Jay Scott Kanes - Author, Photojournalist, Blogger:

(story, photos & captions by Jay, click to enlarge)

HERE, MASKS FALL:
LAMMA STARS IN A MOVIE

With a modest production budget but a big theme, independent film-maker Alba Rayton has created Masks, an emotional, scenic and content-rich short movie about tiny Lamma Island that most viewers will love. Already showing signs of success, it's poised to screen at three overseas film festivals – one in America, one in Europe and one in Asia.

"It's magical and exciting to create a story that not only friends can see, but also people around the world," Alba said. "I love to share my imagination."

Although moody and laced with exotic Asian flavors, Masks nicely captures the natural beauty, village lifestyle and eccentric touches that make Lamma special. Nearly every scene in the 50-minute movie demonstrates 63-year-old Alba's artistic talent. How artistic is she? Consider a strategic camera shot of a departing ferry seen through the spokes of a bicycle wheel.

"I try to create cine-art," Alba said. "My films are very lyrical and poetic with the images. We achieve that with the camera, lights and shapes. The audience should feel that all emotions have been touched."

Plans call for a Hong Kong premiere in late May. "If for some reason we can't have a public screening on Lamma, then my intention is to have a night elsewhere mainly for Lamma people," Alba said.

Based on Alba's own script, the movie tells of Dan, an American schoolteacher living with a pet parrot in the hilltop village of Tai Peng: "Two different birds played the parrot's role. They worked in shifts."

Suddenly, Dan receives a phone call urging that he provide a home to Philip, his 13-year-old nephew. Reluctantly, he agrees, and two anguished souls must live together. Is Lamma really big enough for them both? "It's about the conflict within them and how the pain they share can divide or unite them."

Philip dislikes Lamma, partly because his uncle insists on feeding him chicken feet, octopus, thousand-year-old eggs and other oddities. When unhappy, he retreats into the winding arms of sturdy trees.

But Dan tells the boy: "I'm happier here (on Lamma). I don't have to wear masks. I have fewer cravings."

An image of two passing ferries, one going, one coming, symbolizes the characters' relationship. Wise beyond his years, the boy warns Dan: "Grandma says you can die of loneliness," and "Seriously, you need a girlfriend, one you can touch, talk to and love."

Nearly the entire movie, produced at a cost of about HK$150,000, unfolds on Lamma. The cast and crew shot images along Yung Shue Wan's Main Street, at the fishing village and adjacent beach, along footpaths with familiar green railings, on hillsides and a rooftop, near the windmill, at a shrine behind the clinic, on the pier and even on ferries. Practicing dragon-boat racers paddle past. Nick the Bookman makes a cameo appearance, as does a familiar fishball merchant. The Green Cottage has prominence in the credits because the crew took breaks and ate there.

Stretching a tight budget often means disregarding formalities. "For short scenes, there's such a thing as guerrilla shooting," Alba said. "You don't ask permission. You just do it."

Naturally, she needs other talented, dedicated people too. Each crew member has multiple tasks. "It's hard on us physically, mentally and emotionally," Alba said. "It drains us."

She heaps praise onto Fandy Fan, the editor, cameraman, assistant director and much more. "He really held things together." And production assistant Lisa Cherfan smoothed away one problem after another. Lamma Islander Richard F. Jones joined the crew and contributed strongly on sound.

Most low-budget movies can't pay the actors. Simon Rayton, Alba's 34-year-old son, plays Dan. "That was a great experience for us," she said. "We got to know each other much better."

The movie co-stars 12-year-old Alex Cherfan as Philip, his sister Mikaela, age 10, as Christine, Philip's friend, and actress Jo Jo Yee, originally from Malaysia, as Christine's mother. The Cherfan children, once Alba's neighbors in Pokfulam, later moved to Australia.

In May, Masks will screen at the British Film Festival in Los Angeles. Then in June, it shows at the International Film Festival in Phuket, Thailand, and at the Heart of England International Film Festival.

When shooting on weekends for two-and-a-half months early last year, Alba fell in love with Lamma so deeply that she and her husband John, a retired bio-chemist and businessman, now also her executive producer, promptly moved here. Shooting ended in April, and they arrived to stay in May.

"In search of a movie setting, I went to a few islands," Alba said, "and I realized that Lamma has much more than just seafood restaurants. I fell totally in love with the place."

Like most Lamma newcomers, Alba and John then adopted pets – two young dogs, Ginger and Mabel, who as puppies resembled brown bear-cubs. "We always wanted animals," Alba said. "After finding the two dogs, they made our lives on Lamma even happier than we expected."

