Filmmaker Linus Chung on family stories and his pet snake
MALAYSIANSKINI | Linus Chung was doing well as a filmmaker until, like many others in the industry, he suffered a huge setback when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
Best known for producing and directing short films such as the animated Demolition Frog (2002) as well as live-action shorts Life (2002), A Note of Love (2007) and House (part of an omnibus film with 15Malaysia, 2009), Chung is also an actor and had a starring role in Yasmin Ahmad's Sepet (2005).
He is a trained sculptor and fine arts painter as well, but as the pandemic took its toll, Chung found his career coming to a grinding halt.
His greatest priority was his family, and along with his wife Leong Shen Nyan and three very young children, he knew they had to ride it out as best they could.
Things are thankfully looking better now.
Recalling how things were prior to the 2020 lockdowns, Chung said, "I worked in making visuals and telling stories on camera for many years and it's what I know best.
"Before the Covid lockdown, I had a steady career of producing and directing videos for various companies. I had clients like Isuzu and Malaysian Airlines.
"I was also actively producing videos for various NGOs. I do these at very low rates as I want to lend a hand to their causes which I believe in."
Back then, he would work on...
MALAYSIANSKINI | Linus Chung was doing well as a filmmaker until, like many others in the industry, he suffered a huge setback when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
Best known for producing and directing short films such as the animated Demolition Frog (2002) as well as live-action shorts Life (2002), A Note of Love (2007) and House (part of an omnibus film with 15Malaysia, 2009), Chung is also an actor and had a starring role in Yasmin Ahmad's Sepet (2005).
He is a trained sculptor and fine arts painter as well, but as the pandemic took its toll, Chung found his career coming to a grinding halt.
His greatest priority was his family, and along with his wife Leong Shen Nyan and three very young children, he knew they had to ride it out as best they could.
Things are thankfully looking better now.
Recalling how things were prior to the 2020 lockdowns, Chung said, "I worked in making visuals and telling stories on camera for many years and it's what I know best.
"Before the Covid lockdown, I had a steady career of producing and directing videos for various companies. I had clients like Isuzu and Malaysian Airlines.
"I was also actively producing videos for various NGOs. I do these at very low rates as I want to lend a hand to their causes which I believe in."
Back then, he would work on producing two or three videos a month which was enough to cover his living expenses.
"It still allowed me to have enough time to be a good father. I was trying hard to achieve a good work-life balance."
Then the pandemic hit, and like so many of us, it greatly impacted Chung's livelihood.
"When the lockdown started, things were a mess. The pandemic was especially bad for Theo, our youngest, because it started when he was two years old (he will turn five this year).
"He missed out on having both external stimulation and social exposure during this crucial development period, so we were rigorously trying to stimulate him in the confines of home, even if it meant letting him swim in a bathtub meant for our dog or climbing a ladder pretending it was a mountain.
"It's a far cry from the river, but we do what we can," said Chung.
It was a global pandemic, and Chung knew he had to ride it out.
"I don't blame the government for having a lockdown, but the ever-changing standard operating procedures were damaging, and I guess the creative industry here in Malaysia was not the top priority, especially when the situation was uncertain and people were dying."
"I do, however, wish that the government were more certain with things and more careful with policies that affected people's lives. As you know, while we were undergoing Covid, we also had unprecedented changes of government and an emergency was declared."
Family videos on YouTube
During this time, Chung continued with his filmmaking work, but this time, it revolved around his family. He started putting up YouTube videos called Great Little Stories.
"We feel that people, especially young new parents, are always looking for other interesting ideas and experiences to enrich their lives. All of us have something to share with the world; so on our YouTube channel, we share what we know about bringing kids to nature, the various animals we live with and some important parenting tips.
"One of our YouTube videos is about how our first child was born prematurely at seven months, and having a premature baby is a risk that can happen to any pregnancy. So we shared what we went through when she was in the neonatal ICU to prepare would-be parents in the event this happens to them," he said.
"To our surprise, when we published the video, our paediatric doctor saw it and messaged us saying that it was good and asked us permission to share it with his other patients.
Watch: Premature Birth /Preterm Baby /Becoming a Mother
"Secondly, we believe that documenting the things we believe in and do is also important, especially for our children because as we grow older, our thoughts will change and our memories fade. So it's a good idea to leave behind videos our children can look back on and learn from our 'present' self in the future. The best time to log memory is when the memory is fresh," mused Chung.
