New home with B & E Productions

After a string of wacky and unwanted events from staying from one hostel to the next. Executive producer of B & E ("Breaking & Entering" and/or "Bey & Elizabeth" Productions) Bey Logan has offered me a nice place to stay and be more focused on the "Quest for Jackie Chan!" until my departure on the 26th of January, 2011. I'm so glad as I was being to wonder if I was to survive another week of small tight and flea infested spaces.

Its been a challenging and new learning curve at the B & E Productions. I've been interning for the team (Elizabeth, Vicki & Bey) and doing a series of office tasks, from coffee making (Bey likes it hot, two equals and good decent dollop of milk. You'll be told if its shitty), running office errands to film concept developments, research, script readings and film budgeting. I've been sitting in to quite a number of his meetings as well and also learning more about independent, yet commercial, realm of filmmaking in Hong Kong.

Bey is a quirky character indeed. He has is moments of highs and lows, but at the end of the day, he is quite focused on the things his straightforwardness will certainly get to the bottom of any dilemma. If anyone wants to work with this man, you need to be almost psychic and be able to tap into the chakras to figure out this individual.

But overall, Bey's taught me a whole bunch of new things and it is very rare to meet people that are willing to give you a chance in the brutal HK filmmaking/ entertainment industry.

He's been in the industry for a very long time so knows all the who's who and is always on the lookout for up and coming talents entering the field. Of course, he reminds me that young people may have fresh ideas and passion, however, sometimes a little too much arrogance and ego will see them walking out the door as quickly as they got in. So to break into this industry, there has too be a high level of persistence, following through with what one sets out to make and collaborative thinking.

Ideas are always in abundance, they are everywhere and can also be found under a rock. Its whether or not the individual has enough guts to risk all to lift that idea and bring it to life.

So what is up with B & E Productions? Well, "The Blood Bond" is releasing soon in January 2011, Bey's book is currently available in selected Hong Kong bookstores (Dymocks & HMV). Bey's producer credits on the "Little Gobie" is visible on Hong Kong billboards and bus stops. Also at certain restaurants Cafe De Corale, have partnered up with "Little Gobie" movie so their marketing and promos is also visible here. He's also juggling between concept developments on "Snowblade" as well as further developments of "Red Dawn Rising".

At the end of the day, I'm grateful to be surrounded by inspiring people and also resources (you should see their library collections of action films and books! *Drools).

On the Quest...

I'm currently working on a string of interesting events to be unfolded around Hong Kong in the next few weeks in relation to the "Quest for Jackie Chan!". News over here on "Jackie Chan" himself have been quite negative lately, hence my "Quest" has been not well received by the general public. But I will not be disheartened and will continue on my own journey and self discovery and see this project through to the end.

INTERNATIONAL: Quest for Jackie Chan! India Club

If I haven't mentioned earlier, as much as Quest for Jackie Chan! was born in the isolated country of Australia, the fans from India have been my source of drive and inspiration. It started from simple emails that sparked insightful discussions and reflections on how collaboratively we will go about meeting Jackie Chan. My deepest love goes to Aswin Kumar & Ranthjitha Gopalakrishna who have contributed in their own unique ways to this epic project.

I must admit, I still have many moments of doubt, but I'm always reminded by lovely Ranthjitha that she is praying for me. Aswin on the other hand, a moderator for the Official Jackie Chan Fansite, consistently emails, twitters and facebook me asking if I'm ok. Physically far a part but digitally united, I can sense their passions burning as they are the representatives of the Quest for Jackie Chan! India.

YOUR COMMENTS: On Encore Magazine - Filmmakers go to China

I thought a revisit to an online article about our Australian filmmakers sent to China to promote the local industry was an interesting read. I'm still wondering what the outcomes were? Any potential co-productions yet? Meanwhile Mario Andreacchio’s Australian-Chinese co-production, The Dragon Pearl aka The Last Dragon has been going steady but winning the bid to score some major synergies with the China film industry. I recall meeting up with Mario at his office based in Adelaide South Australia, during my "Quest for Jackie Chan!" project and he has been finding his own initiatives to make his film projects happen. For those of you who don’t know, he directed Napoleon (1995) check out his impressive bio on IMDB.

I'll come clean, I couldn't help but put my two cents of "Quest for Jackie Chan!" commentary at the bottom. To my surprise, we have some supporters!