Simon, a businessman, poet and now lead actor, also lives on Lamma. "He moved here soon after we did," Alba said.

Long a drama teacher (ideal to direct rookie actors), the worldly Alba, originally from Puerto Rico, has lived in the United States, England, Thailand, Indonesia, China and now Hong Kong.

She took up film-making a few years ago and studied at the Hong Kong International Film Academy. "Finally, I'm pursing what I always wanted -- film-making and directing," she said, mentioning the names Richard Wong and Gilbert Po as her "very important" film-making advisors.

So far, Masks is her longest project. But one earlier film, The Birthday Party, finished in 2007, won an award at the Hong Kong Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Nineteen minutes long and costing just HK$10,000, The Birthday Party revolves around a love triangle, a pregnancy and a positive HIV-AIDS test.

Next, Alba aspires to do a documentary about the many unusual characters, both human and animal, living on Lamma in harmony with nature and each other. She'll find ample material because, like her protagonist Dan, real-life Lamma Islanders dislike wearing masks.

Alba can be reached by email:
albarayton@hotmail.com.

Lamma through her lens:
Alba Rayton takes aim.

Alba finds inspiration on her rooftop.

Husband John has a suggestion or two.

Technically no film buff, Ginger's still a close advisor.

Pet dogs Ginger and Mabel offer creative input.

Moments of contemplation:
part of the creative process.

Movie directors must do paperwork too.

Scenes from the movie,
shot from the screen,
sorry for the quality!

Lamma on the big screen:
the ferry pier.

A main character strolls on the Main Street.

Northern Lamma:
seen in movie scenes.

As the windmill whirs, so does Dan's troubled mind.

Movie meow: a Tai Peng cat crosses the screen.

On 'magical' discs,
Alba 'shares her imagination'.

Lokkanat - Official Court Storyteller   (photos by Max1217, click to enlarge)

In the Old Days, when Lamma was connected to the northern land mass, the sea level was much lower. Lamma was then just a hilltop outpost overseeing a vast patch of fertile land to the south. As the sea level began to rise, some mystical creatures from the south migrated up north to Lamma. One of them was a pack of feline dogs with golden brown brindle markings.

According to the Lammayan Chronicles, the locals first noticed large black dogs with tiger markings in the forests shortly after the first sudden rise of the sea. They also noticed the large black dogs behaved more like cats than dogs and preferred to venture out of the forests under the cover of night. Their golden eyes glowed in the dark and they had this long growl which sounded like a purr. So the locals started calling them Lammayan Tigers.

Lammayan Tigers and locals lived together in harmony for seven years. During this time the harvest was good and more people came to settle down in the fertile land south of Lamma. Travellers from the north came to see the Lammayan Tigers and local taverns and businesses were all happy making a lot of money from the travellers.

Then one night shortly after the first full moon of the lunar year the Lammayan Tigers started to howl. The locals were scared to go out and all night they stayed up listening to the blood curdling howls of the Lammayan Tigers. When the sun rose the next day, the locals ventured out and noticed the Lammayan Tigers were all gone from the forests.

The following night the locals heard the howling again but this time it came from the hilltop. Some of the locals went out to see what was going on and they saw the golden eyes of the Lammayan Tigers all over the hilltop.

The next day the locals talked amongst themselves wondering what was going on with the Lammayan Tigers. One of the biggest land owners who had never really liked any cats and dogs saw the opportunity and claimed the population of the Lammayan Tigers had grown too large and their evil wild nature had begun to surface. It would be a matter of time before the Lammayan Tigers start raiding the local village. Although some of the locals were scared, they did not pay much attention to the land owner because they did not like him.

That night in the middle of the night the howling started again like the night before. But this time the howling was just outside the village and the howling was almost frantic. Remembering what the land owner had said earlier, some of the locals went to see the land owner for advice. The land owner told the locals they must kill the Lammayan Tigers or they would lose their village. So together they rounded all men and women of the village and confronted the Lammayan Tigers just outside the village….

It all started the night of the first full moon of the lunar year when the sky was clear and the stars were shining bright. During the course of the lunar eclipse, the Lammayan Tigers saw the signs in the sky and sensed the future in the air.

Fourteen thousand years ago…

… a wizard went on a bushwalk into the wilderness. For 30 years he wandered looking for someone to pass on his knowledge because the gods had told him in a dream. Then one day he came across a pack of feline dogs in a large oasis. He was old and tired. When he saw the feline dogs, he thought the gods had abandoned him and the feline dogs would surely devour him. But instead the feline dogs found him fruit and kept him warm at night.

