“Cubik” Gala Premiere.

On 27 August (Fri) , CUBIK ‘s 9-member cast gathered at The Cathay , a mall in central Singapore for the long-awaited Gala Premiere. After 3 Film Festivals in the USA, and winning the Grand Remi Award, CUBIK finally came back to its port of origin.

Warning: Many photos ahead! (Credits: Simon Wong, Philip DeRise, Derrick Siu, Tai Lam)

Media Interviews

Before the event started proper, the cast members had to go through media interviews – which will eventually be found on the DVDs. It was funny, the most-oft heard comment was “Actually I don’t remember. It was so long ago!” And it’s true. Production shoot dates were in November 2008, 21 months ago, and we’d be hard-pressed to remember minute details. Bobby Tonelli – hard-working actor that he is – said he headed to the CUBIK website to brush up on his character’s background.

Fortunately I have a super-memory, so didn’t find the questions that difficult to answer. Haha.

That’s me being interviewed. I have no idea what I was saying.

CUBIK Lead “Alex” – Laura Kee (yours truly…)

CUBIK Lead

“Master Fu” - Laurence Pang (who plays my father)

CUBIK Lead “Devlin” / Eye Candy #1 – Bobby Tonelli

CUBIK Supporting “Josie”/ Eye Candy #2 – Melissa Faith Yeo

CUBIK Supporting “Inventor” + Poster Designer – Simon Wong

CUBIK Supporting “Oliver” - Lyon Sim

CUBIK Supporting “Shankar” – Fish Chaar

CUBIK Producer / Supporting “Yuri” - Stefan Fanthome

Some of the CUBIK Cast looking cool & suave. Ready to rock the Premiere!

The tireless media crew went around interviewing people before & after the event.

While the Actors Waited …

We were taking turns to do media interviews. We were bored. We had to keep quiet while the interviews were done. So what did the actors do? Pose for photos, of course! This is just one of many photos – the others are too explicit to be released. LOL~ I AMkidding.

Did I mention the Lamborghini & Harley Davidsons?

In the world of CUBIK, flashy vehicles are our mainstay. It was just too bad we couldn’t have the Premiere by the Pier, otherwise we could have brought along the Yacht as well. However, these beautiful vehicles in front of The Cathay caught the eyes of many passers-by who stopped to gawk at us & take photos. Thanks to our sponsors for these lovely vehicles!

Beautiful, aren’t they?

After that came the photo call, where our official photographers & random passers-by snapped many photos. I don’t know if they were more interested in the vehicles or in us – since most of us are hardly superstars, the most recognisable face being Bobby’s. I think they were wondering why these people were all dressed up.

By the way, my dress was sponsored by designer Hani Brown for the event.

Father, daughter & right-hand man.

The bike’s the centre of attention.

And now we gather around the Lamborghini.

“Whoever keeps their hand on the Lamborghini for the longest time, wins a Lamborghini!”

Me next to the poster photo of myself from 2 years back.

Candid shot!

Our Guest of Honour, Foreign Minister George Yeo arrived slightly after 7p.m. And people around started getting more excited. Apparently he was supposed to be driven up in a Lamborghini, but he declined because “what would people think?!”

Stefan showing the Minister around.

Guest of Honour with the CUBIK Cast.

Onto the Event Proper …

See my beautiful sunflowers next to me? My friends gave them to me – so sweet!

Our MC for the night was Steve Lai, Actor & ESPN Presenter. I met him for the first time in July 2009, when I did a short film with him – it was his first-ever short film production then. And look where he is now!

Making sure everything runs according to plan.

The audience were introduced to the Beauty in the World of CUBIK through a fashion show with dresses designed by our sponsor, Hani Brown.

Danger in the World of CUBIK then surfaced, through a demonstration of Kali.

While my “bodyguards” fought for me, I tried to protect my dress. Haha.

Finally, the film was kicked off when the Minister “clacked” the Slate.

Q & A

Cast were all invited onstage to answer any questions

the audience may have had on the film.

Stefan, our Producer, ended up answering most of the questions, since they were on the concept of the film etc.

Steve, our MC, did ask me how I landed the role.

Probably a combination of my strong audition monologue about a female searching for her own identity, as well as my judo background.

Now, about The Auction & How We Got Our Poster Back.

All 9 Cast members autographed a CUBIK Poster, which was then auctioned off on the spot, and half of the proceeds were to go to the Children’s Cancer Society.

A foreign entrepreneur bought our Poster for S$800!

And promptly gave it to the Foreign Ministry as a gesture of goodwill.

Plus he couldn’t lug the Poster home.

Of course, the Minister had to give the gift away ( bribing allegations, anyone?) & we got it back! Maybe we can auction it & donate the full proceeds this time… Hmmmm. And we didn’t scrīpt this entire auction, contrary to popular belief..

The People… Thank You All!

I am so appreciative to each & every person who came, and rushed down to The Cathay by 7p.m. on a Friday evening.

I hoped all of you enjoyed yourselves, as I certainly did.

Dinner & Mingling

I finally watched CUBIK, the finished product, and all the tension I had before the screening ebbed away. As the lead character & protagonist of the film, all the pressure was laid on my shoulders, even though I didn’t realise it at the time. But I was relieved after the screening.

And dinnertime was the best time to bask in the afterglow.

With various investors.

Brenizer Fanthome Films is planning to expand CUBIK into a full-length feature film or a TV series, and hopefully this event showed the investors the quality of work these producers create.

The CUBIK Gala Premiere was a blast, and I feel extremely privileged to be involved in this project. Following the Official Selection at 3 USA Film Festivals, and the Singapore Short Film Festival, CUBIK will next be seen at the Cincinnati Film Festival.

For a Film Review of “CUBIK” by SINdie – Singapore Independent Films Only,

CLICK HERE.

Hope the Gala Premiere photos weren’t overwhelming. Other than updates about projects I’m working on at the moment, I will also attempt to put a few photos of CUBIK – Behind the Scenes on a blog post. Stay tuned!