Holiday like James Bond
Article by Natalie
Ahead of the Macao International Film and Video Festival, Alice Chan talks to actor-director Thomas Lim about the challenges and opportunities of independent filmmaking in Macau.
Too few outsiders look beyond Macau’s casinos in search of the enclave’s more authentic spirit, but Singaporean actor and director Thomas Lim is one of them. For Lim, Macau undoubtedly “holds a special little place” in his heart and that’s why he decided to make his feature film directorial debut in the city. Entitled Roulette City, Lim’s film will be showing as part of the Macao International Film and Video Festival this fortnight.
With few people making films in Macau, Lim, an experienced actor in his own right, saw in the city an opportunity to launch his directorial career, despite the obvious drawback of there being very few experienced professionals in the immediate vicinity to help with the actual film production. Explaining that Macau was his “safe haven” during his time as an actor in Beijing, Lim says he would visit the SAR whenever he needed to go for a visa run or wanted an escape from other problems. Through theatre jobs he had done on and off in the city, Lim acquired a community of talented friends in the local theatre circle long before moving there in 2008. “In the beginning, I moved there because of them in the sense that they’re very genuine people,” Lim says of his friends.… Read the rest