M’sians can finally watch award-winning local filmmaker Jared Lee’s works in cinema this Oct

Jared Lee has made it into news headlines numerous times during his career, and deservingly so. A visionary Malaysian filmmaker, Jared and his studio Grim Film have won many awards for their work.

Most recently, they were recognised for their short film Horologist, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and won Best Animation at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) Film Festival in 2023.

And yesterday, we got to witness the award-winning work itself on the big screen at the premiere of Grimoire, an anthology of three of Jared’s short films.

“I’m very grateful for how it happened, actually,” the filmmaker said about the opportunity to work with GSC to screen the film.

Turns out, thanks to media coverage (including Vulcan Post’s), he caught the attention of the cinema. One thing led to another, and they decided to work together to screen the award-winning animation to Malaysians.

But Holorogist is just a short film, and it wouldn’t make much sense to just show it like you would with a feature-length film. GSC wanted to make it part of its Malaysian Animation Film Festival (MAFF), organised in collaboration with MDEC.

However, that would mean that Horologist would be screened alongside 13 to 14 other short films.

“I saw that happen last year with one of my other films, and I was like, no. I’m sorry, but I don’t think that should happen,” Jared admitted with a laugh.

He continued to explain, “We can sit through a two-hour movie, no problem. But when we sit through back-to-back, different stories, different characters, different styles, you get very tired at about the sixth, seventh film. I feel like it’s unfair, actually, for every work.”

So, he came up with a proposal decided to put together an anthology of three short films, and that anthology would become Grimoire.

Not necessarily gunning for commercial success

Speaking honestly, Jared said that Grimoire is likely not going to be a commercial success. “100%,” he tacked on. “I’m not jaded, yet. But I know the reality of our local cinema scene.”

“But what I hope at least to the people who choose to come in to watch this thing, they find something that they like. That’s success for me,” he expressed.

Jared shared that if he was actually asked (and paid) to create something, it wouldn’t be Grimoire. First of all, he would likely make the language of his film Malay.

“Movies aren’t cheap, and we have to cater to mass to make back the cost, to make everyone’s effort seem okay, so we can make the next one.”

He shared that he was actually offered to make Malay movies already, but he took a step back from that because he knew how important the first film for a director is. Coming from a background as a YouTube filmmaker, he wanted his first step into the movie industry to be a very careful one.

Thus, he decided that showcasing an anthology of shorts would be a good place to start to see where he stands within the scene.

“The door is not closed to when it comes to catering to mass, but still hopefully it’s a script that I believe in,” Jared added.

Having had the opportunity to attend various film festivals over the years, Jared’s top advice for other filmmakers is to attend these festivals.

“It’s not really about the money because you get good festivals even in Singapore,” he said. “But not here. We really feel like we want to bring it home. Not the scale, but the feeling. You get replenished as a creative just being there with fellow creatives.”

Stories about human greed

The three short films featured in Grimoire are The Last 7, Influencer, and Horologist. Each of these have been recognised by film festivals and have bagged some accolades.  

Explaining the film, Jared shared that the curation of the three short film revolves around a social issue that humans go through, with each piece tackling a different matter.  

The filmmaker shared that he’s always been fascinated with the human obsession with greed, and thus the three short films each touch on that from different lenses.

Don’t expect to just be watching these three short films, though. Tying the three films together is new content that was created specifically for Grimoire to add a layer of storytelling.

Without giving too much away, I will say that the short films were very gripping. Each of them seemed to be set in a parallel and somewhat dystopian universe. The second film, Influencer, probably has the most mass appeal, and I say that in the best way possible.

I absolutely loved the storytelling and art of Horologist, and wished that the animated short film was longer.

Altogether, the runtime was around one hour, though I wish each short film ran on for longer.

The anthology will be screened throughout MAFF, held from October 3 to 30. According to GSC’s website, tickets for MAFF 2024 are priced at RM15 and are available through GSC’s e-payment platforms (web, app, and kiosk).

The locations included for MAFF are Mid Valley, BBCC, 1 Utama, IOI City Mall, Gurney Plaza, Dataran Pahlawan, Paradigm JB, and Suria Sabah.

An exciting new work to come (and fund)

On the night of the premiere, Jared showed a short 30-second clip of their exciting new upcoming animated project.

“I wanted to show what we are currently working on, so you get a better gauge,” he told Vulcan Post.

Jared added that he’s been making his rounds, trying to make the right connections in order to bring that project to life. Once again, movies aren’t cheap. Even as an award-winning filmmaker, it’s difficult to drum up the funds needed to bring that work to the screen.

“It’s definitely mainstream, and it’s not just for the Malaysian market. I’m aiming bigger first. If I fall…” Jared trailed off. “I’ll just try my best.”