Respire's Wi Ding Ho Making The Step To Features With Pinoy Sunday

We've been tracking Malaysian director Wi Ding Ho - like his countryman Tsai Ming Liang based in Taiwan - since coming across his award winning - and stunningly gorgeous, the image to the left is lifted from it - short film Respire, a near future drama inspired by the SARS crisis. The man is an obvious talent behind the camera and word has just trickled down that not only does he have some new short projects in the works but he is also preparing his debut feature length project.

Wi Ding's feature debut will be entitled “Pinoy Sunday” and will be shot in Taiwan starting in Summer 2008. Wi Ding will direct from a screenplay he has co-written with Ajay Balakrishnan, who recently attended the Binger Film Lab in Amsterdam . The brother team of Claude and Marc Etienne will co-produce the film through their BreadMaker Pictures production outfit. Jake Pollock, who received the Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Taipei Film Festival for Wi Ding’s Cannes award-winning short film “Respire”, will lens the picture.

The synopsis for “Pinoy Sunday” is as follows: Two Filipino migrant workers living in Taipei discover a beautiful sofa which has been discarded. Their normal sunday takes an adventurous turn when they decide to bring the sofa back to their dorm outside the city.

Investors are currently being sought to fund the project.

The return of cinematographer Jake Pollock is very welcome news as the man is a huge talent behind the camera and I'm more than a little curious to see what he can do with the material. One thing's certain, the man is a huge talent.

Visit the production company website here.