SQUATTERTOWN

“Help us to SHOOT SOME DIM SUM!”

WHAT IS DIM SUM WESTERN?
“Dim Sum Western” is the new, quite specific and very small niche sub-genre of Hong Kong Westerns that is desperately looking for works which will give shape & definition. [ here our 1st Dim Sum Western short film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN89MdfH0pQ ]

WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT
The Details: Squattertown will be a fictional 5 part mini web series production (total 20-30min) set in Hong Kong. Currently principal photography is scheduled for November 2010, followed by 2 ½ month of post-production and the final release in late January, early February 2011. Distribution will sole take place throughout the internet and mobile devices. We plan to release this series on various mobile apps (like iPad, iPhone, …), depending on the amount of sponsoring/fund raising.

The Idea: Mad Max meets The Good The Bad and The Ugly

The Story outline: In a time where social anarchy reigns and economic crisis became a worldwide constant in life Hong Kong’s society breaks apart into two classes. Rich people living on and under the ground in expensive artificial self-created worlds out of concrete and glass while poor people have to live on top of high rise buildings amidst severe air pollution, creating themselves a now pre-historic social order. The roof tops become an entire city of its own, a city elevated from the ground, a city with its very own rules and fights…

DOES THIS HOLD ANY RELEVANCE?
Definitely! The film depicts the unknown culture of illegal squatter housing structures on top of high rise housing blocks in Hong Kong. Due to large scale urban renewal projects those unique micro social systems are about to disappear forever. This project attempts to capture this phenomenon in an artistic way.

WHO THE HECK ARE WE?
We are a creative wild bunch of film lovers, postgraduate film students and professional indie filmmakers from all corners of the world. Crew members come from China, Hong Kong, Portugal, US, Austria, Germany and however joins us throughout the month to come.

IT’S YOUR FILM!
Throughout the entire production process of this short film we will install a variety of interactive elements, events and competitions that bring you closer into our world of creating Dim Sums. Also, as we run this film totally transparent and under a Creative Commons license it not only bears an interactive but also an open source character. You will BE a part of the film and the film needs your contribution right from the start!

SHOULDN’T I RATHER EAT DIM SUMS?
Sure, but shooting some is a cultural contribution to the Hong Kong’s barely existing local indie film industry ;)