The premiere will take place on Sunday 4th May 2008 from 7pm at the Harvard Exit theater located in Capitol Hill. It will be a private event in front of a specially invited audience.

‘Continuum’ is Jay’s first film produced in the States and was shot in April of 2007 over the course of six days on locations in Seattle.

The film follows the story of a man named Scott who after loosing his wife and child in a tragic car accident slowly tries to rebuild his life, but he soon finds that the line between reality and imaginary can often be blurry.

‘Continuum’ stars Rodrigo DeMedeiros as Scott and Agnes Muljadi as Lizzie.

More information will be released in the coming weeks.

RELEVANT LINKS
Official Movie Site (USA)
Official Movie Site (UK/Europe)
Continuum on Myspace
Continuum on Youtube

‘The Long March’ is a feature film retelling of the major event in 1930’s China when over 87,000 men, women and children embarked upon a 7,000 mile journey across the country to evade the ruling Guomindang who had begun a campaign to suppress the rising revolution within China.

The teaser was produced to raise awareness of the story as well as a showcase of Jay and lead actress Agnes Muljadi who will play Lian in the feature.

“It was quite an amazing feat” says Jay. “We had been tasked with creating a short teaser film for potential investors with a deadline set only two weeks away from when we were to begin. We did casting, pre-production, shot the film and completed post-production all within the two weeks!”.

The teaser also stars Seattle actors Dom Chan, Elizabeth Daruthayan and Melissa Pang. Andy Chan, a British actor based in Seattle, took the part of a Guomindang Soldier. The film was line produced by Mark Brent. Director of Photography was Michael Welty.

The film is currently being viewed by investors and producers across the world via a special private pre-production website set up by Funkbuddha to showcase the film and the talent behind it.

The feature film will be shot entirely on location in China.

RELEVANT LINKS:
The Long March - Official Website
Agnes Muljadi - Official Website
Jay Purcell on Myspace

Funkbuddha Productions is currently casting for a number of Chinese roles in the upcoming production of ‘The Long March’.

‘The Long March’ is a feature film which recounts a true epic story in Chinese history. Directed by British filmmaker Jay Purcell the film will be shot entirely on location in China later this year.

What we are producing now is a short teaser for our investors both here in the States and the UK. We will be shooting the teaser here in Seattle and at locations in Eastern Washington.

We are currently casting for the following Chinese roles. Although we are looking for Chinese actors, this teaser will be shot in English. Other Asian and mixed actors are welcomed as well. The ability to speak the Chinese language would however be a great advantage.

*MALE LEAD
20-30, Chinese

*MALE SOLDIER
20-40, Asian, Non-Speaking

*YOUNG WOMAN
20’s, Asian, Non-Speaking

*OLDER WOMAN
30-50’s, Asian, Non-Speaking

*EXTRAS
A number of extras are sought. All mixtures of age range and gender are welcomed.

In the first instance please send your headshot and if available a link to your online showreel to:
casting@funkbuddha.com or contact Line Producer Mark Brent on 206-948-2659

Casting sessions will be held this weekend (Sat & Sun) in downtown Seattle.

A target date for shooting is set for the end of next week (28th onwards).

All those involved will receive pay, credit and a copy of the final product on DVD.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE SEE:
www.funkbuddha.com/thelongmarch
www.thelongmarch.com
www.myspace.com/thelongmarchmovie

PERSONNEL:
Directed By: Jay Purcell
Director of Photography: Michael Welty
Line Producer: Mark Brent
International Sales Agent: Velvet Octopus, London

SUBMISSIONS:
- Headshot and online showreel link (if available) to casting@funkbuddha.com
or contact
- Line Producer Mark Brent: 206-948-2659 / mark@brentcreative.com

(Above: Robert Lin (L) and Martin Scorsese on the set of ‘Kundun’ - 1997)

Robert started his career at the age of just 10, appearing in Peking Opera productions around the city of Beijing. He later moved to New York where among many productions he appeared in the legendary Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe’s ‘Preacher and Rapper’ for which he received critical acclaim from the likes of the New York Times.

‘The Long March’ will not be the first time Robert has appeared in a film about recent Chinese history. In 1997 he played the role of Chairman Mao in the Martin Scorsese epic, and Oscar Nominated, ‘Kundun’.

Among Robert’s other credits are ‘Red Corner’ with Richard Gere and more recently an appearance with Jack Black in the Richard Linklater directed film ‘School Of Rock’.

funkbuddha.com is still awaiting confirmation of which role Robert will play in the film. News on that will be released here shortly.

RELATED LINKS:
Robert Lin on IMDb

The screening was held online to a specially selected audience from both the UK and USA and was the first step in many new avenues being explored by Funkbuddha to use web technologies in ways beyond that of just promoting a film.

“The screening process went much better than I would have thought” said Director Jay Purcell. “We have been developing this new online tecnology which allows us to test out films by sending people straight to their own private online account where they can watch the film and submit us feedback on what they thought”.

The new screening method utilises flash video technology being developed by New York based Vidavee, who hosted and streamed the video for the online test screening.

