The SENI exhibitions are the biggest Combat Sports events held in the UK and in its ninth year the event makes a major move as it relocates from its previous home at the Birmingham NEC to the massive ExCel Arena in the heart of Londons Docklands.
Although primarily a weekend of martial arts and fighting exhibitions and competitions, last year saw the addition of a small film festival to the busy weekend. The films showing this year at SENI 07 included DRAGON TIGER GATE, CITY OF VIOLENCE and rare Bruce Lee fighting footage. As a dedicated journalist for KFCC I felt that it was my duty to take a look for one of the two days.
Oh, the sacrifices we make…

Arriving at the massive ExCel Arena hosting the event it was clear that there was a high level of excitement for SENI. Although the gates had been open for less than an hour and there was a large queue waiting at the entrance, the place was already heaving. The event is divided into different areas and walking straight in the main entrance I was confronted with dozens of stalls selling and promoting everything from books, videos and magazines to training equipment and classes. There was a good mix of these stalls, and everyone really makes an effort – including providing scantily dressed big breasted blondes to give out leaflets and pose with the items on sale. Which is nice.

Next to the stalls were several large areas for exhibitions and fights. There's so much happening that it would be impossible to see absolutely everything, so plenty of timetables of the events in each of the areas were provided to ensure nobody missed their events of choice. The mix of people in attendance was incredible - ages varied from the very young to the old - and it was obvious that some of of those attending were serious martial artists while everyone else were serious observers. The atmosphere was - of course - incredibly competitive, but there was also a great sense of friendliness, respectfulness and pride as dozens of different schools representing styles of Wing Chun, Karate, Ju Jitsu, Kung-fu, Capoeira and Tai Chi (to name only a few) performed for the crowds in both sparring sessions and forms competitions.

Next to the competition and exhibition areas were several seminar units which were enclosed but with clear panelling so anyone outside could stand and watch them. On the Saturday there were plenty of seminars including sessions with instructor and referee Benny Meng, Olympic Taekwondo Champion Mikalis Mouroutsas and Tai Chi Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei.

There was so much happening at the stalls and exhibitions that it would have easily been possible to spend the whole weekend there, but after getting a feel for the place I went to take a look at what the film festival had to offer.

Choosing between a showing of a documentary on Bruce Lee titled BRUCE LEE MARTIAL ARTS MASTER and a Q & A by Diana Lee Insanto (who has worked on films such as FACE/OFF and BLADE and is also the daughter of legendary martial artist Dan Insanto). I decided to take a look at the Q & A. Introduced by Andrew Staton (from Action Asia) as a 'humanist martial arts director', the instantly likeable Diana introduced a promotional piece for her new film SENSEI. This short feature included film clips and interviews of the cast and crew - which includes Keith David, Tzi Ma and Louis Mandylor. After the showing this promo, Diana spoke for a short while about the development of the film. Inspired by the story of Gilbert Johnson (who was the main editor on the book of Bruce Lee's writing called Tao of Jeet Kune Do and who tragically died of AIDS in the Eighties) SENSEI is a coming of age drama which tackles sensitive issues such as prejudice and bullying. A surprisingly tender film to promote at SENI, the film does also appear to have its fair share of action scenes – the few clips we were shown looked realistic and brutal with very little over stylisation. Although most of the audience (myself included) hadn't expected to see such a 'serious' film being pushed at the event, the stories of real life inspiration as well as the footage created a real interest in the film. The Q & A that followed began slowly but one of the festivals other guests, Don 'The Dragon' Wilson, who watched with the audience kicked off a brief but remarkably thoughtful discussion on prejudice and the martial arts world – as well as the question of Diana portrays these together in who is essentially being sold as a 'martial arts' film. The website for the SENSEI film can be found at www.thesenseimovie.com and I look forward to seeing the finished project.



In total contrast to SENSEI, Donnie Yen's daft but fun DRAGON TIGER GATE was next up on the agenda. After screening a trailer for the forthcoming SUCKER PUNCH - a British bare-knuckle action comedy starring Danny John Jules and Ian 'The Machine' Freeman (alongside a whole bunch of real-life fighters) - Wilson Yip's comic book adaptation kicked off. DRAGON TIGER GATE was given quite a lot of promotion prior to this showing which precedes its UK DVD release, and so it was surprising that the half-full room wasn't busier. Maybe everyone had already caught it on the HK DVD's, or maybe it was just because there was so much else happening at the event. Still, it was clear that everyone watching enjoyed the SFX laden action on the big screen.



