Sammi WS Chan

Today, I watched the very last screening of Another World - on the final day, and final scheduled showing. And my heart is sore. I've watched this movie for the fourth time in the past week and I am still so attached to it. For nearly 30 years of my life, it was the first time I've experienced something so akin to feeling like home, like it belonged. This movie has become such a core part of my identity because of the language, philosophical themes, and story. I am hoping that it can find me again one day, so I can watch it again for the nth time. Just like I do with all my comfort shows, this will become one of them.

I want to be able to hear 小鬼- Gudo's voice again, the raspy desperation of a non-human being who learns and experience human emotion and turmoil. The sweet voice of 小妹 Yuri's who turns painfully childlike and hopeless against the cruel reality of her fate.

I can't help but keep playing the violin and piano of the ost in my head over and over again just so I can cry about it.

Still cried like a baby 🥹

Also NEW POSTER????!!?? OMG???!??!!???

I happen to sit behind these girls who understood Cantonese because of the way they were reacting. I'm so glad I wasn't the only person laughing at some scenes that the subtitles could not translate to. The characterd Dark Sky is so silly and so uncle-like in his behavior and speech that the subtitles could not capture the same vibes well.

(Subtitles are always a hit or miss (stares longingly at the fandubs with romanize text and definitions on the top lol) Everything coming out now feels like Netflix subtitles and they do poorly at translating or excluding details.)

I would have loved if they translated everything that was said in Cantonese to English. (BECAUSE I WANT TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE TOO HEY! We need more em dashes!! And dialogue-like sentences. Please stop simplifying what they say!! I want to read characters stuttering in the subs!!! Why leave some of the scenes without subs when the characters are clearly saying something even if it was like an 'ah', 'humph' or 'tsk' or background voices?)

Also it was cute to hear the girl's different commentary on the movie. One of them critiqued the use of colloquial Cantonese in the feudal scenes. I was like 😯 in my seat quietly. Because I never connected that (no wonder my ABC brain could understand what they were saying 😅 Princess Goran used a traditional/ancient word for 'Father' so I was like yep that's enough lolll and my obsession with JTTW also helped lol with understanding some of the Buddhist philosophy/terminology that was used in the movie.)

This movie is violent and cruel and tragic, but also so beautiful and inspiring at the same time. It's about fate, and the horrors and complexity of humanity, and human nature. It is gut wrenchingly sad but also hopeful. 🥹

I implore anyone to go watch it. It is having a limited showing in the US (June 5th to June 11th originally but it seems they've extended the dates a bit for a smaller screening window afterwards).

This movie means so much more to me than I thought it would. It is my very first time watching an animated movie in my native language at the theaters. And it's made by Hong Kong, with talented Cantonese cast. I've been looking forward to it since I heard about it's release last year. (You have no idea how excited I was when I heard Gkids got the licensing for this movie for an US release)

And I've become so attached to this movie because of the art style and the similarities in the animatic I made for my senior project back in college about my grandma passing away and her seeing her sister again after her tragic end.

It feels like this movie was made for me (it isn't). But it feels like I've been waiting for this my whole life and I finally found it. 🥹😭

In the middle of it, I had an anxiety attack where I literally thought I was going to throw up or pass out. My vision got really blurry, I was seeing red and yellow spots in my vision and I was trying really hard to focus on breathing slowly (so I don't hyperventilate) and pretending to be normal but the only thing I could do was smile and stare blankly at nothing. During that 10-15seconds of panic I could not retain any information at all from what the host was saying. My body started to burn from within and I was sweating profusely, my entire face was covered in a layer of sweat. And I hope no one noticed I was wiping my face at least 5 times, and fidgeting in my chair. I was battling with my innerself, screaming at it to calm down because it was soon my turn to speak again, and I need to not sound panicked. Miraculous I was able to at least retain some remblence of memory of half the question. And as I gave my answer, the spots in my vision slowly receded. I //did// have to ask the host to repeat the question again (the second time at the panel) because my brain was actively forgetting while as I was speaking.

I'm glad I did not puke in my chair or gave completely incoherent answers throughout the panel. But the pressure and the nerves really got to me and was unobjectively one of the worst professional experiences I've ever had. I cannot tell any of you what I remember that was talked about in this panel because my brain blanked out and I could not for the life of me retain anything that was said.

But I will take this experience and use it as a leverage against myself: that I will never get better if I never take the chance. And I //need// to get better. I cannot fall behind my peers. Because the alternative is much worse.

Thankfully it was not a packed room and I'm glad that there was less than a classroom worth of participants. And some of my friends in the audience told me they did not notice anything wrong the whole time. So at least in this regards I passed.

Moving on, I need to listen to my own advice I gave out. Learn from your experience (and mistakes), keep saying yes, and you'll be able to gain confidence to do it next time.

Where's My Big Witch Sister?

Ch. 001 - Zombie Pumpkin & Ch. 002 - Mole

Ch. 003 - TBA

Bluesky

Do artist ever think about the ways they have to constantly cheat the system or themselves just to bring their work to the finish line? How many CSP users, inserting pre-made backgrounds, does it take for us to not care as long as it get things done. How many PSD users, clicking on content-aware fill, does it take to not matter whether those things belong there or not just to fill in the space.

How many new tools do we have to forced ourselves to learn and use before all we do is click buttons, drag and drop images, and trace? Do we even need an understanding of theory and perspective anymore? Because it sure seems like it when we let the machine do it all for us. Why do we treat our craft like it's just another thing to complete? Why can't we just make things?

We just can't make things for our enjoyment anymore.

Just excited to share that I've been featured 9th on the New and Noteworthy section on Tapas! Thank you for all the new unexpected subs (I was wondering where y'all came from) 💖💖💖

My comic Where's My Big Witch Sister? is about two witches, Merry and Sheep, looking for their big sister, Iris, who has gone missing. It's a fantasy and mystery story with tons of monsters, emotional trauma, action, and more!

Freebies in person at NYCC 2025 Sunday!