“I think it worked well on this small scale as we were only dealing with a short film.” said Jay “When it comes to a feature film maybe the traditional theatre screenings will still be best, but I wouldn’t rule anything out. The feedback we got from ‘Continuum’ with this online screening was incredibly valuable to us in deciding what changes to make to the film and it didn’t seem at all that the technology or online streaming got in the way of people really watching the film for what it is and giving us their constructive feedback”.

‘Continuum‘ will now complete the final stages of post-production before being launched at a Seattle premiere in 2008.

RELEVANT LINKS:
- Continuum Official Site
- Continuum on Myspace
- Continuum Youtube Channel

We have just launched the myspace site for out new feature film ‘Dichotomy‘.

www.myspace.com/dichotomymovie

If you are a user of myspace, then this is a good place for you to track the progress of the film. News, Pictures, Blogs, Video and more will all be added as the production moves forward.

RELATED LINKS:
- Dichotomy on Myspace
- What is Dichotomy?

Funkbuddha’s Agnes Muljadi has just won the OWIFM Award (Outstanding Women in Film and Music).

The competition was fierce with the likes of Charlotte Gainsbourg (The Science of Sleep) and Gong Li (Memoirs of A Geisha) also up for the award. The votes were cast by members of the public via email and the online social networking site ‘Myspace‘. The votes were close but in the end Agnes won with a total of 15,938 votes!

RELEVANT LINKS:
Agnes Muljadi - Official Website
Agnes Muljadi - Official Myspace

Attending Cinema Expo in Amsterdam, June 25th thru 27th, confirmed my conviction that digital cinema is the future. It dominated the seminars, that featured the heads of many major Hollywood studios who are now embracing this new technology. Dreamworks, Disney and Sony are all developing 3D projects, that no longer require those crazy specs to view the film. Christie’s have developed switchable projectors. This means that within 12 months there will be at least 2,700 digital screens in the USA alone capable of screening 3D. A route we are exploring for, ‘The Long March‘. More on this as we move into pre-production.

This trade fair is aimed primarily at cinema owners. Many of whom I was able to meet. All declared their interest in screening, ‘The Long March‘. One Indian group confirmed on the spot that they would take it! Although the studios are moving towards digital cinema, it is the smaller, independent groups that appear ahead of the bigger theatre chains. China is second to the USA, with more than 700 digital cinemas being installed this year alone. The UK leads the way in Europe with 240 and rising, followed closely by Germany and the Benelux countries. Technicolor, a name synonymous with film since its inception, is at the forefront of the digital technology. It was at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival that they launched their UK facility that will provide the encrypted DCI masters for international distribution. We have chosen Technicolor for, ‘The Long March‘.

RELEVANT LINKS:
Digital Cinema Info - Wikipedia
The Long March - Official Website

Persistance pays off. It was whilst working as a television scriptwriter in Australia in 1975 that I first became interested in the ‘Long March‘. From the outset I saw this epic journey as an amazing human endeavour, not a political statement. That belief remains. For many of the ordinary Chinese who embarked upon this campaign had no concept of such idealogies. They had been persecuted and subjugated by successive warlords. They needed an escape. They needed to find a way to forge their own destiny. This they sincerely believed would be achieved by joining the masses that were intent on breaking free from the nationalist stranglehold. They were prepared for the supreme sacrifice necessary to make that ultimate journey.

When my own journey started, Mao had been lying in state for two years. China remained hidden behind the bamboo curtain. Obtaining a visa to visit was virtually impossible. My own request was politely declined on the basis that, ‘we regret there are at this time no hotels suitable for a European visitor‘.

I returned to the UK, where I continued my research, uncovering transcripts of speeches given by Mao Zedong during the Long March. These provided an invaluable insight into his military capabilities. I also sourced a wealth of first hand accounts by many ordinary Chinese peasants and soldiers who participated in the march. Many of these experiences are woven into my screenplay, imbuing it with authenticity. A screenplay that I originally wrote some twenty years ago. By then things had eased somewhat, and it was becoming possible to travel to China, with restrictions. Chinese diplomats I had met in Los Angeles two years previously were open to the idea of producing such a film, although it went no further. When the script was submitted to a major studio it was met with enthusiasm, but passed on, because of the prohibitive cost of producing such an epic.

For 20 years the screenplay remained in the draw. Then, through John Hodges, I met Xiaoyan, who immediately embraced the project. It is thanks to her tireless efforts, patience and professionalism that we are now able to commence, ‘The Long March‘. Her colleagues in the Chinese film industry introduced us to Mr Han Zhijun, of Changchun Film Studios, who we met in Cannes during the 2007 festival. Despite the language barrier Mr Han and I had an instant rapport. He said he could sense my passion and knowledge for the subject and an agreement to work together was readily agreed.

RELEVANT LINKS:
Learn About the ‘Long March’ at Wikipedia
The Long March - Official Website

RELEVANT LINKS:
- News & Updates Archive
- Continuum - Official Website
- Continuum - Official MySpace
- Continuum - Official YouTube