Yasmin shares hope through film

Yasmin shares hope through film

Paul F. Agusta, Contributor, Kuala Lumpur

Not only does Yasmin Ahmad light up the silver screen with her
optimistic themes, she lights up any room that she walks into.

On one recent Thursday evening, she warmly welcomed friends
and colleagues to the screening room at the office of Leo Burnett
Kuala Lumpur, where she serves as executive creative director, to
view the rough cut of her latest cinematic labor of love, Sepet.

As the final credits rolled in the hushed room, Yasmin told
the awestruck gathering, "Hope is such an elusive thing, it's
something that I've been wanting to capture through my work ....
I wasn't able to do it through music or through poetry, but I
hope to capture hope on film."

Yasmin, whose early job experiences included a stint as a
blues pianist and whose first feature film, Rabun, has won
international acclaim, told The Jakarta Post: "Did I capture hope
in my films? It's not for me to say really, but I have had
feedback. Some Italian journalists who saw Rabun at the Torino
International Film Festival told me at a press conference that
they hoped to find love like the old couple in the film. Hope."

"I believe that even the most skeptical of viewers secretly
wish they had what the characters in my film have. I hope my so-
called 'idealistic' films will persuade people to choose love
over hatred in their lives."

Yasmin, who has expressed concern about the overriding
darkness in the contemporary cinematic trends of violence and
hate, bases her positive forays into the world of cinema on
personal experience. In fact, it was a life-shaking event that
motivated the making of her first feature-length film.

"Having been in ad-land for 20 years, I had learned some
tricks of the film trade. Several commercials I wrote and
directed had won some local and international recognition. Even
so, I had no real intention of making a film until two years ago
when my father had a near-death experience. It jolted me out of
my lazy state and I decided to make a film about my parents, to
amuse them. That film was Rabun."

She attributes her upbeat view of life to her upbringing,
which she is not certain had any direct input on her gravitation
toward the arts. "Ah, the epistemology of Yasmin's blind faith
and love. I was borne (eds: She used the word "borne" not "born"
because she is adopted) of parents who express their feelings
unusually freely. Too freely as both my ex and present husbands
might say."

"My parents are in their 70s but still shower together. They
sleep holding hands. They still have sex. Coming out of the
shower, they strut around naked, while us kids continue whatever
it is that we're doing without batting an eyelid because ...
well, because it's all par for the course really. Can these
things affect one as an artist?"

Along with Yasmin's love of life and belief in human goodness,
her indefatigably irreverent sense of humor is at the core of the
popularity of her films among audiences from all walks of life
and cultural backgrounds. You can't watch a Yasmin Ahmad film
without being astonished at the resilience and beauty of the
human spirit.

"All I know is that my favorite human traits are the ability
to love, to show compassion and to hope. I believe these things
come from God. I hope my films can one day make these human
traits 'cool' again."

Yasmin tells the story of a conversation with an atheist
friend who asked her what God was, and she in turn asked him if
he had ever experienced one moment of unconditional love. He
replied in the affirmative, and Yasmin said that in that moment
he had seen a piece of God.

As Yasmin is fond of saying, "God works in installments."

She says of her film career: "It is only due to God's
intervention and the hard work of my people that I now have my
name on three Cannes awards, including one Gold Lion."

Rabun also garnered her the Gold trophy at the Malaysian Video
Awards (MVA) for best film director.

For her advertising work, Yasmin has earned one London
International Gold statue for Best Print Campaign, seven Asian
Media marketing awards, one gold, two silver and one bronze orb
from Adfest and five Best Commercial of the Year trophies from
the MVA.

With the thoughtful, sensitive Sepet almost ready for release,
she may be well on her way to outstripping her acclaim as an ad
person by winning even more feature film awards.

Unsurprisingly, Yasmin, whose energy and ebullient spirit
plunge her forward to success in her various undertakings,
already has another film project underway in the scriptwriting
stage.

"I am writing Gubra, a story that begins on the morning my
mother told us that we were about to lose my father and the 24
hours that followed," she told the Post. "Within that one day,
our family cried the hardest, laughed the loudest, was happiest
and saddest, fought the most violently and loved the most deeply
than ever before in our lives. There was more heightened emotions
in that one day than many people have had in their entire
lifetimes. I figured it might be a film worth making."

If the quality of Rabun and Sepet are any indication of what
Gubra promises to be, Yasmin's coming creative efforts are surely
going to be well worth waiting for.