Every night the wizard noticed the feline dogs would gaze upon the stars. At first he thought the feline dogs were just curious about the twinkling stars. Then one night the feline dogs started to howl and became agitated. So he looked up at the stars and he realized the feline dogs could read the signs of the sky.

The feline dogs nudged the wizard and urged him to leave with them. But the wizard was old and could not move properly. He knew his time was up and he was heart-broken by the kindness of the feline dogs. Instead of slowing down the feline dogs, he asked to speak with the leader of the feline dogs for he must fulfil what the gods had told him.

"Anoob, I am old and I can go no further. You must lead your pack south east to solid high ground before the sand swallows up everything. Once the sand is all settled, you must travel up north along the river where you will find men like me. To you I pass on the power of speech and my knowledge of life and death. Now you must go." The wizard smiled and passed away.

Anoob cried and cried. Although he knew he must lead the pack away, he could not bring himself to leave the body of the wizard to the elements. So he told his pack to go south east and wait for him up the mountain near the great lake.

When his pack had left, he cleansed the body of the wizard with the knowledge of life and death the wizard had given him. Anoob then dug a deep hole in the sand and buried both the wizard and himself….

For 90 days Anoob stayed buried with the wizard while the earth shook and the sand churned. For 90 days he guarded the body of the wizard. When all was settled, he dug out and carried the body of the wizard to the great lake to find his pack.

His pack had waited faithfully for Anoob at the great lake. When they saw Anoob, they were shocked to see how he had changed. The elements and the starvation had ravaged, if not transformed, the body of Anoob. His dark fur now had streaks of golden sand markings and his eyes were the colour of golden sand.

Some of the feline dogs were angry that they had waited for so long and they did not approve Anoob of his recklessness to risk his own life for the preservation of a dead man's body. To them, Anoob said, "All life is sacred and death is just a transition in life. For over 90 days you waited for me. No doubt you wondered if I had perished. Yet you waited. You waited because you knew I would come back. I waited because I knew the wizard would be back."

Anoob followed the last words of the wizard and led his pack up north where they found indeed wise men like the wizard. With the power of speech from the wizard, Anoob explained to the wise men up north the story of the wizard and the plight of his pack. The wise men were so impressed by Anoob that they built a temple to honour him and they took him and his pack as their equals.

Anoob lived for nearly six thousand years and men had come to revere him as a god. With the foresight of Anoob and his pack, men flourished and learnt the secrets of the stars and the knowledge of life and death. Giant sandstone temples and monuments were erected throughout the kingdom of the wise men to honour and worship Anoob and his pack.

Anoob fathered a lot of puppies but none of them had a life span longer than 20 years. Although his descendents did not inherit his longevity or power of speech, they all had eyes and brindle markings of brilliant golden sand colour. They could all read the signs of the sky and foresee the future….

So on the night of the lunar eclipse when the Lammayan Tigers saw the signs of the sky, they knew what they had to do lest neither Lammayan Tigers nor their fellow men would live no more….

The Lammayan Tigers stopped howling as they saw the locals approach. At first they thought the locals had gotten their message and had come to go up to the mountain with them. But the angry faces and the weapons the locals carried told them otherwise.

Some of the Lammayan Tigers lowered themselves in a submissive position to beg the locals to reconsider for they meant no harm. Some even rolled over to show the locals they had come in peace. If only the Lammayan Tigers could speak.

The locals started to massacre the Lammayan Tigers. They clubbed and hacked and before long the blood of the Lammayan Tigers soaked the ground. One Lammayan Tigers managed to escape and run up the hill. So the land owner rallied the locals to go after the lone Lammayan Tiger.

When the land owner and the locals reached the hilltop, they found the lone Lammayan Tiger hiding in a cave. Afraid of venturing into the cave, the locals set up a fire to smoke the lone Lammayan Tiger out. As the fire raged on, they saw a pair of golden eyes slowly emerge from the darkness of the cave. The land owner urged the locals to keep the fire ablaze and filled the night with his so cold-blooded mirth while the lone Lammayan Tiger gave out a long eerie howl of deep sorrow and pain.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew the fire away from the cave towards the locals who then started fleeing for their lives. When the locals were half way down the hill away from the fire, the sea started to suddenly rise and completely submerged the village drowning all their children before their eyes. According to the Lammayan Chronicles, Lamma then became an island and the locals moved to different parts of Lamma to start all over again.

In its recorded history which ended abruptly about two thousand years ago, the Lammayan Chronicles continued to report numerous sightings of a lone Lammayan Tiger….

Years passed and there were many stories about the Lammayan Tigers and what had really happened from the first howling to the night of the massacre. Many Lammayans believed the Lammayan Tigers had come to warn them of the calamity. But their ancestors being foolish and ignorant ended up slaughtering the Lammayan Tigers.