The filmmaker added his belief that YouTube is very important these days.
"I am also on YouTube often as a user. Used well, it can bring attention to important issues, it teaches people a lot of things and some people even build successful careers from it. So the YouTube we started will hopefully gain traction too, and then we can propagate our ideas on living in line with nature," he said.
On top of making these YouTube videos, Chung also did a lot of writing, self-reflection, cleaning up his house and spending quality time with his family.
Chung and his family love the outdoors, and he feels more people should be in touch with nature.
"I come from Sarawak, and when I was young, my dad would religiously bring us to the beach and to the jungle. Shen's dad did the same, and so I guess we grew up with an appreciation of nature.
"Shen was a forest ranger while I would do work for activists, and that is how our paths crossed. So you can even say the great outdoors or nature brought us together.
"I think the importance of getting in touch with nature cannot be overemphasised. I think a lot of the problems we have today stem from a disconnect with nature, and we need to restore this sacred connection to nature if we are to save ourselves," he said.
Chung clarified that the problems he referred to were not environmental issues such as flooding, pollution and climate change, but personal issues that could be solved by spending more time with nature.
"We came from nature, so it would be atrocious to believe that we can live in artificially built environments of concrete, steel and glass isolated from that which we came from," he said.
When you see the picture of Chung with his pet, you are naturally curious.
“The snake is licensed under Perhilitan, our wildlife department and has been with us for years. It had entered the church I go to (Church of St Francis Xavier in Pataling Jaya) and bit the parish priest Father Simon Kong. “
“I suggested that he tame it and make it a parish pet. He actually did that and even walked around the church with the snake. After he took a position in another church (in 2011) and couldn’t take the snake with him, I took it in (I was still single then) and it has now become part of the family," explained Chung.
Now that things are slowly opening up now, Chung is naturally over the moon.
"I am glad for the ability to take our children out and see the world. I am also glad we are stepping back into normality again. It has affected me in a good way, being able to go to the jungle, socialise with friends, being able to walk in society again has given me back the inspiration and that spring in my step."
Chung said he is planning to travel more as a family but with borders closed down during the pandemic, these plans got shelved.
"The pandemic also took away my source of income and really ate into our savings, so now we need to really find sources of income, earn and save up again."
Being in lockdown with the family taught him many new life lessons.
"I think we all learned many random things on YouTube out of boredom, of course, but the most important thing that is often not emphasised is the bond of family can only be learnt by time spent in proximity.
"During the lockdown, I learned, again and again, to appreciate my family more because it's your family that will look out for you first, especially my wife who dealt with my mood swings by being patient and always encouraging me," he said.
"My children were a source of inspiration and joy when the outside world was off-limits. My dad kept on checking in on me through phone calls, too despite me telling him that it should be me being concerned for him as he is already in his 70s.
"I learnt that we should appreciate the freedom that we have and often take for granted. We also need to work towards finding sustainability in the lifestyle that we have while always being mindful that adversity can be just around the corner," Chung said.
Sometimes when facing the greatest of challenges, we discover new things about ourselves. When asked what he learned about himself, Chung said, "I have always thought that I control my emotions well, having a job in production that requires it but the changes and restrictions of Covid brought upon unexpected levels of anxiety.
"The future was really uncertain as my work was not deemed an essential service, so income was at a standstill. Somedays, I actually woke up in a daze, unable to conjure that spirit to get up and going, preferring to lie and sulk.
"To cut a long story short, I had to relearn that I need to control my anxiety and to always look towards the positive and strive on."
Chung said it was a struggle to be relevant and to function in society under the new normal.
"To be specific, I am currently trying to continue the effort in building a social media presence on YouTube while also trying to go back to telling good stories on film that will hopefully find an audience through Netflix.
"I very much want to honour my mentor Yasmin's memory and tell a story that is both timeless and encapsulates society. Corporate and commercial work is also starting up. In short, I am glad the cameras are rolling again."
MALAYSIANSKINI is a series on Malaysians you should know.
Previously featured:
Brian Gomez and his Merdekarya dream
How an epiphany turned Muna Noor into a nature advocate
Fighting Orang Asli stereotypes one snapshot at a time
He lost 20 paintings to the flood, but Mark Lee's not giving up
Meet Dr Vincent, the first professor of urology at Cambridge in 800 years
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