LAMMA ISLAND, Hong Kong – With a modest production budget but a big theme, independent film-maker Alba Rayton has created Masks, an emotional, scenic and content-rich short movie about tiny Lamma Island that most viewers will love. Already showing signs of success, it’s poised to screen at three overseas film festivals – one in America, one in Europe and one in Asia.

“It’s magical and exciting to create a story that not only friends can see, but also people around the world,” Alba said. “I love to share my imagination.”

Although moody and laced with exotic Asian flavors, Masks nicely captures the natural beauty, village lifestyle and eccentric touches that make Lamma special. Nearly every scene in the 50-minute movie demonstrates 63-year-old Alba’s artistic talent. How artistic is she? Consider a strategic camera shot of a departing ferry seen through the spokes of a bicycle wheel.

“I try to create cine-art,” Alba said. “My films are very lyrical and poetic with the images. We achieve that with the camera, lights and shapes. The audience should feel that all emotions have been touched.”

Plans call for a Hong Kong premiere in late May. Based on Alba’s own script, the movie tells of Dan, an American schoolteacher living with a pet parrot in the hilltop village of Tai Peng: “Two different birds played the parrot’s role. They worked in shifts.”

Suddenly, Dan receives a phone call urging that he provide a home to Philip, his 13-year-old nephew. Reluctantly, he agrees, and two anguished souls must live together. Is Lamma really big enough for them both? “It’s about the conflict within them and how the pain they share can divide or unite them.”

Philip dislikes Lamma, partly because his uncle insists on feeding him chicken feet, octopus, thousand-year-old eggs and other oddities. When unhappy, he retreats into the winding arms of sturdy trees.

But Dan tells the boy: “I’m happier here (on Lamma). I don’t have to wear masks. I have fewer cravings.”

An image of two passing ferries, one going, one coming, symbolizes the characters’ relationship. Wise beyond his years, the boy warns Dan: “Grandma says you can die of loneliness,” and “Seriously, you need a girlfriend, one you can touch, talk to and love.”

Nearly the entire movie, produced at a cost of about HK$150,000, unfolds on Lamma. The cast and crew shot images along the Main Street, at the fishing village and adjacent beach, along footpaths with familiar green railings, on hillsides and a rooftop, near the windmill, at a shrine behind the clinic, on the pier and even on ferries. Practicing dragon-boat racers paddle past. Real-life characters, like Nick the Bookman, make cameo appearances.

Stretching a tight budget often means disregarding formalities. “For short scenes, there’s such a thing as guerrilla shooting,” Alba said. “You don’t ask permission. You just do it.”

Naturally, she needs other talented, dedicated people too. Each crew member has multiple tasks. “It’s hard on us physically, mentally and emotionally,” Alba said. “It drains us.”

She heaps praise onto Fandy Fan, the editor, cameraman, assistant director and much more. “He really held things together.”

Production assistant Lisa Cherfan smoothed out one problem after another. Lamma Islander Richard F. Jones joined the crew and contributed strongly on sound. Another editor, Yuk Hoi Tat, helped in the late stages.

Most low-budget movies can’t pay the actors. Simon Rayton, Alba’s 34-year-old son, plays Dan. “That was a great experience for us,” she said. “We got to know each other much better.”

The movie co-stars 12-year-old Alex Cherfan as Philip, his sister Mikaela, age 10, as Christine, Philip’s friend, and actress Jo Jo Yee, originally from Malaysia, as Christine’s mother. The Cherfan children, once Alba’s neighbors on nearby Hong Kong Island, later moved to Australia.

In May, Masks will screen at the British Film Festival in Los Angeles. Then in June, it shows at the International Film Festival in Phuket, Thailand, and at the Heart of England International Film Festival in Britain.

When shooting on weekends for two-and-a-half months in 2008, Alba fell in love with Lamma so deeply that she and her husband John, a retired bio-chemist and businessman, now also her executive producer, promptly moved here. Shooting ended in April, and they arrived to stay in May.

“In search of a movie setting, I went to a few islands,” Alba said, “and I realized that Lamma has much more than just seafood restaurants. I fell totally in love with the place.”

Like most Lamma newcomers, Alba and John then adopted pets – two young dogs, Ginger and Mabel, who as puppies resembled brown bear-cubs. “We always wanted animals,” Alba said. “After finding the two dogs, they make our lives on Lamma even happier than we expected.”

Simon, a businessman, poet and now lead actor, also lives on Lamma. “He moved here soon after we did,” Alba said.

Long a drama teacher (ideal to direct rookie actors), the worldly Alba, originally from Puerto Rico, also has lived in the United States, England, Thailand, Indonesia, China and now Hong Kong.

"I come from Puerto Rico, an island, which is part of the reason why I feel so much at home on Lamma," she said. "I just love to be surrounded by water and mountains. That's my habitat."

A few years ago, Alba took up film-making and began to study at the Hong Kong International Film Academy. “Finally, I’m pursing what I always wanted -- film-making and directing,” she said, mentioning the names Richard Wong and Gilbert Po as her “very important” film-making advisors.

So far, Masks is her longest project. But one earlier film, The Birthday Party (2007), won an award at the Hong Kong Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Nineteen minutes long and costing just HK$10,000, The Birthday Party revolves around a love triangle, a pregnancy and a positive HIV-AIDS test.

Next, Alba aspires to do a documentary about the many unusual Lamma characters, both human and animal, living in harmony with nature and each other. She’ll find ample material because, like her protagonist Dan, real-life Lamma Islanders dislike wearing masks.

Alba can be reached by email: albarayton@hotmail.com


Lamma on the big screen: the ferry pier.


A main character strolls on the Main Street.


As the windmill whirs, so
does Dan's troubled mind.


Movie meow: a Tai Peng cat meanders past.

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