Sell Out! marks the final home video release of the year for us here at Kani and we wanted to give you a sneak peak of this packed release. We’ve included in this newsletter a snippet from the interview with the two CEOs, played by Lim Teik Leong and Kee Thuan Chye.
Above anyone else, we have to thank the director Yeo Joon Han who went above and beyond to help us present the best version of his film. Joon Han helped organized interviews and commentaries for this release, and then mostly left us to our own devices as we worked on the art for the release.
Benoit Tardif did an amazing job with the art. Benoit brings a lot of charm to advertising on his corporate accounts, and this time, he brought the corporate charm to nailing Sell Out! complete with the Kuala Lumpur skyline, Truman Show-esque backstage, and the age-old adage: all roads lead back to soy bean machines.
For the music, we have to thank Traithep Wongpaiboon, who, among other things, makes vinyl in Thailand, helped us dig out the old masters of the original soundtrack which made the CD possible. Even though the songs are best sung in the shower, they’re great earworms and almost exclusively all I listened to preparing this release. This is our first time releasing a CD of an original soundtrack and we hope you still have CD players in your car.
The cast and crew were incredible and gave us so much time to talk through the production and their life since. We weren’t able to include a commentary with the crew because of technical issues, but I wanted to send you here a picture of the fine people who made this film look and sound as it does. From left to right you have the DOP Eric Yeong, who also took the photos in the booklet; Director Yeo Joon Han; Ram, who did the sound; production designer Jimmy Bong who made the stadium look like a concrete office hell; and line producer Jackie Urban Poh.
Though this is our final release of 2022, we still have a few more tricks up our sleeve. The most adventurous of which is the upcoming theatrical release of What’s Up Connection and Robinson’s Garden which we’ll write you about again soon. We have screenings in New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Portland (Maine), Seattle, Washington, Santa Ana, and more! Find a full list of tickets available here
Which leads to another announcement: our brand new website (though still a larvae form of what we hope it will become some day). Ultimately we want it to showcase the filmmakers, artists and writers we work with to make these releases posible, but for now, it tells you all the basic information, including some of the releases we’ve worked on for other labels since Ebola Syndrome.
Please forward this newsletter to a friend or three, and gift Sell Out! to the TV presenters, product designers, fortune-tellers, shamans, CEOs, and musical lovers in your life, especially if you’re still not sure what to get them for the holidays.
About Kani Releasing
Named after Yasujiro Ozu’s custom-made, tatami-level, crab-like tripod, Kani Releasing is a new home video label dedicated to leveling the gaze and furthering the understanding of Asian cinema in North America. Focused on genre-defying films, Kani aims to expand the canon, bolster up-and-coming filmmakers and reintroduce repertory classics in context.
This Black Friday, let's Sell Out!