Off to shoot the sequel
Right after we finished shooting Lelaki Komunis Terakhir almost a year ago, I knew that that I wanted to make a separate documentary covering something that I didn't get to cover the first time around: Local communists who also happened to be Malay and Muslim.
Tomorrow, Tuesday 15 Aug, we will set off for South Thailand to begin shooting this next documentary. I will be reunited with some of the same people from the first project and also some new folks.
Executive Producer: James Lee
Producer: Tan Chui Mui
Writer/Director: Amir Muhammad
Camera: Albert Hue
Assistant Director: Liew Seng Tat
Sound: Hardesh Singh
Still Photography: Danny Lim
Editor: Akashdeep Singh
Some further details:
Budget: RM60,000
Estimated duration: 72 minutes
After a fierce bidding war, the production company that is handling it will be Da Huang Pictures. Financially, it would not have been possible if the LKT T-shirt and DVD had not sold well, so thanks for buying!
We are set to return on 26 August. During the shoot days I will not be able to check email or even receive phone-calls, so if you don't hear back from me, don't panic! If you are the reading kind, you can catch up on recent books that cover some of the same ground, including Islam Melayu Komunis and the very readable Gerakan Kiri Melayu dalam Perjuangan Kemerdekaan.
If all goes well and if God wills it, it will be ready by year's end. I hope to screen it commercially in early 2007.
Oh yeah: The title is Apa Khabar Orang Kampung. There is no English title yet, but I doubt it will be a literal translation.
See you at the end of the month with pictures and reports from the shoot.
Tomorrow, Tuesday 15 Aug, we will set off for South Thailand to begin shooting this next documentary. I will be reunited with some of the same people from the first project and also some new folks.
Executive Producer: James Lee
Producer: Tan Chui Mui
Writer/Director: Amir Muhammad
Camera: Albert Hue
Assistant Director: Liew Seng Tat
Sound: Hardesh Singh
Still Photography: Danny Lim
Editor: Akashdeep Singh
Some further details:
Budget: RM60,000
Estimated duration: 72 minutes
After a fierce bidding war, the production company that is handling it will be Da Huang Pictures. Financially, it would not have been possible if the LKT T-shirt and DVD had not sold well, so thanks for buying!
We are set to return on 26 August. During the shoot days I will not be able to check email or even receive phone-calls, so if you don't hear back from me, don't panic! If you are the reading kind, you can catch up on recent books that cover some of the same ground, including Islam Melayu Komunis and the very readable Gerakan Kiri Melayu dalam Perjuangan Kemerdekaan.
If all goes well and if God wills it, it will be ready by year's end. I hope to screen it commercially in early 2007.
Oh yeah: The title is Apa Khabar Orang Kampung. There is no English title yet, but I doubt it will be a literal translation.
See you at the end of the month with pictures and reports from the shoot.
posted by Amir Muhammad at 7:35 am
8 Comments:
Hey... good news and congratulations!
Hope the shoot goes well, but more than that hope that you don't face the same bullsh*t later on...
I won't state something trite like "creativity is its own reward" (oops, already did), but I'm sure, God willing, that you will one day prevail and be vindicated...
Take care on the shoot... and if you can't be good, be good at it ;)
GO! GO! AMIR!!!!!!!!!!
regards,
OLIVER
Have it a go Amir!
We surely need a transition towards our openness in accepting historical internal facts ;)
First class mentality I shall say.
All the best dude.
*'Chin Peng: My Side of History' is a recommendation to be read*
I love Malaysia,
Sharazad.
send my regards to makcik minah.
hi amir,
i showed the film to a handful of malaysians here. erm, except for a die-hard leftist, all wandered off to do other stuff. and they didn't stay glued to how you executed it!
i really liked some of the juxtapositions between text and visual. that machine producing that dough...hahaha! and the spy.
want to put down my thoughts about it soon. 'cos having viewed it, i understand why the authorities deemed it 'dangerous'. you painted such a human face of the people. de-demonised them. cast a bit of doubt on history as written by establishment. and the ending...even if people weren't rooting for chin peng to return, i think they'd be thinking twice.
why can't an 82-year-old man who fought for his country, come back to the land he gave up his life for? irrespective of his ideology. because that's the reality. he didn't die, true. but look at the life he's living now. in exile. how can we welcome our former colonialists (who also did atrocious things to us) but not someone who was willing to die for malaysia? i can't imagine loving someone/something strong enough to sacrifice my life for him/it.
the songs, both the jokey stuff and the serious ones, have different pulls. clever!
btw, same comment here..."when is chin peng going to come on?"
and..."should have interviewed the malay communists, too. to show it's not a chinese thing."
at that time, i didn't the reasons you couldn't interview them. so i merely said, having a malay highlight a chinese story is a powerful statement about what a malaysian means.
haha. just realised i didn't say where's 'here'.
just a quick note, the shoot is going well, amir is a little sick, but recovering, maybe malaria :)
its a beautiful village, breakfast a 7am, lunch at 11.30, and then we all jump in the river. nothing to do from 7pm onwards, guess thats the jungle mentality :)))
i had thoughts of "what's up village people?" when i read the malay title "apa khabar orang kampung?". i like the Village Radio title but....
well, a girl's got to have secret hopes :)
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