Malaysian filmmaker ready to challenge viewers

Malaysian filmmaker ready to challenge viewers

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Singapore

The seven-minute film is called Checkpoint, a story about what it
feels like to travel in a post-Sept. 11 world, where you receive
extra attention just because your passport contains stamps from
countries considered to have a connection with terrorism.

The film is drawn from an actual experience independent
Malaysian director Amir Muhammad had at the Woodlands train
terminal that connects Malaysia and Singapore.

Shot entirely without actors and provided with English
subtitles instead of narration, the film is included in Amir's
collection of short films called 6horts, released last year.

Checkpoint comes across as a witty essay on film, which not
only presents the post-Osama situation but also describes the
relationship between the two often bickering countries, where, as
Amir puts it, there is a gap in the economy and IQs.

He underlined the issue of intellectuality.

"The IQ of Malaysian audiences has really deteriorated. When I
screened the film, some people in the audiences were busy
guessing the location where it was shot. They were saying, 'It's
Penang, isn't it? Or Kedah, Kedah right?,'" he said, shaking his
head.

"They (audiences) have to be given too much. Everything must
be explained, must be shared. If not, they don't get it. They are
becoming more impatient and less curious.

"But I guess it's a worldwide phenomenon, not just in
Malaysia. I might sound like an old man but people are not keen
on reading anymore. They watch TV all the time. They don't even
want to watch a TV show if the pace is slow," said the 30-year-
old director.

Given the situation, Amir said he had to be satisfied just
making a film that he is pleased with.

"The audience is important, but only those who are clever.
It's OK if the rest of them don't like the film."

Amir may sound a bit self-conscious, with all his talk of
intellectuality. And though, speaking on the sidelines of a
digital film conference at the recent Asian Film Market &
Conference here, he hopes the short film will "show the
intellectual side of me", Amir is not an intellectual snob.

In fact, he is nice and sincere and is prone to laughter. He
lavishly praised Eliana Eliana, a 2002 film by Indonesian
director Riri Riza, saying the film was very impressive and "one
of the best movies I've ever seen".

At another time he said he really wanted to direct music
videos, "but nobody is offering" -- which was followed by
laughter.

In Malaysia, Amir is known as a writer (newspaper columns,
sociopolitical commentary on the Net, TV scripts, plays, books)
with a witty, humorous and, of course, intellectual style. A
contributor to the Malaysian print media since the age of 14, he
earned the nickname the King of Irony from one publication.

As a filmmaker, he became a leader of the digital filmmaking
movement with 2000's Lips to Lips, Malaysia's first digital-video
feature, which he wrote himself.

The film was groundbreaking in many senses: its budget (about
US$60,000, which is "cheap but still a lot"), format,
distribution (never released commercially) and theme (a sardonic
exploration of the relationship between sex and food).

"Lips to Lips is meant to be fun, funky, colorful and kinky.
It was made with not a cent of public money, nor with the
intention of ever submitting it to our famously censorious
Censorship Board. "It is independent in all the important senses
of the word," said Amir about the comedy, which has traveled to
over a dozen film festivals worldwide, including in Hawaii,
Fukuoka and France.

Among the scenes in the film is one of a female actor reading
aloud from a traditional Malay cookbook as if aroused.

Many young Malaysian filmmakers are now going digital not only
to save money, but also for the freedom of being able to bypass
the censorship rules, which prohibit Malaysian films from dealing
with sex, race, politics and religion.

A mixture of Islamic fundamentalism and authoritarianism even
moves the Censorship Board to enforce an unusual variety of
social taboos, from revealing chest hair to showing the underside
of a car (it can lead to reckless driving).

This censorship, according to Amir, contributes to the
worsening Malaysian film scene, which he said is like rubbish.

"It has always been the same over the past two years. There
are only around 10 films per year and they are similar: starring
singers whose albums have become hits, and the stories are based
on the singers," he said.

There have been no more films like Layar Lara (Screen of
Sorrow), which was released five years ago. Layar was a smart
parody that really took on the Malaysian film scene, with its
singer-stars and strict censorship.

"Filmmakers make a film like crackers: fast making and fast
selling, but it doesn't last for long. They also live in their
own world, don't bother to learn from other people's films," said
Amir, who has a law degree but veered into filmmaking and took a
short course in New York.

The Indonesian film scene, he said, is much better technically
and content-wise.

"You have Pasir Berbisik (Whispering Sand), which is
cinematographically very impressive. And then there is Eliana
Eliana and (director) Garin Nugroho's movies. I like all of
Garin's movies. Malaysian filmmakers don't dare to make story-
driven films. They are always based on stars, songs, action ...
just like Bollywood."

The government does not offer much support either, he said.
Besides the strict censorship, the government prefers to support
foreign filmmakers who shoot their films in Malaysia, like Anna
and The King and several Bollywood movies.

"Because the budgets (of foreign films) are big, unlike local
films, the government benefits as well. The government chooses to
be indifferent to its own children."

As a result, most of the work of young Malaysian filmmakers
can only be seen by limited audiences or at foreign film
festivals.

After Lips to Lips, Amir went on to make 6horts last year,
which received critical praise and prizes at the Singapore Film
Festival, the Cinemanila International Film Festival and the Thai
Short Film and Video Festival, among others.

Besides Checkpoint the other five shorts that comprise
6horts are Lost, Friday, Mona, Kamunting
and Pangyau. The shorts are jokingly called the Amir Muhammad
Film Festival, through which you see Malaysia through Amir's
eyes. All of the shorts are shot without actors, and three of
them come with subtitles.

"I don't like my own voice," Amir said about the subtitles
with a laugh.

"It's also a strategy to force people to read. We force them
to read with their own voice, making it their own story. Because
as we read, it's as if we are telling the story ourselves."

Amir is currently working on his second feature, a hybrid of
fiction and documentary called The Big Durian, which is slated to
premiere in April 2003. The film is about a surprising event in
Kuala Lumpur back in 1987.

"It's sort of like Puisi Tak Terkuburkan (Unburied Poem), but
not that serious," Amir said, referring to Garin Nugroho's film
about an Acehnese poet.

Do Malaysian filmmakers still see Indonesian filmmakers as
reference points?

"Not anymore because many Indonesian films are not screened in
Malaysia. Only those tacky horror flicks, through video.
Reference points come only through personal acquaintance," he
said.

For the time being, with such obstacles, Amir is still opting
for digital video format, for the low budget and also the
artistic freedom.

"The important thing is creating a new audience. Hopefully the
DV format can also become a stepping-stone for young filmmakers.
Maybe many (filmmakers) will stay (with DV) as we don't have to
give in to the wishes of producers and investors; we don't want
to be cuffed."