As for the lone Lammayan Tiger in the cave, many locals believed it had managed to escape and eventually mated with the local wild dogs because once in a while they noticed the local wild dogs would give birth to puppies with very subtle and patchy golden brindle markings. But some locals believed it died in the cave and the ghost of the lone Lammayan Tiger still roamed the hills looking for its pack.

However, descendants of the land owner held on to their belief that the Lammayan Tigers were evil. Whenever there were sightings of a Lammayan Tiger or just simply wild dogs on Lamma, some of the descendants would secretly put out poison along the hillside. Many innocent dogs and cats were killed over the years. Still no Lammayan Tiger was ever found.

Before the Lammayan Chronicles abruptly ended about two thousand years ago, there were two almost cryptic entries--one about a mysterious wizard and one about a mad land owner….

Mysterious Wizard

One day a wizard came ashore. He went straight up to the hilltop and entered the cave where the lone Lammayan Tiger had hidden years ago.

For 90 days the wizard stayed inside the cave.

On the 91st day near dusk when the fishermen came back from fishing, they saw the silhouette of a wizard holding a staff sailing off towards the setting sun. Beside him, they saw the silhouette of a big wolf dog.

So that night some of the fishermen went up to the cave to check on the wizard. They noticed the cave had collapsed and chiselled on the rock above the cave was an inscription of some pictogram or hieroglyph which none could understand.

Out of fear that it might be a curse, the fishermen smashed the inscription and buried the cave under tons of soil.

Mad Land Owner

Every now and then innocent dogs and cats continued to get poisoned and died. The locals were getting angry because every time there was a poisoning, the economy suffered. Locals would move away and travellers would stop coming to Lamma.

Then one day an innocent child playing along the hillside outside the northern village got poisoned and died. Seeing her only child convulse and die before her, the mother lost her mind. She carried her dead child into the village. She laid down the dead child in front of the village council and started pulling her hair out.

"I curse those who poison our hillsides. For every innocent dog and every innocent cat poisoned, those who put out the poison be condemned to living hell. You have killed my only child! I curse you and your family for all eternity!" The mother then ripped out her throat with her own bare hands and died.

That night the relatives gathered together to pray for the souls of the mother and the child at their ancestral home. All the neighbours stayed indoor to respect their privacy and offered their own prayers. In the middle of the night, there was a lot of weeping and screaming and it went on all night till dawn.

In the morning all was quiet and the neighbours went on leading their usual life.

A week later the neighbours brought food and offerings to the ancestral home as part of the local customs and rituals to honour the dead. They knocked on the door and there was no answer. But they could hear the voice of the patriarch. As the door was not locked, the neighbours opened the door and entered.

They found the patriarch and his wife sitting on the table talking to themselves and laughing. In front of him were the dead bodies of his relatives--all clubbed and hacked to death.

When the patriarch saw his neighbours, he said, "They came to help. But look what we have done!" The patriarch and his wife laughed and then took their own lives.

Shortly after these entries, the Old Ones left Lamma. The Lammayan Chronicles have only been recently unearthed. We are still trying to piece together and decipher the Chronicles.

The End For Now...

Nick the Bookman - Official Court Music Reviewer of the Lamma-zine:

(Story [abridged version] by Nick, photos from Mogwai's publicitity)

Mogwai - Live in HK - Jan 18 2009

It's the eve of the dawn of a new day in American and global political history. I'm walking home from a Mogwai gig at HITEC. In a few hours, Barack Obama is going to be the Most Powerful Man In The World, replacing George W. Bush....

...click for full review...

I was returning home from Mogwai's second HK gig in about two years. Only found out about their debut after the event. Local band Elf Fatima, who are musical kin under the skin, were the opening act. Mogwai are a Scottish quintet whose career began 13 years ago. They're on tour to promote and perform their sixth and latest release "The Hawk Is Howling". Their music is experimental, electronic, electric and eclectic. They've composed film soundtracks, notably for the documentary about now retired French footballer Zinedane Zidane. I'm up for a night of quiet/loud dynamics intermingled with dissonance and melody. The performance can cause timeshifts in perception. Some of the music might even by created by the mixmeisters at the master console, interacting and shaping the flow of the noise. The gig is a sellout. About 700 people crammed in the auditorium on the third floor of HITEC in Kowloon Bay. Elf Fatima are on tour, so they're absent. There is no opening act...

