ARTICLE
Malaysian Film Festival Returns this September
By Flora / 26 Jul 2018 (Thursday)
Catch some of the very best of Malaysian cinema here in Singapore at the Malaysian Film Festival from 28th - 30th September 2018 held at The Arts House. The festival will run in conjunction with CausewayEXchange festival, with veteran Malaysian filmmaker, Mr Hassan Muthalib curating this year’s selection.
With 6 films lined up for this festival, there will also be panel discussions and talks by the directors of some of the featured films, though the guest list is not finalised yet. Be it comedy, drama or horror movies, there is something for all to catch.
Highlights:
Nasi Lemak 2.0
Photo Credit: Malaysian Film Festival
Director: Namewee
Cast: Namewee, Adibah Noor,Afdlin Shauki, Karen Kong, Felixia Yeap, David Arumugam, Ho Yuhang
Language: Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay
Subtitle: Malay, Mandarin, English
Young Chef Huang (Namewee) struggles to get his restaurant business going because he cannot adapt to the localized cooking his patrons are looking for. However, contradictory to his unpopular cuisine, he is also well-known as Hero Huang in the local neighbourhood where he carries out good deeds in helping the community until he met Xiao K (Karen Kong) who got him into deep trouble. In order to get his life and the restaurant business back on track, Chef Huang must now seek help from a mysterious hawker stall lady (Adibah Noor), who summons him to embark on the most extraordinary journey of his life. During this self-enlightening experience, he will also meet many local heroes each lending their support to help him re-discover his roots and the real hidden message of Nasi Lemak.
Mrs K
Director: Ho Yuhang
Cast: Kara Wai, Simon Yam, Wu Bai, Faizal Hussein, Tony Lau Wing and Siow Li Xuan
Language: Mandarin
Subtitles: English and Chinese
Mrs K is a housewife who lives in a quiet suburban neighbourhood with her husband, Mr K and their daughter Lil’ K. One day, a stranger shows up to blackmail Mrs K. He’s an ex-cop who knows about her unseemly past. But he doesn’t seem to pose much threat and she punishes him, hoping that he would back off. That is only a prelude to the imminent terror. Soon, Lil’ K is kidnapped. Mrs K is forced out of her sheltered life to face an old enemy.
You Mean the World to Me
Photo Credit: Malaysian Film Festival
Director: Teong Hin Saw
Cast: Frederick Lee, Yann Yann Yeo, Neo Swee Lin, Steve Yap, John Tan
Language: Hokkien
Subtitle: English and Chinese
Sunny (Frederick Lee), a film director, returns to his hometown of Penang to shoot a new film, an autobiographical story about his family, all without his family’s knowledge or approval. It has been years since he was last home, and his family members – especially his older sister Hoon (Yeo Yann Yann), his aunts Grace (Sue Tan) and Vivian (Tan Ai Suan) – and his old schoolmates are excited to see him, thinking that he’s been living a rich and successful life in Kuala Lumpur. But the reality is that Sunny drives a beat-up car, has relationship problems, and is running out of money for his new film.
The reason Sunny is making this film is linked to a shocking incident that he had witnessed as a boy. It has haunted him and caused resentment towards his mother (Neo Swee Lin) and his older, mentally disabled brother, Boy (John Tan).
In trying to tell his family’s story, Sunny is forced to confront and relive the past, taking him back to his childhood and the family that tried their best not to fall apart in the face of adversity. In the end, the filmmaking, for Sunny, becomes a cathartic exercise, inadvertently opening old wounds, exercising anger and guilt, and most of all, showing him that true love is about sacrifice.
For more information and updates on the festival, visit the official website here.