Production Diaries:

June 2004

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July 2004

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August 2004

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September 2004

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October 2004

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Recent Entries:

HUNDREDS GATHER TO PAY TRIBUTE TO THE LATE MAKO IWAMATSU IN CAGES!
Wed, 14 Nov 2007

A SPECIAL TRIBUTE SCREENING OF MAKO!
Tue, 16 Oct 2007

Perles Acquires Cages Distribution!
Wed, 01 Aug 2007

"CAGES" RUNS 4TH WEEK IN THEATRES!
Fri, 13 Apr 2007

IT'S MY TURN TO FLY!
Mon, 09 Apr 2007

"CAGES" SURPRISES MANY AS IT ENTERS THIRD WEEKEND IN THEATRES!
Fri, 06 Apr 2007

"CAGES" ENTERS THIRD WEEK IN THEATRES!
Tue, 03 Apr 2007

LOYAL FOLLOWING TO THANK, AS "CAGES" ENTERS THIRD WEEK IN THEATRES!
Mon, 02 Apr 2007

Dickson working out a scene Streeter coaches Dickson Dickson thinks about the scene Dickson and Streeter discussing.... Dickson does his first cold read Streeter has fun with Dickson during rehearsal

From The Mouth Of Babes… 07/08/04

Dickson was one of the main reasons why I took on the job to direct ‘The Making of…’ documentaries for CAGES. He’s a great kid, has a great sense of humour and a gift for words. Sometimes my shots of him get shaky because he cracks me up!

Last Tuesday, he had his first script session at The Substation (a small Arts centre) with Graham. Dickson used to have these acting exercises at the office, but he’d get too distracted with chatting with everyone! Anyway, I was there filming him and Graham, as they worked through characters and themes.

Graham asked him to give him 5 facts each about baby birds, mother birds, birds in cages and birds that were free.

Graham: What are mother birds like?
Dickson: Mother birds are… strict. Determined. Vigilant. Smart. Hardworking. Baby birds are small and helpless. Needy. Feeble. And… isolated!

Wow! Where did he get all those big words from?

Graham: Who do you think is like a baby bird in the film?
Dickson: Me! JONAH!
Graham: And who is like the mother bird? Who is strict, determined, vigilant?
Dickson: ALI! (JONAH’s mother) Oh! That’s why the movie is called CAGES! Haha! I broke your secret code!

Dickson’s ‘light bulb’ moment made my week!

When we were done, we walked over to Raffles City and Graham bought Dickson a BK dinner. The boy can really eat! And he sure loves his coke!

After dinner, we got ready to leave our table. Dickson was looking for his bag and Graham was helping him. There was a Caucasian man who standing in the aisle and he was getting really impatient that Dickson and Graham were blocking the aisle.

He said, “Come on people! It’s not that difficult! You just have to get out of the way!” And then he huffed-puffed as he walked by.

I was so mad! I wanted to say to him, “Hey, he’s blind ok?!” to make him sorry for his rude behavior, but it wasn’t the best thing for Dickson to hear. To be fair, the man may not have realized Dickson was blind, but I thought Dickson’s mum must get this all the time from people too impatient to wait. I felt angry, protective and sad all at once that I wanted to cry!

I got into a defensive mode. In that state, I took Dickson home on the MRT during rush hour and I got a headache from the adrenaline. Escalators suddenly became dangerous. The crowds of people seemed hostile. And every packed train seemed too scary to board.

We finally got on the train and it wasn’t surprising no one stood up to give up their seat for Dickson. But Dickson was oblivious to everything. He was happily reading aloud his Roald Dahl book in Braille, “The Twits,” and there I was, ready to beat up anybody who was going to be patronizing.

I was just glad he couldn’t see the ugliness around. Well, maybe not now.

Melissa
Documentary Director