A young Malaysian filmmaker is creating waves in Chicago. MUMTAJ BEGUM has the story.

FOR the past year, the short film written and directed by Chor Ai Lene – entitled Mindy – has been making its rounds in various film festivals and small screenings in the United States. The film was first screened at the Chicago College in Chicago, Illinois, in May last year.

Next month, Mindy's journey ends in the same city with a showcase at the Chicago Community Cinema.

Director Chor Ai Lene (left) with actor Yamie Sheda, who received a Special Recognition award from the 2004 Chicago International Film Festival for performance in Chor's short film, Mindy.

The windy city is where Chor is pursuing her Masters in Fine Art in Film and Video at Columbia College Chicago. She also teaches a film production course at the college, and works on an outreach programme with Chicago Public Schools to integrate arts into the education.

At some of the cities where Mindy was shown, it received accolades like best actress (for Yamei Scheda) and best narrative (short) at the 5th IFP-Chicago Flyover Zone Short Film Festival and Best of Show at the Albert Weisman Memorial Scholarship Exhibit. Scheda also received recognition from the jury at the 40th Chicago International Film Festival.

Currently, Chor's working on a 16mm short narrative entitled The Miracle, and a short documentary called Wandering Wombs. For her thesis – Tiger Women – she plans to come back home to Malaysia to make it.

Just 10 years ago, when she was studying in Petaling Jaya, Chor had no clear idea what she would be doing for a living. Now at 25, Chor has proven that it is never too late to find your true calling.

"You don't grow up a middle-class Chinese girl in Malaysia dreaming to be a film director, however idealistic you are," Chor wrote in an e-mail interview.

"Somehow the influences aren't there when all you are exposed to as a child are Jackie Chan's action movies. It's taken me a while to figure it out on my own, but I'm very happy to have arrived."

She remembers her secondary school physics teacher scoffing when she opted for the Arts stream. She first studied telecommunications management at Ohio University, United States. There, she learned the administrative side of telecommunications – how to run and operate radio and television stations. Then, she got interested in production, and volunteered for the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) TV station, which was based at her college. She began producing little video projects.

Striving for greater creative challenge, she moved to Chicago to attend film school at Columbia College Chicago, and ended up where she is today.

Chor's parents weren't well off so she and her older brother Chor Teik Joon didn't get as many toys and new clothes as other children.

"I honestly think that was the best thing that happened to me, as it moulded me into what I am today. We were rather imaginative as children, making toys from twigs, branches or whatever we could get our hands on," she explained.

Catching fish and frogs in the monsoon drain was another favourite past time.

"I was very tomboyish as a child because I always tagged along with my older brother and his friends. From them, I learnt how to hold my own as a woman in the male-dominated film industry. I don't think I had a clue that I would be a filmmaker even though I had creative tendencies. I had always aspired to be a teacher. I have always thought that enriching other people's lives was one of the most noble professions."

Her mother runs the Seaport Kindergarten in Petaling Jaya. Since she was nine, Chor helped her mother at the kindergarten, and even taught other children how to read, write and count.

"I just had this natural love for working with children. I helped out until I left home at the age of 19 to go to the United States. I think I'm a little more motherly and responsible than most people my age because of my experience. I still find myself slapping people's wrists if they play with a sharp pair of scissors or asking people to eat their vegetables, even if they're 50 years old!"

It makes perfect sense that Mindy should revolve around a 10-year-old girl who helps her mother out at a restaurant, and how she befriends a quiet boy who was kind to her one day. In Chor's official website (www.kylinproductions.com/home.htm) she reveals that her films explore cross-cultural interaction and how small moments can resonate in people's lives.

"From the moment I got the inspiration to pen the story, the character of Mindy lived in my head for half a year before I was able to make the film. It sounds a little obsessive, but that's what filmmakers do: they translate a vision in their minds to another medium for others to share. Just finishing a film is emotionally rewarding enough as it is, and for Mindy to have the exposure that it's had thus far is just icing on the cake. I knew that I had made a beautiful film that I was proud of, but I didn't quite expect it to do so well.

"I worked with some great talents who are also friends, and collaborated particularly with my cinematographer and boyfriend, Fred Miller, who has a lot of creative input in the whole filmmaking process of my films. Yamei Scheda, who was 12 when she acted as the main character Mindy in the film, was also a joy to work with."

As to whether Mindy will be shown in Malaysia one day, Chor hopes to see it happen as she is still very much attached to where she came from. She also hopes to shoot her next short film – with the working title Tiger Women – in Malaysia, early next year.

"I've really missed Malaysia, and am very nostalgic about my childhood so it will be my little homage to some people I love back home. There aren't enough Malaysian films being made, so I'd like to make my contribution. My film will offer contrasting elements of escapism, fantasy and reality, based on the story of a teenage Indian girl who works as a maid for an elderly and lonely Chinese woman. I wouldn't want to give too much away, but it does touch upon some observations I've made on how, with the relative prosperity of Malaysians in recent years, our attachment to things and relationships have become disposable in a way," she concluded.

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