...Arrive safely and bump into Nick B. (fellow Lammaniac of Little Red Email fame). The hall is the same one I saw Michael Schenker Group and Strativarious (from Helsinki). True to form, everyone rushes to the front row seats for the best view. Doesn't matter. Even at the back, you're not going to miss anything.

I find myself standing next to Regina and Vincent AKA Snoblind. Have a good mag about the show. Haven't seen them since their two excellent gigs at Clockenflap at Cyberport and a more ambient gig on the middle floor of Pier 4. They've just played a recent Underground gig as well. If you're reading this, Snoblind, sorry, I couldn't get there. I strained my back and over-medicated myself for the pain. Am looking forward to hearing your new CD. Oh yeah, Sil, the drummer for The Sinister Left and a fellow YSW resident, is in attendance. Not surprised to see him here. Spotted him on a recent ferry ride looking admiringly through a big selection of Can CD's. Can are one of the pioneers of Krautrock, along with Amon Düül, Faust, Neu and Ash Ra Tempel. Don't forget the 'tronic boffins either like Tangerine Dream, Cluster, Edgar Froese and Klaus Schulze.

Anyway, Nick has joined me on the walk home. We're discussing the performance and its lysergic chrono-distortion and meander into a general chat about time. How much is there? What about the Space Time Continuum? What do we mean by time?

As a concept, Time is youthful. Our period of existence and civilization covers about 11,000 years, That's one of the longest intervals between cataclysmic Ice Ages to date. Almost everything worthy that has been accomplished by mankind has occurred in this tiny micro-blip of existence. Our species has been struggling along for about 74 millennia since the eruption of the Lake Toba supervolcano in Indonesia wiped out over 99.98% of us. Leaving a "genetic bottleneck" of primitive survivors in East Africa to cope successfully with the Nuclear Winter. This eruption changed behaviour patterns from isolated tribes of hunters to collections of farmers and agriculturists bonding together for species survival and eventual population re-growth. Then re-colonisation of Earth. Aboriginals arrived in Australia about 40 millennia ago. Europe and Asia slowly got settled along the way. Man grew into a way of life marked by the diurnal/nocturnal divide and the seasonal flow. Even had time to paint on cave walls in Auxerre about 24 millennia ago. The population gradually grew to millions - enough to cope with what caused the last mini Ice Age about 11,000 years ago. Time would become more refined. Intervals for work and feeding. The invention of sundials to break the days into hours and minutes. Splitting seconds came along in the last century with scientific breakthroughs. Atomic energy. Quantum Theory. Discovery of light speed. The refinements in the age of the Totality that is our Space Time Continuum. We've gone all the way from Planck Time to the Heat Death of the Universe...

...and we're fucked. The End. Curtain down. So, there's a limit to time, until it all starts again. Anyway, enough wasting time. The show's about to kick off...

"Hi. How are you doing? We're Mogwai from Scotland and it's nice to be back." Adoring roars as Mogwai commence a two-hour set comprising about 12 tunes and one song (of sorts) Opening track comes off as a tantalising mix of Spaceman Three monodronic plucking and fiery vintage Velvet Underground squalls of white noise and feedback. Very soothing and just what the true fans want to hear. Might have come from the new CD. They haven't gone interstellar yet and fragments and shards of melody drift deliciously through the mix. There's one bass, three guitars and a ferocious drummer who's cranking out the bpm's at a d n' b pace. Plus keyboards and electronics ranging from simple "Tunes R Us" level to screech-honking blasts of sonic delirium.

Found and treated sounds include bagpipes and wheezy panting pipe organs at times. That might be me though relapsing into a Kraftwerk moment. There also seems to be a subtle disorienteering interplay between band and mixer. Tunes rise, grabbing you by the throat and bellowing in your face. They dissipate leaving you drifting for what seems like a fortnight, before returning to shelter. There's even an endearing attempt at a song. Asking Nick how he would define the band's sound, he says "an ambient Jesus and Mary Chain". Apt in places. I can also hear echoes of Kraftwerk, the Electric Prunes raga riffs. There are vintage King Crimson freakouts, especially in the final tune. Now they sound like My Bloody Valentine, now like space whispers versus howls and gibbers from some cyber-mutant monkey house. Chilly atmospherics collide with MC5 freakouts. Early Floyd, say hello to a darker ambient Sigur Ros and cascades of shivertones and Frippertronics. Long groandrones and tinkly keyboards.

Massive fun. I'm a confirmed fan, but not as much of an anorak as Nick who knows at least 3 tune titles. In a nutshell, the concert was pretty much like this review. Expect the unexpected. Buy the ticket. Take the ride. Meander hither and yon. And enjoy. I did.

Click for the full, unabridged review...

Click for photos...