"Masks"

Our good friend Alba Rayton had the HK Premier of her film "Masks" last night at the Agnes B. Theatre in Wan Chai:

Went along to show her support but came away as Alba's Abject Admirer.

The star of the show. 

Alba acknowledging her fans

last night.

Man, is it good.  The reviews call it "a journey through the pain of abandonment" and yes, that's an excellent summary. For more:

 Synopsis

I saw it in its first rough edit and, although there were many moments of great beauty, I couldn't see how she could make it work.  The problem was mainly that she used non-actors - her son and kids from around Lamma Island - and there was a lot of dialogue that, to be honest, they couldn't really handle, however between the edit I saw and the Premier last night Alba shot a lot more footage that went all "show, don't tell" and therein replaced a lot of the talk with image, and yup, great choice, because it's now just a beautiful, beautiful film.

Already won an award, by the way, at the Heart of England International Film Festival, and it's well deserved.

I first met Alba in about 2004 on the roof garden of Fringe Club in Central Hong Kong, when she was still a tai-tai who wanted to write and direct films. Although I liked her enormously - she's a very charming lady - I have heard that sort of "my dream is" thing before OFTEN from "ladies of a certain age" and, well, you know ...

But we're talking about Alba here and dammit if she didn't go out and make it happen for herself.  When I realised she was the type of Powerful Go-Getter Mover-and-Shaker, I got behind her and, over the years, have shown her support and encouragement, offered advice and talked about scripts. But then she made her first short film - The Birthday Party - and won an award for it, and I was so respectful and "I'm your fan!", and now she's finished her second longer short film Masks and it's good; "Just like a real one" as we say in Fiji.  So now she's the Master and I'm her Humble Acolyte.

Her next project, she says, will be a documentary on Spanish women in Hong Kong, and after that ... well, now that she's shown the world what she can do, I guess it's now become her oyster and she can do just about anything.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for her latest offering: Masks; a journey through the pain of abandonment. Beautiful film.