer agreed to shoot Ramly at War. He told us later, he was actually ready to give up after the first day. No equipment (I told him I try, I meant more than likely he won't get what he's asking for, he read likely he'll get the lights, track etc. he wants) and no trained crew made it tough. However, after the shoot he admitted that he became totally addicted to 'chaos' productions. According to him, once he got used to be his own assistant and focus puller, the whole environment of the shoot was a great creative boost.
Ramly at War Begins was a great shooting experience. I'm proud of the action sequences, the pictures and the entire movie. We hope to be able to extend our collaboration into a feature... involving again bikers and fights and A LOT of fun! :)
Cheers, Juliane
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Directed by
Juliane Block -
Written by
Juria Toramae, Danny Chua, Juliane Block -
Produced by
Juliane Block, Danny Chua, Jamilah Wadan, Juria Toramae - Ramly at War Begins Website
Written by: Juria Toramae, Danny Chua, Juliane Block
Produced by: Juliane Block, Danny Chua, Jamilah Wadan, Juria Toramae
Cast
Waja Warrior Commander: Huey HewRamly, the beggar: Aliff Zulkifli
Ming: Michael Chen
Headmonster: Danny Chua
Quen: Cheng Tzuu Bong
Crew
Music Composer: Ivan ChanDirector of Photography: Dexter Bahjanoon
Action Director: Chee Hong
Editor: Juliane Block
"Producer Danny Chua on Ramly at War Begins"
My general interests in life - customizing bikes and old cars, reading and writing scripts/stories/lyrics, watching films, lots of film, and travelling to do nothing; with the occasional help in some of friends’ production as an extra or behind the scenes.
When Juliane was conceptualising Ramly At War, she was wondering if I would be interested to get involved. It was gonna be a film with keywords like – bikes, gangs, fights, chicks, piracy, loyalty.
It wasn’t hard to say yes.
Plus I love “no” budget productions – not as in unlimited, as in lower than “low” budget. Usually brings out the best and worse in people… with guaranteed fun!
From just filling in part of the script with concepts and characters that had been floating in my head and scrap books for a while, I soon found myself co-producing for the shoot. Many of the locations required were available from garages and empty shoplots belonging to some friends who owe me (therefore = free).
Overall… it was nothing short of the original objective – fun.
See you at Ramly at War – Full Feature.
Btw, who’s Ramly??
Oinks!
dC
"Stunt crew Low Angle Productions on Ramly at War Begins"
I'll tell you what Ramly at War meant to us at LAProd...
New friends:
We got to Ampang Galaxy mall [shooting location], not knowing what kind of people to expect. The director mentioned that the bikers might look fierce and intimidating, but they were the most shy and nice people around!
Diversity in Fight Styles:
Well, I am unable to elaborate on that, because you have to watch the fights to see the different styles of fighting we choreographed. This is a big step for us, because all these whiles, our fights have been in a way generic fighting. Exploring the speed possibility and the technical movesets have opened our minds to other ideas. It will be very interesting to see where our training brings us, along with the opportunities that might present themselves. We're getting better (I wanna say we're good, but shy la).
An investment for the future:
Why do I say that? Because Ramly at War is what the production unit calls a no budget short film. No one got paid to act or fight in it, in fact there were generous people who sponsored stuff to eat and drink. The bikers trustingly left their choppers at the shooting location for our perusal. So what kind of investment are we talking about? That's right.... it's become our new showreel :0)
Garry E - Kick Fighter in RAW Begins
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Director
Juliane Block