During a quick break between film showings, I was introduced to Don 'The Dragon' Wilson who was signing alongside Diana at the ActionAsia stand. Don happily agreed to give his time for a KFCC interview after the showing of his latest film LAST SENTINEL. A quick look around some more of the many stalls and it was time for another film - this time for the short film TWO KINGS which was another film widely publicised prior to the event as it features rare footage of Bruce Lee and Elvis Presley.

This time the room was totally jam-packed. And I do mean HEAVING.



The showing of Don Wilsons film was delayed as he and everyone else packed in to see some Bruce Lee action. The TWO KINGS footage, (apparently also called NEW GLADIATORS) was introduced by Don Warrener who explained that this was the first time the footage had been shown in four years, and that it was piece compromising of footage of Bruce Lee sparring at an exhibition (in colour!) as well as film clips showing Elvis Presley performing Karate Kata's. The anticipation rose in the room as Warrener told the story of how he came into possession of the footage, and the warnings that anyone caught with mobile phones or recording equipment in the room would be forcibly removed only heightened the excitement. Eventually TWO KINGS was shown, followed by a reel of even more Bruce Lee footage. It was amazing. It seems like every snippet of video found featuring Bruce Lee is described as the 'rarest' and 'the most exciting', but Don Warreners footage beats them all. Judging by the gasps and cheers everyone in the room – including myself - loved it!

An hour later than planned - due to the Bruce Lee footage and talks - Don 'The Dragon' Wilson introduced his latest film LAST SENTINEL. The 52 year old eleven times World Champion Kickboxer first had to show his appreciation for the Bruce Lee footage that we had all just seen (I think it was the highlight of a lot of peoples day, it certainly was mine) before showing his film. LAST SENTINEL is about the thirtieth film that Wilson has made and financially it has been his most successful. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect from Wilson - his films have the reputation of being low budget straight-to-video late night television flicks and I was unsure whether to watch the film or opt for a showing of the Donnie Yen film SHANGHAI AFFAIRS or a showing of the new transfer of NEW FIST OF FURY that were showing in the other screens.

I opted for LAST SENTINEL out of interest of knowing very little about Don 'The Dragon' Wilson and also to hear him talk about his career. LAST SENTINEL is certainly no classic but, for a no-brainer I was surprisingly entertained. It has a by-the-numbers plot - a lone soldier goes against his better judgement by letting an injured woman tag along and although she proves to be a liability she also then becomes a partner, both action-wise and (probably) in the sack – but is enlivened by a good cast which includes Bokeem Woodbine and Keith David. There's also some good use of CGI effects - 'popping' heads are always fun - and a script that has its cheesy moments (the usual 'Looking for me?' stuff) and dodgy plot-points, but also some good gags. After the film Don Wilson gave a Q & A. Discussing topics such as hand-picking his leading ladies, working on low-budget films and the dangers of having no 'quality control' (he's refreshingly honest about some of lousier films he's made), the self deprecating actor, filmmaker and world champion kickboxer entertained the small but appreciative crowd for almost an hour.

Then, all of a sudden it was time to go home.

The day had flown by time-wise, and unfortunately the film showings and sessions had all over-run time-wise (I blame Bruce Lee) and the building was quickly clearing as the organisers called a close to the day in order to prepare for the following days events. Sadly, there was no time left for my KFCC interview with Don Wilson.

I left SENI happy that I'd had a enjoyable and busy day. I was even a little sad that I wouldn't be able to attend the following days events, and made a mental note to attend the whole weekend next year. Film showings for the Sunday at SENI included the first UK showing of Ryoo Seung-wan's CITY OF VIOLENCE, DEADLY STRIKE (aka BREAKOUT FROM OPPRESSION), CHINESE GODFATHER and Donnie Yen's NEW BIG BOSS (aka LEGEND OF THE WOLF) as well as a repeat showing of the TWO KINGS footage. Seminars on the Sunday included a Wushu seminar with Master Wu Bin (one of Jet Li's teachers) and – the session I would have been the most excited about seeing – Silvio Simac and Scott Adkins.

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