So you can do your bit too! The power of participation. Join in the revolution! Comment today!

MEDIA: Has anyone seen Maria Tran?

SOURCE: http://www.ice.org.au/newswire/2010/12/has-anyone-seen-maria-tran/

She’s on the Quest for Jackie Chan and has sent ICE a video update of her travels across Australia and now beyond to Asia.

Her “Quest”, it is an adventure she embarked on about a year ago to try and meet Jackie Chan. She’s really into action film and thinks that the Aussie film industry could do with a little more Kung Fu. Perhaps if she just gets to meet the legend himself … well … who knows what could happen!

For Maria it is more about the journey than the destination.

Throughout her journey she has come across linkages and synergies that branch out from the stories generated from “Jackie Chan” that crosses over to martial arts, action film genre, comedy, independent filmmaking, stunts, youth culture, globalisation, pop culture, generation XYZ, the list is endless.

You’ve heard of the term ‘Transmedia’? Well, no pun intended but Maria Tran’s a perfect example of how new media techniques coupled with storytelling can activate global messaging and participation.

Here’s what Wikipedia says: “Transmedia storytelling is a technique of telling stories across multiple platforms and formats, recognized for its use by mass media to develop media franchises.”

Check out Maria Tran’s (media) video and follow her on Twitter

CALL OUT: Quest for Jackie Chan! Interns based in Hong Kong

URGENT: Looking for 1st or 2nd year student camera operator/ DOP/ photographer or any other keen enthusiast for volunteer work on guerrilla film production "Quest for Jackie Chan!". Availabilities varies from 2-15 January, 2010. Email Maria.tran@questforjackiechan.com.

TRAINING: With actress Rachel Poon & Bey Logan

Yup. I'm starting to get little bit more proficient with the sword under the guidance of Mak Sifu and Bey Logan. Its been a big sweat out everyday at midday but fun! Also, meet Rachel Poon, whom Bey thinks looks like my twin sister (Not all Asians look the same! :P)

RETROSPECTIVE: Downtown Rumble on ABC/ JTV Australian TV

Oh man...retrospective thinking time!

In late 2008 I recall winning Best Film, People's Choice and Achievement in Directing at the 2008 Shortcuts Film Festival with short film 'Happy Dent".

I recall from that I scored a meeting with one of the honchos of ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). During this meet, I remember slipping in a Rumble Pictures DVD showreel and to my surprise he called out another head producer Josh Reed to examine our products. To my surprise, the next thing you know is the ABC head pitching myself and the Rumble Pictures crew to be commissioned out to make a 6 part series interstitial for ABC/ JTV on Saturdays for 6 weeks.

We had a limited time frame of 2 months from concept to product to come up with something slick and uber low budget, hence we came up with "Downtown Rumble".

I must admit, I think we kind of taken things for granted back then, it may have been hard work, but with the help of Craig Anderson (writer/ director of "Double The Fist") we got our acts together to make the following:

It had good reviews too based on my judgement of the message boards with fans across Australia wanting to see a part 2. But after that, opportunities drained up, and I think we appeared to have hit a ceiling effect of some sort.

Ah... the good times... and that is why my final attempt will be "Quest for Jackie Chan!".

PEOPLE: Face to face with Bey Logan

Having spent a couple of weeks familiarising myself to the Good, Bad and the Weird of Hong Kong, I have finally come across the infamous Bey Logan. My first interactions with Bey was when Timothy Ly, a colleague of mine on the production of Australian indie flick “Maximum Choppage: Round 2” in 2008. Since then, independent filmmaking in Australia for the team have slowed to a snail’s pace, but with the words of wisdom and encouragement of Bey, I’m determined to keep on going.

A little bit about Bey…

Bey is like the expert on Hong Kong cinema. He’s also a whole bunch of different things, such as an active screenwriter and film producer. Actually no amount of my writings of Bey will cover it so please tune in to his Wikipedia page for further discoveries.

My first instance of meeting was at his office based in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, about 10

minutes by train from where I was staying. We immediately has a good chat and catch up about the filmmaking realm and also his own exciting horror slasher flick “Snowblade” that is productively in development.

I am fascinated with how things work here in Hong Kong. In particular to the synergies between people and projects (good or bad) gets churned out. Unlike Australia, we would possibly struggle for 5-10 years in getting a project backed up, made and distributed.

