Malaysian cinema at TUK: The grass really is greener
Malaysian cinema at TUK: The grass really is greener
Paul F. Agusta, Contributor, pfa0109@yahoo.com
Unlike Indonesia's film industry, which is still struggling to
emerge from the swamp of artistic stagnation and the jungle of
commercialism, neighboring Malaysia is planting a verdant garden
of daring, thoughtful and groundbreaking films that experiment
with both content and medium.
Most of the films being produced in Malaysia, as is the case
also in Indonesia, are highly commercial (or try to be).
The difference lies in Malaysia's strong but somewhat under-
the-radar movement of filmmakers for whom the joy of producing
creative cinema is more important than the applause of local
audiences.
Therefore, themes tend toward the dissection of their own
social and political realities, while in Indonesia this is a
rarity indeed. When this is attempted here, as in the case of
Arya Kusumadewa's recent film, Novel Tanpa Huruf R, it tends to
fail miserably.
Why this is the case remains somewhat of a conundrum, which
Teater Utan Kayu (TUK) will attempt to explore this weekend with
a presentation of the long and short of contemporary Malaysian
film, and what is expected to be a highly thought-provoking
discussion with internationally acclaimed Malaysian filmmaker
Amir Muhammad.
The screenings start on Friday at 4:30 p.m. with 10 Malaysian
short films that have been attracting a lot of international
attention.
This will be followed at 7 p.m. by Min (2003), a feature film
by Ho Yuhang. Min tells the story of Yasmin, a young teacher in
search of her birth mother.
On Saturday, the offerings begin at 3 p.m. with director
Namron's Gedebe (2003), an adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius
Caesar set in the underground music community. At 4:30 p.m., TUK
will present Room to Let (2002) by James Lee, a film that has
been featured in many respected film festivals around the world,
such as the Festival du Film Asiattique de Deauville and the
Montreal World Film Festival. This film tells of the impact of a
mysterious incident at a boarding house.
At 7 p.m., a beautiful love story of two aging people is told
in director Yasmin Ahmad's Rabun (2003).
On Sunday at 4:30 p.m., 6horts (2002), a collection of
provocative, experimental video essays by Amir Muhammad, will set
the mood for the sure to be mind-expanding discussion with this
intrepid explorer of cinematic possibilities at 5:30 p.m.
The discussion will be followed at 7 p.m. by Muhammad's full-
length semi-documentary The Big Durian (2003), a bitingly
satirical, multilingual film that brings issues as sensitive as
race, religion, government harassment, the judiciary and the
media to focus on the big screen.