KUCHING, April 24: Famous Hollywood martial arts actor Steven Seagal and his wife, Erdenetuya Seagal, touched down in Kuching International Airport (KIA) today ahead of his debut appearance at the Asean International Film Festival and Award 2019 (AIFFA 2019) gala dinner at Pullman Hotel this Saturday.
The couple was welcomed and greeted by Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Hii Chang Kee and AIFFA officials at the VIP terminal of the airport.
The three-day AIFFA festival will kick-off tomorrow (April 25), and the American actor is scheduled to meet his fans at the Old Courthouse here at 3pm on April 27 as well as touring Kuching City and other attractions.
Seagal is well known for his martial arts films that go as far as in the ‘80s, such as ‘Above the Law’, ‘Under Siege’ and ‘Hard to Kill’.
Apart from acting, Seagal is also a producer, screenwriter and musician. He holds American, Serbian, and Russian citizenships.
Held every two years, AIFFA began in 2013 with the appearance of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star cum Tomorrow Never Dies Bond girl Dato Michell Yeo, followed by world renown kungfu daredevil Jackie Chan in 2015 and ‘Ip Man’ star Donnie Yen in 2017.
The festival this year will feature a Starcraft Workshop on the first day for aspiring actors and filmmakers at Restoran Budaya, from 9am to 5pm.
On the second day, there will be digital film talks conducted by speakers from Netflix, Astro and Beach House Production.
On April 27, a pitching session will be held at Old Courthouse, starting at 10am, where filmmakers may pitch their ideas to financiers to secure funding for production.
Another new element at AIFFA this year would be the presence of an international talent casting director who will be doing auditions on April 27 at 11am at Restaurant Budaya in the Sarawak Steamship Building here.
There would also be free movie screenings open to the public throughout the festival at the Old Courthouse.
AIFFA is a biennial competition for filmmakers from 10 Asean countries, offering awards in 17 categories covering all major aspects of the creative and technical areas of filmmaking. — DayakDaily