Bey and his B & E Productions (its stands for “Breaking and Entering” funky hey?) have also

wrapped up on action flick “The Blood Bond”, which Bey has kindly given me a copy of. I spent 6 hours on a lonely night,

locked away in my Mirador Mansion (its really a shoebox) reading all 26 chapters. It’s a very good read and I enjoyed Mr Logan’s style of writing and character development of Deva (Phoenix Valen) and Tremayne (Michael Biehn). I must admit, I haven’t seen the feature film of it yet, but the book seems like a much better and thorough version of the story.

For the electronic version of “The Blood Bond” click here.

Anyhow, I’ve been spending some time with Bey training in the

art of Hung Gar Kung Fu at the Star Ferry Pier, under the clock tower at 12 noon with Mak Sifu and a number of actors/ actresses.

Quest for Jackie Chan! Continues…

Bey has helped me out by calling around to Jackie Chan’s management team to see if I can book in an interview session for my project “Quest for Jackie Chan!”. No response as yet, but I hope I get something before I leave Hong Kong. I guess, if not then, my project wraps up with a failed expedition….

With love and signing out,

Maria Tran in HK.

PREDICAMENTS: My Ultimate Financial Crisis...

Speaking of financial crisis... I'm about to experience another cycle. You might have known that since my Australia tour, I've hit literally rock bottom in terms of the piggy bank.

When the networks and production companies decided that a project of this calibre was just too "weird", "risky" and "unaustralian" I decided to step up and waved my voyage flag that "I will do it" and "I will prove that it can happen". "Anything is possible, right?". Little did I forsee the impact it had on my piggy bank (I worked in community arts, so I didn't have much to start off).

So I stretched what I had, and with a little help from the Fundbreaker supporters, I'm able to start the ignition.
Rock bottom phase 1 hit after the Australia tour. I quickly reacted by grappling any job I could grab - leading me to two months travelling across New South Wales representing Integral Energy.

I recovered enough funds for my second stage - Quest for Jackie Chan! - Hong Kong and booked in two month stay to get use to HK and also find ways to meet kingpin - Jackie Chan. I spent a good 10 days editing a snippet trailer, it was also the first time that I actually checked out what footage I had.

Anyhow, back to the financial crisis, I went through more problems, such as my money being stolen and now the last time I checked my $$$ are dwindling at an all time low that any accommodation costs would kills me for the rest of the 35 days left of HK stay.

* Yikes!

My Banner

More graphics work...I know...but hey, I think I'm getting pretty slick at it. "Quest for Jackie Chan!" project has forced me to learn about graphics, video, multimedia and interactive lines of storytelling. So much, that sometimes, my head hurts a little from trying to keep up at it.

O_o

Quest for Jackie Chan! Showcase Snippet Trailer

Click here to check out the clip.

SUPPORT THE QUEST! PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS! oxox :p

Hi there everyone!

It has been one year since the inception of the idea with the goal of meeting Jackie Chan and now looking back, I've come so far from idea to so many connections.

Through this "quest" I've become more aware of the links that the subject of "Jackie Chan" crosses over to martial arts, action film genre, comedy, independent filmmaking, stunts, youth culture, globalisation, pop culture, generation XYZ, the list is endless.

Thank you to all those people who have believed in me, in my vision, keep in mind, its beyond meeting Jackie Chan -- it's a life philosophy that ABC; Anything is possible, Its about becoming aware and creating opportunities.

But will Jackie Chan meet Maria Tran?

The clock is ticking....

TRAVEL: Journey to Hong Kong…

It’s been a good 10 days now since I’ve landed in Hong Kong. Unfortunately for me its been a very sickly one. For 10 days, I spent most of it staying at the New Hong Kong Hostel and only rarely emerging outside these walls. I’ve had a severe (possibly pending) cold/flu as well as now some sort of massive migraine.

And this is the ugly side of the “Quest”. Since September this year I’ve been travelling non stop without any problems and now, since I hit Hong Kong, it has slowed down completely. I know I’m so close, yet my health is really getting in the way. I keep telling myself that I schedule to get better in the next two days so I can actually meet some really cool Jackie Chan linkages. But it just keeps getting pushed back and back and back. Now day 10 and I’m still here.

Anyhow, so far the journey to Hong Kong has been a very enlivening one. I’m staying at the Chungking Mansion. It is not a mansion. Very far from it in actual fact. It is possibly the most seediest looking places in Hong Kong with a crazy 4,000 people living in the one building! Its like a whole town or something enclosed in a concrete jungle.

