An ‘uncensored’ film suffers the unkindest cut

 

When the Malaysian film censorship board said it would mute five parts of dialogue in a film, and cover the subtitles, isn’t that censorship?

According to the censors, the film, “The Story of Southern Islet” will be screened uncensored (Lulus Bersih). You and I may disagree. When is muting or covering the dialogue not considered a form of censorship?

At last month’s 57th Golden Horse Film Festival in Taipei, 42-year-old Chong Keat Aun, won the Best New Director award for the film which he wrote, acted and directed.

The semi-autobiographical film was inspired by his childhood memories of living among the Malay padi farming community in Alor Setar. It explores the various spiritual beliefs among the main ethnic communities in Kedah.

The film has also won four other awards: the International Critics Prize (Fipresci Prize) at the Golden Horse Awards; Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema (Netpac) award; Observation Missions for Asian Cinema Award from the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee; and Best Picture or best film at the Istanbul Film Awards in September.

When contacted, Chong said: “When I was in Taiwan, they were fascinated with the wayang kulit, which I had portrayed in the film. They wanted to know more about its origins and why I used this theme in the film. In Malaysia, the censors were more interested in censoring the film.”

On the day his film won awards, Chong received congratulatory messages from Finas and the Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah. They said his film would be featured at the closing ceremony of the 4th Malaysia International Film Festival scheduled for early next year.

However, on the following morning, Nov 19, Chong received a telegram from the Film Censorship Board, saying that 12 cuts would be made to the film.

Chong said: “My interest is in our cultural heritage, the arts, dialects and why we should preserve these and not let people forget about them. I am an anak Kedah, and I am keen to tell the whole world about our (Kedah) wayang kulit Gedet, which is different from the Kelantan wayang kulit.”

The third-generation Malaysian-Chinese said he was inspired to make the film by a childhood incident in Kedah.

“When I was 10 years old, my father had an illness that was difficult to explain and treat. My mother sought the help of doctors and various medicines to cure him. She even consulted various shamans and this film is about my mother’s difficulties and sacrifices to help treat my father.

“It is not a horror story, but there are many tearful incidents throughout the episode of trying to find a cure for my father who is now almost 80 years old.”

Chong has successfully weaved his childhood experience with the agricultural and cultural aspects of Kedah’s folklore and history. He said cinemagoers should learn about the Gunung Keriang legend.

“Anyone who visits the mountain, which is a limestone outcrop that rises out of the surrounding flat padi fields can see that the hill is shaped like an elephant.”

Keen to inform others that he is not trying to promote supernatural beliefs or be anti-religion, he said: “I am trying to promote the rich culture of the Malays of Kedah, their legends and history which few people talk or even know about. Close to the border with Thailand, the cultural inheritance of the people has been influenced by the Thai and Malay traditions as well as the traits of the ancient Langkasuka kingdom.”

Chong was keen to discuss the rituals of those who grew padi and revered the “semangat padi” and the manner in which farmers prepared for the harvest and erected a jelapang padi, which is a small structure beside the padi fields for the padi deity.

These are no longer seen in Kedah, as most farmers have moved their jelapang padi structures to the backs of their houses.

It is common knowledge to many Malaysians that gods, humans and shamans coexist. The film is a fantasy film and is not about religion.

The irony is that Chong, a Chinese, is keen to promote Malay culture. He is using modern film techniques to showcase the wayang kulit, a thousand-year-old tradition of telling stories. The other irony is that viewers are interested in the cultural inheritance and diversity of that particular community of Kedah, in the 1980s, but the censors are more interested in silencing him.

Hopefully, the decision to mute “The Story of Southern Islet” will be reviewed.- FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

✍ Credit given to the original owner of this post : ☕ Malaysians Must Know the TRUTH

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