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.

Day 8 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Perth - Late Nighter

I spent the last nighter in Perth at the Murdoch University with Steven Liew and a couple of his mates. Steven and his martial arts action film collegue Robert Chen are very talented shooting and choreographing kung fu action.

Day 7 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Perth - Perth Film Network

Shout out the Debbie Thoy and the Perth Film Network for their arrangement of the the Quest for Jackie Chan! Urban Action Film Event in Perth! Great discussions amongst the panelist of leading independent film makers and their plight in continuing forth with the action film genre in Australia! These guys are the ones to definitely look out for!

Day 7 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Perth

Finally I got to do my laundry after more than a week of harbouring stinky clothes in the luggage. Cleaniness is next to godliness!

Then Alan and I did a bit of driving around Perth. Perth is a nice a spacious city with lovely wide roads and a great place for those who want to settle.

Alan insisted on checking out the Perth trains...some attraction...O_o
Me in front of the windy backdrop of Perth! Nice!

I love Exomod Coffee!
Perth is still under some major city constructions.
Me rashing up after some bad seafood...

Day 7 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Perth

This was my first time in Perth and I actually arrived at 8.30pm on day 6. Perth was remarkably much colder than Darwin and I wished I stashed another jumper somewhere. Day 7 was more laid back and checking out the what's what of Perth with my long time friend Alan Truong. I did a bit of shopping and prep work for day 8, which was the much anticipated Quest for Jackie Chan! Urban Action Film Event hosted by the fabulous Perth Film Network.

Visiting filmmaker not sitting up like Jackie

For source, click here.
BEN LANGFORD

September 7th, 2010

DARWIN has been mined as a potential source for links to an international martial arts superstar.

Do-it-yourself filmmaker Maria Tran was in the Territory capital searching for links to the incomparable Jackie Chan.

The 25-year-old Sydneysider is making a documentary about Chan and will travel to Hong Kong in December to try and meet him.

She is tracking down people who share Chan's name, or are linked to him in some way. And she sends him postcards from each town she visits in her quest.

Do you know any Jackie Chan's? Let us know here.

But looking for Jackie Chan connections in Darwin didn't prove as easy as in some cities.

Tran couldn't find any namesakes and had to pursue a few tenuous links to the star of Rush Hour and Shanghai Knights.

Darwin alderman Bob Elix made it into the documentary as a representative of the Chan Ward. And Tran was photographed with Ben Little, perhaps Darwin's biggest Jackie Chan fan, on Harry Chan Ave in Darwin's CBD.

She hadn't tried any of the 12 Chans in the NT phone book but planned to chase them up after she left.

Her quest may be made harder by the fact she's been blocked from the inner circle of Jackie Chan's Facebook friends.

But she's not short on enthusiasm.

"There's all sorts of ways I'm trying to find the linkages," she said.

"At the minute it's all been a social media campaign."

Tran last night headed for Perth and then Adelaide, where a "flash mob" will descend on a surprise city location for an impromptu Jackie Chan theatrical performance.

www.questforjackiechan.com

Day 5 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Darwin

Now here’s another issue I faced. I hadn’t prepared accommodation and had the idea of sleeping in the car for the next two days in Darwin. The thought of this came with slight excitement as well as anxiety as of all the stories of car muggings that frequently occurred in this city.

Here’s the magic of the story. At the same time, a major Jackie Chan fan travelling back to NT overheard my conversational rants to my sister over the phone about (1) no accommodation (2) lack of at least one JC fan in Darwin.

He turned around and said “I’m a Jackie Chan fan...”

The rest is history. We found out we had a lot in common. Ben Little, was a comedian, voice over artist, scriptwriter and works for Channel 9 volunteered his place to stay.

IN THE MEDIA: Living legend tribute

For Source, click here.
SYDNEY filmmaker and martial arts fanatic Maria Tran was at Sunnybank last week to recruit helpers for a documentary she is making about Jackie Chan.

Quest for Jackie Chan follows the 25-year-old’s journey across the country as she leaves no stone unturned in her search to find out all there is to know about the martial arts star and his links to Australia.

From filming part of his 1996 movie First Strike in Brisbane, to stories of him working alongside former prime minister Kevin Rudd on construction sites in the 1980s, Ms Tran said that she had already uncovered a few surprises.

“The idea of the movie was to pay homage to Jackie Chan but ... it’s starting to become more about the journey,” she said.

612 Brisbane ABC Radio: Breakfast with Spencer Howson

Check out the radio interview I did with Spencer Howson in the early morning in Melbourne!

I found Spencer via my early google research of "Brisbane & Jackie Chan" and found out this previous link. I guess the more I think about it and the more probing I do, Jackie Chan linkages in Australia is quite vast and maybe finding him might not be as dreary as it's once thought to be. But what do I want to achieve when I meet him? Stay tune to find out!

Signing out,

Maria Tran

Day 4 - Quest for Jackie Chan in Brisbane - Last Day

Today was the last day of my Brisbane Q4JC trip and it began with the farewell of my cousin and the wonderful hospitality they provided on my journey.

I then made my way to the Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre (BEMAC) to run my newly designed workshop “Ideas to Realities” with 6 local participants for the next 3 hours. I was intrigued to see the light bulbs of this small intimate group begin to brighten up as start reclaiming their sense of direction and capacities in life.

Even though it was an early Saturday morning, these 6 step outside their comfort zones to develop their ways of thinking as a part of the workshop. Shout out to Daniel Crosland, Colin Fong, Connie Mc Laran, Amy Wang, Wei Jian Kong and Gladys Miles whoa rea all on the road to be potentially amongst Australia’s creative producers.

Next stop was a quick lunch at the Fish Bar down the road in Kangaroo Point, before stopping over to the different locations to grab the cut aways of the bright and sunny Brisbane CBD.

By 2.30pm, myself and Colin headed to Spring Hill to meet up with Raamon Varcarro and his Urban Action mob for a quick fight choreography experimental session. These guys were fun to hang with and I got the chance to muck around with my action camera grip and develop my cinematography skills.
We wrapped up by 4.30pm and I suddenly discovered that I lost my car hire keys! I never felt so screwed up in my life and the “Quest” was definitely in the midst of being compromised. Fortunately for me, I had Mr calm, cool and collected Raamon (also “Jerds”) who took the reins and problem solved the situation.

RACQ came by at 6.30pm (my flight was at 8.30pm) and got me out of the dilemma.
But my problems didn’t end there. I found out along the way that my GPS road maps were outdated and kept sending me off track and so I spent the next 40 minutes lost in trying to locate Brisbane Airport.

At the same time, I was busting to go to the loo; I began doubting whether or not I’ll make it to my next destination.

I eventually got there at 8pm (close call) and quickly returned the car hire and off I went from Brisbane to Darwin (3 hours).