HK in general, woahhh! So much stimuli! So many things happening around, people walking pass, things being bought and sold, so many restaurants and shops in any places, every nook and cranny. Everyone means business, whether its big or small.

Anyhow, just a little bit of an update.

Much love,

Maria Tran

FACEBOOK: Jackie Chan?

Digitally manipulated by Facebook pal Dorothy Lily

Lol! Just recently my friend from facebook created this image using her iphone4. I think its super duperly awesome and kick ass! Although, I am still in the midst of scoring this meet with Jackie Chan and making sure his office knows what is about to unveil...stay tune people!

Quest for Jackie Chan! Urban Action Film Forum Video Upload

With a little over 24 hours till I head to Hong Kong, I've finally had the time to tweak up my intern Thuy Nguyen video edit of the Quest for Jackie Chan! Urban Action Film launch back in August this year.

To come to think about it, I've been through quite a bit over the past 12 months since the inception of such a bizzare pet project. Still, there's much more to come, in particularly meeting the legend himself - Jackie Chan.

Finger crossed!

In the meantime, click on the image link to watch the event!

Quest for Jackie Chan! 9 days to Hong Kong Style!

After 19 days across Australia - coming home to $40 in the bank, rushing off to work inthe country NSW region for two months to replenish the funds and now, as I write this, sitting in Mc Donalds Cafe in Melbourne leeching wifi internet setting up all my media equipment - I wonder how the heck did I let one project get so far.

It started out as a "what if?" idea that sprawled into a network of other ideas that grouped together as a crazy drive to see if a nobody like me can meet one of the world's most iconic action superstar - Jackie Chan.

I haven't met him yet. But boy...have I bumped into a host of extraordinary people who have! Seriously! The country of Australia is enriched with some exciting people from stuntspeople, academics, die hard fans, martial artists etc... who have contributed to my project via their interviews and also great support on my online initiatives (Redbubble & Fundbreak).

Now, I'm on a tight deadline - with only 9 days left, I've wrapped up my sideline job in Coffs Harbour, train tripped it back to Sydney to bid my parents farewell (and get the washing done) and flew to Melbourne for the final batch of interviews (Richard Norton, Chris Pang & Daniel Whyte) and film shoot. Then I'll be heading back to Sydney, only to prepare for my road trip to Canberra to score an interview with Benny The Jet.

I will then return to Sydney (wash and pack the clothes) and fly out to Hong Kong!

Stay tune....the adventure continues....

Quest for Jackie Chan! 3rd place at Metro Screen Pitching Competition

Quest for Jackie Chan! Team Maria Tran, Thuy Ng & Jack Ngu
Quest for Jackie Chan! takes out 3rd place for the 2010 Metro Screen SPAA Pitching Competition! The project was selected out of over 70 submissions and was amongst the top 10 finalist competing for 3 prizes.

THE FINALISTS ARE:

•Jiao Chen with 'Remembering Six-Four' – Transmedia documentary
•Brianna O’Donohue with 'Godsville' – Animated television sitcom
•Adam Lemmey with 'Creepy Weekly' – Children’s live-action television series
•Richard Attieh with 'Outback Skies' – Travel and adventure series
•Maria Tran with 'Quest for Jackie Chan' – Feature documentary
•Rick Viede with 'All the Way with Glace' – Transmedia project
•Julie Noever with 'The Kingdom' - Feature documentary
•Katie Hickson with 'Horse Talk TV' – Factual television series
•Shanon Wilson with 'Parita’s Journey' – Historical drama feature
•Roy Weiland with 'Barton the Ghost Catcher' - Children’s transmedia project

Good Pitch
by Cara Nash September 29, 2010 11:29 Edited September 29, 2010 11:31

The winners of the Metro Screen's SPAA Fringe Competition have been announced.

Metro Screen's SPAA Fringe Pitching Competition held September 28 saw ten unique projects pitched in front of seven industry leaders and a capacity audience.

The project which took out the top prize and is now representing Metro Screen at the national SPAA Fringe Pitching Competition on October 23 - an event designed to find the best projects in the country - is Roy Weiland with his children's transmedia project Barton the Ghost Catcher.

The project sees class weirdo Barton tormented by ghosts until he discovers he is the only person who can stop them and save the world.

