Originally released on Feb 2, 2024: AFT Podcasts present the Listen by Heart Podcast, where we feature Stories from Women of the South China Sea. Presenter Jasmine Low speaks with Amanda Nell Eu, a Malaysian film director and scriptwriter known for her recent body horror film Tiger Stripes - set in a Malaysian jungle in which a girl experiences a strange metamorphosis as she comes of age. The film won the Critics' Week Grand Prize (Semaine de la Critique Cannes) when it was shown at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in France in May 2023, and it was then selected as the Malaysian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards. Amanda runs Ghost Grrl Pictures with a cofounder. Amanda is known for an earlier film about two teenagers and a female vampire who solely attacks men, an urban legend tale in Malaysia and Indonesia - titled, “Lagi Senang Jaga Sekandang Lembu” or in English, “It's Easier to Raise Cattle" was featured at the Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival in 2018. Connect and follow Amanda Nell Eu via Facebook, Instagram or IMDB. Read more on the official website of the Listen by Heart podcast in https://ListenbyHeart.Webprojx.com. Watch Tiger Stripes: * Australia and New Zealand theatrical release this Feb 3 - Mar 1, 2024 presented by Screenxcope. Visit https://www.gointernationalgroup.com/au/ to learn more. * Southeast Asia on Netflix this Feb 15, 2024. ---------------------------- CREDITS --------------------------------- You have been listening to Jasmine Low’s Audio Journey experience, an AFT Podcasts production. Our purpose: Listen by Heart Podcast is an audio project that sets out to record and archive stories from women of the South China Sea, an area of much interest lately. As we document and record all of these stories, we will also be digitising and creating an online presence for women of Southeast Asian heritage and honouring the women who came before them. Our Mission: Listen by Heart Podcast aims to serve as the Sentinels of the South China Sea, keeping our region at peace. Production Credits: An open-source project created, narrated and produced by Jasmine H. Low (jasminelow.com). An AsiaFitnessToday.com Podcast Production. Supported by GoInternationalGroup.com. Website by WebPROjx.com. #ListenbyHeart | https://listenbyheart.webprojx.com Would you have a tale to share or know somebody who does? Do you identify as a woman with heritage from the nations encircling the contentious South China Sea? Wherever you are in the world, we'd love to hear from you. Enjoy & subscribe to the Listen by Heart Podcast on your favourite platform: Apple podcasts https://bit.ly/listenbyheartpodcast, Spotify spoti.fi/3yfxWNZ, Google podcasts bit.ly/3la7C46, Player FM https://bit.ly/listenbyheartplayerfm, YouTube.com/@AFT-tv etc.

The Beauty of Death was written by Lebanese-American writer, Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931). It's presented here in a three-part series, read for a friend who is leaving our realm. Read the full text here: https://listenbyheart.webprojx.com/2023/08/09/special-the-beauty-of-death/.

--- The Beauty of Death by Kahlil Gibran

Part One - The Calling

Let me sleep, for my soul is intoxicated with love and
Let me rest, for my spirit has had its bounty of days and nights;
Light the candles and burn the incense around my bed, and
Scatter leaves of jasmine and roses over my body;
Embalm my hair with frankincense and sprinkle my feet with perfume,
And read what the hand of Death has written on my forehead.

Let me rest in the arms of Slumber, for my open eyes are tired;
Let the silver-stringed lyre quiver and soothe my spirit;
Weave from the harp and lute a veil around my withering heart.

Sing of the past as you behold the dawn of hope in my eyes, for
It's magic meaning is a soft bed upon which my heart rests.

Dry your tears, my friends, and raise your heads as the flowers
Raise their crowns to greet the dawn.
Look at the bride of Death standing like a column of light
Between my bed and the infinite;
Hold your breath and listen with me to the beckoning rustle of
Her white wings.

Come close and bid me farewell; touch my eyes with smiling lips.
Let the children grasp my hands with soft and rosy fingers;
Let the ages place their veined hands upon my head and bless me;
Let the virgins come close and see the shadow of God in my eyes,
And hear the echo of His will racing with my breath.

Part Two - The Ascending

I have passed a mountain peak and my soul is soaring in the
Firmament of complete and unbound freedom;
I am far, far away, my companions, and the clouds are
Hiding the hills from my eyes.
The valleys are becoming flooded with an ocean of silence, and the
Hands of oblivion are engulfing the roads and the houses;
The prairies and fields are disappearing behind a white specter
That looks like the spring cloud, yellow as the candlelight
And red as the twilight.

The songs of the waves and the humans of the streams
Are scattered, and the voices of the throngs reduced to silence;
And I can hear naught but the music of Eternity
In exact harmony with the spirit's desires.
I am cloaked in full whiteness;
I am in comfort; I am in peace.

Read the full text here: https://listenbyheart.webprojx.com/2023/08/09/special-the-beauty-of-death/⁠.