Juliane Block and Virginia Kennedy are the filmmaker duo who created Kinks, a feature mockumentary about two sisters who meet while shooting a kinky American reality show in Malaysia and fight because one is the Host and the other, the Censor.
Virginia & Juliane about Kinks:
How did you get to work together?
Juliane: When I finished my first feature Emperor I already thought about the next film. And there was one thing I haven’t tried out yet – Acting. I knew Virginia from some Indie film meetings in Kuala Lumpur and thought maybe it’s a great fit. I knew she was keen on directing her first feature, so I approached her. First, just with the idea of having collaborative writing sessions, but [to tell the] truth I already thought about asking her as director or co-director at an early stage.
Things progressed and Virginia came on board!
Virginia: The first time I saw Juliane she was selling a short film she had made and I was blown away by this opinionated German woman’s strength. She was fiery and powerful. I was too scared to even make contact with her. I hid in the back and made a silent escape. The second time I met her, a film distribution friend of mine thought I should meet this “female” director. It was Juliane! Up close and personal we actually had a lot in common and I realized I had as many if not more scary qualities like her. And honestly she is FAR from scary. She is strong and honest and all great qualities. I was so lucky to meet her. Julie said she had an idea for a feature film and I was looking to work with someone who made things happen. Juliane was that someone!
Betty's Elimination. (Photo courtesy of the filmmakers)
Working together to create Kinks:
Virginia: Firstly Juliane has an amazing work ethic. Working with her was perfect for me. She is driven to achieve, so our writing schedule was regular and geared to succeed. Within a year we had a full feature script. We found that we worked well together. Only arguing maybe three or four times… and those arguments were usually when I was on a diet or needing relationship advice! Juliane was a great couch therapist and within that year I wrote a script with her and healed a broken heart! Great achievement.
As the shoot day came nearer, I also realized Julie has an amazing producing ability. Her organization skills are better than a lot of the professionals I have worked with and we had to work around crews that were working for no budget.
Juliane: I think Virginia and I have a very good set of skills we were able to bring to Kinks. Virginia is great in writing and I have experience with low budget producing. Additionally we have both our own experiences about living as white women in Asia and all those experiences we could use to add into the story of Kinks. The finished film is really our collaborative product. I think both of us learned a lot!
Movie poster for "Kinks" (Image courtesy of the filmmakers)
What do you plan to do with Kinks?
Juliane: We finished Kinks a couple of months ago and are currently looking for distribution. We are on the festival circuit, awaiting the replies of some of the big ones. However, knowing it’s always very tough to get even into the Tier 2 festivals, we are working on our blog and alternative social media strategies to make Kinks public. We want to release it around May 2012 on itunes and other internet outlets, and have time to build our audience till then. Of course a big festival premiere would help, so fingers crossed!
Virginia: Our plan for Kinks is to entertain and enlighten. Julie and I have both lived in Malaysia and we have a lot of respect for Malaysia and Malaysians. I personally love Malaysia. It is warm and sweet and caresses you like a buttery muffin. I love Malaysia but like all countries they have their “ways” and this can be cause for humor just as western culture can be made fun of.
Kinks celebrates all cultures. It looks at Malaysia which is different from my western upbringing and looks at it in a humorous way from the perspective of shooting a crazy reality program in Malaysia. We want everyone to appreciate Malaysia by seeing Kinks.
What did you learn so far?
Juliane: I think the biggest thing I learned is that you need to put money aside for your distribution. I came along with a range of skills to actually kickstart production and to last with almost no budget until the film is finished. However, now we are realizing that distributing the feature film is an entirely different challenge, as difficult as creating the film itself. Well, once you realize that, it sounds logical, but when you are on it, you might just overlook some very important aspects – like the distribution 🙂 I recommend anybody who wants to make a film – double the production budget, keep 50% for distribution!
Virginia: I learnt how wonderful Malaysian actors are and how generous and willing they are to work hard. I learnt that you need to prepare even harder for distribution. Shooting is the easy part but getting it out there on a no budget production takes work and strategy. I learnt, with the help of Julie, how to create a strategy for selling an independent film. Without her I probably would have given away all rights to the film and it might have been left on the shelf. I also learnt that you have to LOVE your script from the beginning. It is a little like a marriage because you have to stay married to it for a long time.
Production of "Kinks" (Photo courtesy of the filmmakers)
SYNOPSIS OF Kinks
Kinks is a mockumentary style feature film. The movie takes a cynical but nevertheless humorous look at two inter-racial sisters who appear far from alike. Inside and outside. One is white and one is dark.
Split up as children, because their parents divorced, the film starts when they finally meet again after years growing up on separate continents. On meeting it is obvious their agendas are as different as their looks. The fiercely competitive, western educated Caucasian looking Jay wants international success for her cross cultural dating show. She returns to Malaysia to produce her dream, a reality show for the American market. To succeed she needs it to be as outrageous as possible. Jay’s Malaysian sister, Joythi, the Indian looking darker one, happens to work for Ministry of Culture. She is more introverted and has to learn to stand up to her sister while desperately trying to keep her job, while in charge to establish some decency in Jay’s misguided production.
Clashes are inevitable!
The story of this mockumentary feature evolves during the two weeks production of the dating show pilot. Through the seemingly different sisters, Jay and Joythi the audience will witness first hand all the bruised egos, crazy accusations and extreme cultural clashes and misconceptions between East and West but also the similarities of two sisters being eventually just humans.
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Short CV Juliane Block
My filmmaking career started in Germany as special FX make-up artist on an underground Zombie flick (“Mutation,” released on DVD in 1999) followed by producer & screenwriter credits on several other shorts (e.g. “Killerbus,” released on DVD in 2004). I got hooked. Even though I have a design masters from the university of art in Braunschweig, I continued with film making.
In 2005 I migrated to Asia to pursue Asian cinema. I directed and produced a no budget feature in 2008 (“Emperor”) which screened at the Asia Pacific festival of 1st Films in Singapore and won the feature category at the Portable Film Festival. Since 2007 I directed, wrote and produced 13 shorts which have been screened in film festivals around the world, and my 2nd feature (“Kinks”) just completed post. I participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2008 and my short film “It could happen to you” was chosen for production in the BTC Hands on Training “Garage studio”. I’ve held lectures about low budget film making in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Int. Film Academy) and Singapore (SAE Institute).
After living the last 6 years in Asia (Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand & Indonesia) I just returned to Germany to pursue my next feature film projects.
I love my life!
Short CV Virginia Kennedy:
I started out working as a special effects editor and animator in commercials in Australia and South East Asia. Designing program openers and promos for CHANNEL 7 in Melbourne. I then moved to Sydney and into Advertising.
I was offered a job in Malaysia and was excited to travel so the first time I left Australia was to live overseas. Soon I moved into directing music videos and commercials in 1994. I have shot many commercials all around the globe and won Malaysia best MUSIC VIDEO (AIM) four times. In 2007 I shot a Music Video in LA for Karkis.
I moved into films with a Malaysian 60minute telemovie Jalan Berangan which I wrote and directed for the “Festival Series” on NTV7 and after a few short films, a horror, “@traction”, and a sexual revenge drama “I’ll Trust this January.” I wrote and directed Kinks with Juliane Block.
I have completed shooting a magic realism, short film “Thread” I wrote and directed and will be submitting to festivals in 2012. I am continuing writing with two completed feature film scripts.
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To find out more or to follow the film, watch a trailer of Kinks online here and connect with the film on twitter @kinksthemovie, on facebook at kinksthemovie or subscribe to the newsletter by signing up on the website.
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