"I'm really excited to pitch in front of the movers and shakers. To be put in front of them is why I do it. It's a long quest as a filmmaker, this is really amazing," Weiland said.

The winner of the SPAA Fringe Competition will then compete as one of only two finalists at the Holding Redlich Pitching Comp at the SPAA Conference in mid November. This winner will receive an airfare to the Cannes Film Festival or a TV market in 2010/11.

Second place on the night went to Julie Noever with her feature documentary The Kingdom and third place was awarded to Maria Tran for her feature documentary Quest for Jackie Chan.

Also highly recommended by the judges were Rick Viede's Transmedia project All the Way with Glace and Brianna O'Donohue's animated television sitcom Godsville.

The panel of judges included independent Producer Trish Lake whose credits include Gettin' Square and The Burning Season, Distribution Executive of Verve Entertainment David Dombrosky, and Megan Simpson Huberman who is Director of Creative and Enterprise Development at Screen Australia.

For more information on Metro Screen and the courses available, visit their website here. For more information on the SPAA Fringe Pitching Competition, click here.

Picture caption:Winner of Metro Screen's SPAA Fringe Pitching Competition, Roy Weiland.
Posted by Maria Tran at 4:26 AM
Labels: 2010 Metro Screen Pitching Competition, Barton the Ghost Catcher, Filmink, Maria Tran, Quest for Jackie Chan, Roy Weiland

Day 16-18 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Hobart

Day 14 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Melbourne

Day 13 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Melbourne

Yup that's right. My Quest for Jackie Chan! tour has landed me Melbourne "Jackie Chan" tour by the up and coming acting sensation - Chris Pang from Tomorrow When the War Began. So far, blogger BENTS has gone gaga on him as well a brewing TWTWB diehard fans and young teeny boppers. Me on the other hand, well... I have been very well behaved and let the man do the talking when I finally hit his home turf on my Quest for Jackie Chan!

I've met Pang on his past TWTWB party late last year, only to be reaquainted at the "Quest for Jackie Chan! Urban Action Film" launch early in August this year, featuring my mentor Antony Szeto.

Let me tell you, this guy has definitely fun and charisma brewing and is so utterly down-to-earth that you just couldn't imagine.

Anyhow, I thought I'd edit together a quick snippet vlog so you can preview what Q4JC was all about in Melbourne. Shout out to the Pang family for letting me stay over. You guys rock! :)



Also, the Quest for Jackie Chan! Ideas to Realities Workshop ran in the after session with a moderate turnout. All the best to the attendees and I hope you continue pursuing your dreams!

Day 12 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Melbourne

Today I headed to my 5th destination – Melbourne. I’m not a stranger to this city and have visited it on numerous occasions such as for ......

This time round I had a workshop as well as a list of interviewees to contribute their thoughts on the “Quest”. On the plate we have Van Thanh Rudd (political activist/ Kevin Rudd’s nephew), Chris Pang (“Tomorrow When the War Began”) and others which I will announce later on. This region will definitely will be as exciting and I can’t wait to get started.
I took some chill out time at West Airport’s Westfield Shopping Centre before heading over to a Laundromat in Brunswick to get my clothes washed and dryed.

I thought it was smart of me to change into new clothes to wash my current ones as well. Now, having no convienient change rooms around, I decided to pull over and changed my undergarments. Now here’s a lesson to be learnt. Two cops pulled over and came across to my vechicle. Having been told by friends that there has been cases where cops shot a suspect because they thought that they were about to pull a gun on them in response.

Hence, I froze. Underwear halfway and next thing you know I had to get out the vehicle and explain the situation not only to the cops, but also have a crowd of amused shopkeepers witnessing my predicament.

Day 11 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Adelaide

We wrapped up with a quick photoshoot and then myself Ben Teoh, Ben and Tommy headed out to grab a bit of grub before hitting our Quest for Jackie Chan! Adelaide Flashmobbing event at Hindmarsh Park.

The turnout was great. Approximately 30 eager enthusiast rocked up in their jeans and black top and Ben began distributing the Jackie Chan mask that was then incorporated in a series of flash mob exercises later.

I ran a couple of energisers to get everyone into the mood of fun, spontaneity and randomness and pretty soon everyone got the drift of the fun vibe that they had to harness to enjoy the event.

