Dare to be different

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

Director, choreographer and scriptwriter Rehan Jainulabdeen aka Ray Jay is a youth of many talents. Having trained at the South Seas Film and Television School in Auckland, New Zealand, Ray proved his mettle by working on productions like Lucasfilm Animation Singapore’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars before moving onto establishing his own production company, Grindout Productions, with fellow countryman Udana Fonseka. The duo then made two films together: Chase and Train to Kandy.

Ray had worked on two short films The Ocean Was My Best Friend and Hope. Both were based on the 2004 tsunami and were among the top 50 short films at the 2005 World Fest-Houston International Film Festival. They also made it to the finals to compete for the best cinematography award.

The versatile youth directed his own documentary short film, The Corrupted, before turning a new chapter in his career when he took to directing his maiden movie. Titled Re-Entry, the film is a fiction, action thriller which deals with an ambitious Genetic-engineer and an indisposed hero’s journey to unearth the secrets of America’s NASA project.

Following are excerpts of an interview with the young film-maker:

Q) Why did you decide to debut with a science fiction film?

The science fiction genre is something I have been fascinated about since my childhood. It holds no limit to what you can imagine and create. It has guided mankind to make many discoveries in technology and many other important things. I have waited for this opportunity for many years and I believe that I have all the right ingredients to make an interesting production.

Q) Why did you choose to set the film in the future (2018) and in Sri Lanka?

It’s a ‘what if’ situation. I created an alternative version of the future with different species of extraterrestrial life forms (aliens) slowly inhabit our planet because of a careless mistake the American government has made. How will people on earth face it? How will we as Sri Lankans deal with it? Those are the elements that I explore in Re-Entry.

Q) Is there any particular reason for you to shoot the film in the north western province in Sri Lanka?

Around 75 percent of the film is shot in Sri Lanka. The rest is in Chicago and Samoa.

The geographical nature in the north western province was a perfect backdrop for my requirements. It gave me the opportunity to visually (visual effects) alter and enhance the landscapes to suit the post-apocalyptic tone.

Q) You talk about extraterrestrial life on earth. What are the aliens like?

Aliens are very primitive in terms of their nature as a species in appearance more of a reptilian form. They come in different sizes and different types. They have occupied land, sea, lakes, rivers etc. They don’t have an intention or the intelligence to invade us. They are just trying to survive like any other life form.

Q) You worked on Star Wars: The Clone Wars. What was it like being involved in such a huge film franchise?

At first it was a big thing to be involved. I was working in the 3D modeling department modeling some of the space ships for the series. I never enjoyed it. I didn’t have an opportunity to be creative. I was more of a factory worker than an artiste. Everything was planned, designed and finalised before it was passed on to me. I just had to look at some drawings and build exactly what was on paper.

Q) You are the director, cinematographer, editor and also doing visual effects in Re-Entry. Since this is your debut movie wouldn’t it have been appropriate to assign some of these chores to other individuals?

My inspiration to multitask came from film-maker Robert Rodriguez. When I was making amateur films as a youngster I didn’t have other people to do these jobs. I did it myself. That eventually evolved into a habit. I feel very confident about my style of film making. There are a few other notable multitasking film-makers out there.

Q) You have mentioned that you are not following the typical Bollywood formula that the local film industry tends to mimic. You have encouraged youths to think out of the box. How can you guarantee that your film will work here? Are you willing to take that risk?

I can’t guarantee that it’s going to work on a mass Sri Lankan audience but it will definitely attract attention of the young generation who is more exposed to these genres in Hollywood films. This is not exactly made only for the local audience. It’s an international project targeted for a global audience. The hype about the film has already started online in South Western Europe and South America.

Q) How did you choose your actors?

I have three main actors in this film. I’ve known two of them, Kate Leinster and Udana Fonseka, personally for at least five years. They had identical characteristics to what I had penned on script. The third person, Brenden Carson, was casted the traditional way.

Q) Why did you decide to shoot this film in 3D?

The world has started to watch films in 3D in theatres and at home on a television. Sri Lanka will quickly adapt to this technology in no time. Re-Entry being a science fiction film qualifies in every way to be watched in 3D. This is the first of its kind to be made by a Sri Lankan. We do not have the technology to project films in 3D at the moment but a plan for upgrades in at least two cinemas in Colombo has been rumored.

Q) So when do we get to see Re-Entry?

The intention was always to get Re-Entry released internationally. So there will be a limited theatrical release in North and South America. The film will be screened in some parts in Europe, Australasia and Asia in selected theatres in March 2012. It will have a wider international release through BLU-RAY and DVDs.

Most of the filming is completed. It’s in post production stage. The post production process only will only take a few months to complete. Co-operatives and Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando supported this project to get to where it is today.

Q) Are you planning to do another science fiction thriller after Re-Entry?

Absolutely! I don’t want to talk much about it at this stage. But it will definitely have all the strange elements with the thrill.