Home-grown show Woohoo! to usher in Year of the Tiger

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will have its 100% locally-made Chinese language movie to usher in the Year of the Tiger.

Entitled Woohoo! – or Tiger Dance – the movie is by local producer-cum-director Chiu Keng Guan, a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy, whose alumni include notable film makers like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

Chiu, who is also Astro senior manager of Chinese Language Business, said the idea for the movie came about when local film makers decided to make their own he sui pian (lunar new year films) after years of watching foreign productions.

“Having come this far, I feel thankful for all the support that has gone into making this maiden production a success,” he said.

The RM2mil movie revolves around five youths from different backgrounds, who somehow end up in a small village on the East Coast and were persuaded to train and perform the tiger dance at a special ceremony held once every 60 years. The heart-warming family comedy by Woohoo Pictures and Astro Shaw was filmed in Kuantan and Kuala Lumpur last September. It features an all-Malaysian cast, starring local media personalities from Astro’s stable of artistes such as Jack Lim, Jason Yeoh, Royce Tan, Bernard Hiew, Gan Jiang Han, Chen Keat Yoke, Gan Mei Yan, Vivian Tok and Freddie Ng.

The dance is similar to, although not as commonly practised as, the popular lion or even dragon dance in Chinese communities around the world.

Astro head of Chinese Language Business Choo Chi Han said the film was also an effort to introduce to local audiences the little-known art, which had a 200-year-old history.

For more details about the movie, visit www.woohoo.my or join www.facebook.com/woohoo2010.

Woohoo! opens in local cinemas on Jan 14.