We then hit the streets around Rundall Mall and prepared for our a series of missions. They included running sneaking up on Chibo coffee buyers and orchestrating a Jackie Chan chant that broke out in a series of shouts, cheers and claps before dispersing back into the crowd. There was also “ghosting” which is following awkwardly close to passerbys. My favourite is when we interrupted tourists and photo takers by jumping into their photos causing confusion, fun and plenty of laughs.

Of course, we had the typical jeers from some onlookers who slip in comments that it was “weird” but I guess subconsciously one could wonder how much fun it is to be uninhibited and celebrate life with the power of spontaneity and fun.

The day started with an early 8am out of the house, heading to CANSA to run my workshop “Ideas to Realities” Workshop. The morning was slightly cloudy and cold but I had a good turn out of 8 eager beavers who made the commitment to having their lives enriched with new mind tools.

Somehow, I think 3 hours isn’t enough when it comes to the format of a workshop. Its went way too quick and people had a lot of off load and discuss as well. I just love the amount of storytelling each person presented as well as the host of interesting ideas and projects that they were developing along the way.

I would like to send a major shout out to the Adelaide Flashmobbers who are so bold, innovative and daring in their approach and wish them all the best in continuing to inspire the world, connect with the next generation and engage with the world with more fun and excitement.

I drove around Adelaide for a bit before parking out a Christian Church and passing out due to exhaustion in the car. I was awoken an hour later by a young Christian and the next thing you know I was rocking it at one of their services. I just can’t help it, their song was so catchy and I couldn’t tell if it was something from video hit’s chart top 40.

Now, here’s the juicy bit. My newfound churchy friends then took their enthusiasm to the clubs and boy....did they know how to move! Instead of the conservative sways that I so envisioned appropriate in my head, these guys were pumping, krumping and wriggling in places that you don’t want to know. Lol!

I got home at 3am.

Day 10 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Adelaide

Gosh! I had over slept till 10am. All the lack of sleep has finally given way and made me force myself to take in an extra 2 hours before I began the day.

Today I really appreciate car hire. I couldn’t imagine the trip without it. It would have been super hard lugging around 8 kgs on the back and dragging 24 along the ground to places. Public transport would of sure killed me (or other people) if I pulled a Miss Congeniality and knock a couple with my lethal luggage.

So up again to the city to Master Leong’s studio for more yarns to be told and it ended up me being sent away as Master Leong was not yet ready. Oh dear....

I ended up hanging it the city, feeling such a loner for the next few hours until Cuong invited me to the University of Adelaide to check out his hip hop dance troop as they prepare for the public display on Saturday night.

We wrapped up and got home at 12 that night and I got to bed at 2am.

Day 9 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Adelaide

I left Perth early in the morning to Adelaide, only to arrive and to quickly get myself over to my first interview with Dr Gerry Groot who, not only is a senior lecturer in Asian Studies, but was an extra in the original making of Drunken Master 2 (1993). Imagine that, being on set alongside Jackie Chan! Funny enough, how I found Dr Groot was through a google research of “Jackie Chan & Adelaide” and he popped up. I was definitely intrigued to find out the realities and hardships of the JC set Dr Groot retold how a 10 second clip that he was in took 12 hours to shoot in freezing weather!

Jackie Chan’s film set was intricate and precise. They spent enormous amount of time with aspects of lighting, cinematography and of course, numerous takes!
Dr Groot played one of 8 imperialist guards and felt honoured to have flaunt a real British guard uniform and rifle. This contrasted his other experiences in the Chinese film industry, where props were very flimsy and low grade.

Wrapping up, he signed the Jackie Chan postcard and away I went to meet up with Master Leong of the Wing Chun & Tai Chi Academy in central Adelaide.

Master Leong introduces himself one of the family descendants of Grand Master Ip Man and continued his introduction with a hierarchy map of the who’s who of Wing Chun. He spoke about his journey setting up a martial arts dojo and the hardships of it, fending off competing rivals, triads and even the taxation office. Nevertheless, what he built is his pride a joy flaunts numerous students of the Adelaide region. So what did he think of Jackie Chan? Well, I believe less favourably. Master Leong referred to “negative energies” that surround Jackie Chan and that it is evident amongst the word of mouth generated by his colleagues.

Tough account, but it is a perspective thing right? I haven’t met Jackie so it really doesn’t matter to me. Master Leong then sent me away, telling me to return the next afternoon for I guess, more stories.
I wrapped up the day by heading to Parafield Gardens to my host family Banh for an Italian dinner and a good yarn to tell.