Men without Women looking for BananaFish, Girl without Cat telling her Story

The Man breaks up with The Girl, a traveler travels to the east to meet a girl coming from the East, and the traveler portrays himself as the main character within his novel, meeting another girl from the east. Three stories converge together, as reality, dreams and fiction overlap, without a clear distinction between, which causes them difficulty in trying to extricate themselves from their circumstances.

  • Thim Kian CHENG
    Director
    SALARY
  • Thim Kian CHENG
    Writer
    SALARY
  • Thim Kian CHENG
    Producer
    SALARY
  • Rie TAKATSUKA
    Producer
  • Kumi TAKATSUKA
    Key Cast
  • Ving LEE
    Key Cast
  • Itt PATIPARN
    Key Cast
  • Joe LIEW
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 30, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    3,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Malaysia
  • Country of Filming:
    Japan, Korea, Republic of, Malaysia
  • Language:
    Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Salamindanaw Asian Film Festival
    Mindanaw
    Philippines
    November 11, 2016
    Asia Premiere
    Asian Short in Competition
  • Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival
    Brisbane
    Australia
    November 25, 2016
    Australia Premiere
    Official Selection
  • SeaShorts Film Festival
    Kuala Lumpur
    Malaysia
    May 11, 2017
    Malaysia Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Thim Kian CHENG

TK CHENG is a Malaysian Chinese descent film director, screenwriter, and producer. But he like to be called as “Filmmaker”. He started his film career around late 20’s right after he worked as video editor and 3D artist.

His completed his short film <Salary> during 2016 and won a price on Magic bean short film competition in Malaysia. At the same year, he completed another long titles short film <Men without Women looking for BananaFish, Girl without Cat telling her Story> and competed at Salamindanaw Asian Film Festival and also official selection at the Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival.

In 2015, he joined Kyoto Filmmaker Lab as Production Manager. And the next year, he selected as one of fellow (Directing Major) of Asian Film Academy, and he won Dongseo University Scholarship Fund.

Cheng also is a filmmaker who works mostly as line producer, assistant director for internationally acclaimed Malaysian directors like Edmund Yeo, Woo Ming Jin and James Lee. He involved with few projects that went to few film festivals around the world. Notably feature film <River of Exploding Durian; directed by Edmund Yeo> and <Second Life of Thief; directed by Woo Ming Jin>.

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Director Statement

This short film was created heavily inspired by <The Men Without Women> by Haruki Murakami. As I traveled out of city, as well as to foreign countries, I felt how someone would feel away from his loved ones. I started imagining many things within this new environment, and gradually I imagined myself as the main character within my imagination, leading me into a deep abyss.
I think human relationships are complicated and unpredictable, especially because we don’t necessarily enjoy communicating honestly and frankly for various reasons, possibly because we don’t want to hurt others’ feelings, and even our own. It might also be because we don’t care so much about how the other party feels, which leads to the end of communication between both.
For a lonely person, both of these things are connected. I hope to create the mood and feeling of this, which the audience can feel for themselves.