Just in case you do not know what is this whole thing about, let me explain what is it about.
As a movie lover, there are some female directors who I truly appreciate their film. Ann Hui from Hong Kong (best known for the movie Summer Snow aka Woman at 40 by Josephine Siew Fong Fong), Mira Nair from India (Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding and Namesake), Julie Delpy from France (with her debut comedy, 2 Days in Paris). Last but not least, Yasmin Ahmad from Malaysia (the director who brouught you the lovely Orked trilogy: Mukhsin, Sepet and Gubra)
And after meeting John Woo and Wayne Wang this year, Yasmin Ahmad is the 3rd director that I get to meet in person this year.
And she is in Singapore with her latest movie, Muallaf (The Convent), together with the cast. Finally, it is somekind of a happy family reunion. Yes, i got to see Orked aka Sharifah Amani, together with her real life and reel life sister Sharifah Aleysha. Accompanying them is freelance journalist Brian Yap, making his first big screen apperance. What's lacking is the apperance of Yeo Yann Yann aka Big Papaya from Royston Tan's 881.
Singapore is fortunate to be the first country in the world to have Muallaf goes on a commercial release, as the movie might face a ban in Malaysia. Nevertheless, Yasmin remains cheerful, jovial, witty and multi-lingual when interacting with her fans and the audience for Muallaf.
When I first approached The Pctirehouse Lounge, I saw a 40-something lady, in a plain baju kurong, enjoying green tea frappucino while chatting two young ladies. My reaction: Yasmin Ahmad there she is!
So I walked towards her and she saw me.
Yasmin: Hi!
Me: Hello. Apa khabar? (how are you in Malay)
Yasmin: Khabar baik. (I am fine.)
Which follows:
Yasmin: (in Cantonese) Do you speak Cantonese?
Me: (in English) Sorry?
Yasmin: (in Mandarin) Do you speak Cantonese?
Me: (in Mandarin) a little, trying to brush up my Cantonese. (in Cantonese) Are you from Ipoh?
Yasmin: (in Cantonese) Yes. Are you a Malaysian?
Me: (in English and Cantonese) Used to be. Now a Singaporean.
Yasmin: (in Cantonese) which part of Malaysia?
Me: Sitiawan. (Sitiawan is a town in Perak, which is about 2 hours drive to Ipoh)
Yasmin: (in English) So let me introduce to you the lady on my right. She's Sharifah (Amani)
Sharifah nods her head and smiles at me. I say hi to her.
The audience from the previous show were released for a post-movie dialogue session.
And it was 40min worth of interaction with Yasmin, Sharifah Amani, Sharifah Aleysia and Brian. From the dialogue session, I get to know some facts about Yasmin and the cast:
-Yasmin has a day job in advertising line. With her education in Psychology, she used it to make a movie that wins the heart of the Malaysians and Singaporeans, but not the censorship members from Malaysia.
-Her movie talks about tender, loving and care. But most importantly, she also wants to carry a message about peace, love and acceptance of the others thru religion, irregardless of religion.
-During the interview, she saw a Japanese couple attending the session. So she opens the questions to them in Japanese.
-Just like Tsai Ming Liang (Malaysian born Taiwanese director) and some other aspiring film makers in Malaysia, Yasmin's movie got disapproval by the censors due to the presentation of the film. This ends up why Yasmin's film gets a later release in Malaysia than Singapore, despite being a Malaysian should grant her the priority to be released in Malaysia.
-Sharifah Amani looks young and beautiful! Initially my thought of her was she was a 20 something young girl in Sepet, coming to late 20's in Gubra. But in real life, she looks young!
-Sharifah Aleysia is still a secondary student, which Muallaf is her debut apperance.
-Brian Yap has no background in film acting. He studies journalism and work as a freelance journalist. However, by looking at the trailer, he has proven to act in a more matured way, compared to some Hollywood actress with horrible acting and splashing loads of moolahs on promoting their D-graded films.
The end of the sessions follows with photo-taking session and autograph session.
While having a conversation with Sharifah Amani, I get to know that she was from Kuala Lumpur. In between the conversation, a young Malay couple from Malaysia came to her and told her that they came all the way from J.B to catch the movie. The reason? They want some movies that makes them think after the show, not some silly date movies.
The young man exclaims that it was fortunate to watch Muallaf in Singapore. He lament that in Malaysia, Malay films with high standards (such as films by Yasmin) are rare, and usually they are exposed to too many commercially made Malay films. He also added that it was disappointing to see films such as Sepet gets 8 cuts.
I responded to the young man: my observation of both different types of film is that the censors are in favour of commercially made movies. Also, loads of promotion are done to such films, yet it is impossible for a independent production to do so due to budget constrain.
Last but not least, the censors has the perception that independent productions are discussing serious issues which not many people wants to know or could understand. So, they prefer a commerically made Malay movies, which they are more lenient to censorships on the film.
And the next response given by Sharifah Amani was: 'You are so sweet.' (Thank goodness I did not fainted on the spot. Can someone please enlighten me with the meaning?)
My view is, Sharifah Amani falls to the side that supports independent productions, as she herself is involved most of the films by Yasmin Ahmad.
Before I end my topic, just like to bring you to a link to know more about Yasmin Ahmad.
http://yasminthestoryteller.blogspot.com/
Let the story teller tells you another story. =)