Synopsis
KERONCHONG FOR PAK BAKAR by Abdul Nizam (Singapore) After a six-year hiatus following Koridor, Nizam returned with Keronchong For Pak Bakar. A lyrical ode to the 85-year- old Abu Bakar Ali, P Ramlee’s cinematographer during the golden age of the Malay film industry in the 1950s and 60s, this documentary is one of Nizam’s most personal and moving films. For many years Nizam had been researching and working to develop a film about the legendary icon of Malay cinema, P Ramlee. By chance, Nizam found out that Abu Bakar Ali, or Pak Bakar, was living in the same apartment block as him and made initial contact by sliding letters through Pak Bakar’s door. The film is a chronicle of the friendship between the two filmmakers from different eras, and shows Nizam’s affinity and reverence for Malay cinema. Constructed like a series of letters to Pak Bakar, Nizam talks about his personal filmmaking journey and the influence of his late father, an army captain who shared with Nizam a deep love of cinema.