Ekin Cheng Yee- KinNews - May 2008 |
The new film "Claustrophobia" staring Ekin and Karena Lam will premiere are the Cannes Film Festival. The film is screenwriter Ivy Ho's directing debut. The film also stars Eric Tsang and Andy Hui. The Hong Kong Film Development Council has backed the film providing 30% of the films budget. The film, which is a romantic comedy, has 8 scenes and only 5 characters, and so was not attractive to many backers. The film however, has a very low budget. It is being distributed by Edko who hope to use the Cannes market place to procure International sales.
Yesterday afternoon Ekin specially returned to Hong Kong to attend an HTC cell phone event as a spokesperson for the product. The company released it's latest model the Touch Diamond in Hong Kong. The phone sports a high resolution touch screen, 4 gigabytes of internal storage for a variety of media, a 3.3 megapixel camera, gps navigation and a broadband internet access.
Ekin indicated that as he had just returned home last night he had only just found out about the earthquake in Sichuan Province. He indicated that in recent days he had been in Thailand filming Stormriders 2 so he was not affected by the earthquake, but only a week before he had been in Chongqing for the Hua Yuan Jia promotion. When he returned home he heard this unfortunate news. He expressed his deep sorrow and grief at the news.
Because Ekin is about to return to Thailand to continue filming he is not able to attend any fundraising activities. However, together with his manager Lam Shan Shan he has already decided to donate the monetary reward he will receives for this current event to the disaster fund. Ekin said that on the internet he had seen many earthquake crisis messages, he also said that there were instructions telling people to avoid hiding under desks of in wardrobes, however Ekin said that this was not correct, and in fact you should go close to one of these hard objests only then would have a chance to survive
Last night after the event Ekin flew back to Thailand to continue work. He indicated that filming was unlikely to be finished before July,2008. Recent reports have indicated that Charlene Choi has a lot of pressure and starts to cry. Ekin smiled and said that it is probably when she saw him. However he said that actors are sometimes exhausted, but in every case always do their best.
Ekin's girlfriend Yoyo Mung is also currently filming a drama and so is unlikely to be able to go to Thailand to spend time. Ekin immediately said he was the spokesperson for this cell phone advertisement, so can use it to connect to the internet. He was asked whether he would give one to his girlfriend. He said he first would have to see whether she would like one.
Ekin has been in Thailand for the last month filming Stormriders 2. Recently, however,. he has been in various cities including Hong Kong to participate in a number of events.His schedule was tight and demanding. Therefore his time to rest at home is very short. He did find time to accompany his girlfriend Yoyo Mung to eat in Kowloon. After they had eaten, Yoyo drove to a nearby fruit store to buy drinks Because of wanting to maintain their bodies they didn't choose sugary cola but both bought fruit juice. Yoyo moved ahead drinking while Ekin paid.Yoyo drove, however, Ekin didn't seem grateful for her kindness, he was sullen during the whole time and didn't speak much to her. His usual smiles were not seen, and his attitude seemed weary and apathetic. He also didn't seem to be attentive to Yoyo, however she seemed to know he was too tired and so she was the driver. She drove Ekin back to his Sai Kung residence so he could rest. Ekin is certainly fortunate to have someone so attentive to him.
In the earlier movie Stormriders Ekin played Whispering Wind, and Aaron played Striding Cloud. This film affected audiences deeply and it was a box office hit. Filming of Stormriders 2 directed by Peng Brothers has already begun filming. Once again the directors wanted Ekin and Aaron to recreate their roles. The outside shots have already been smoothly accomplished. There is at least another month of filming yet to accomplish.
Ekin originally planned to be in Taiwan to publicize his television drama Huo Yuan Jia. However he decided to cancel the publicity in order to attend a Columbia charity sale in Hong Kong. Mentioning going to the search in the disaster area Ekin said," One must see if one has the ability, it is physically demanding, and if nothing else will be hard to bear, and in addition one should not increase the load on other rescuers. If you have money then should give money " Although Ekin has already made a donation he still wants to give support, especially to help the children. he said that to support financially he will make some changes and not buy luxury items. He divulged that earlier his girlfriend Yoyo Mung had sold a motorbike to raise money to donate. He explained that she seldom used it so she had sold it to raise money for environmental protection which is also good as it kills two birds with one stone. Speaking about the decision to abandon the publicity events for Huo Yuan Jia he wondered how much time one can actually do, now this disaster happened so should do charity work. Merely to have people invite me to participate, of course I will do it, because I am also a neighborhood ambassador.
The event was also attended by Ying Cai Er who also was very concerned about the children, She felt that they had been most affected by this disaster either through physical injury or injury of their mental spirit. She said that to rebuild the schools hundreds of thousands of dollars will be needed. Belinda Hammett, Jacqueline Ch'ng, and Rosemary also attended the sale and canvassed the city residents for donations.
