tentang 15Malaysia - The Son by Desmond Ng

a drama that addresses the issue of racism in Malaysia. it is slow and short, brief almost. it acknowledges that racism lingers and sometimes a threat in malaysia's multi-racial community (because i heard everyone is a little bit racist) but i think the coolest thing is the director's choice of how to tell the story.

i find myself initially wondering why cant every dad be like his dad? later as everything is digested i realize i really like the father character. the actor made a very good job, and the writer and director made a very good character.

'The Son' is one of my favourite short in 15Malaysia. simply brilliant. thanks Desmond Ng for making a cool short with a serious issue and very good lesson

view 'The Son' here.

tentang 15Malaysia - Halal by Liew Seng Tat

if you like 'Ujang' style humour, Halal is a funny short about what 'Halal' means.. but not everything about what is considered halal.

the script is actually very well done.. but sadly the subtitle is the direct opposite. i believe whoever translated it might have made a too literal translation for some words that make certain things sound weird and have a misleading meaning. example:

2:10-ish
script (malay) - "..cara penyembelihan yang dilarang di dalam Islam."
translation - "..illegal slaughtering methods from Islam's perspective."

i am no linguist and am not trained to translate scripts/dialogues. but i do think the word 'illegal' is a strong word and implies a different meaning. i believe the sentance better translates to 'incorrect way' or simply 'is not right'. people dont get punished if they slaughtered chickens the wrong way.. the meat just becomes not halal and should not be consumed by muslims.

some may say the short is unfunny.. maybe its just because a lot of people dont like to joke about religion and race. it is considered 'sensitive issue'. maybe sometimes we shouldnt be too sensitive and have a laugh together. it is after all a comedy.. an informative one

uh.. what a long post :P. neway enjoy Halal here.

tentang 15Malaysia - House by Linus Chung

another pretty good short on 15Malaysia.com. love the whole feel it has, it kinda makes me miss my childhood days busying myself with homeworks and trying to be cool instead of right :P

although a lot of the characters are potrayed in a very very cliche way, the thing that bothered me most is in the classroom where the kids spoke different languages.

that scene where 'P.Seni' which is Pendidikan Seni (Art Class) is written on the blackboard.. most of the kids generally speak english.. except for the malay kid. do city kids learn 'P.Seni' in english? i come from a 'kampung' school so we all speak malay except for english class. so maybe nowadays, city kids speak english all the time huh? whatever it is.. it kinda makes me feel old.. and me no likey that feeling >_<

enjoy the video here

tentang 15Malaysia - The Tree by Amir Muhammad

almost all of Amir Muhammad's works that i've seen have been provocative, bold and in-your-face documentary style films. this time.. 'The Tree' is consistent with his style, but with a very different, brilliantly simple, subject matter. how Islam views a simple humble tree

to an average muslim like me, the short kinda sounds like the sermon we hear at a mosque on a normal friday prayer. a bit monotonous, if i just had a big lunch, i could probably fall asleep (accidently.. honest!) but it is something good to listen to and good to reflect upon.

some might view it as too religious. i'd say they're not mature enough for this. listening to a muslims perspective on something doesnt make you a muslim. hey if i (im straight btw) listen and agree to a gay guy's opinion on potatoes doesnt make me gay at all right?

view the short here ^_^


and.. next up is 'House' by Linus Chung to be released on 24 Aug 2009

tentang 15Malaysia - Chocolate by Yasmin Ahmad

i decided to check my facebook account for the last time before i go to bed and discovered :-

15malaysia Chocolate is opened. Net is very slow. Please buffer before viewing. Make sure you watch the 'Making Of'. Its our tribute to Yasmin.

'cool' i thought.. checked it out straight away at the 15Malaysia website (link)



the story is short.. really short. it is one of those shorts that probably make you go 'what..? thats it? bla.. bla..'. precisely what the director wants.. to make viewers think. think what Yasmin Ahmad is trying to say and make your own conclusion. we are so used to tv where we are fed with every single detail. but stories like this, to me, kinda makes me realize what kind of person i am from how i judge the issue in the story

Chocolate reminds me of all those Yasmin Ahmad's Petronas ads.. the time when it all started. with slow, almost boring (but a short like this is too short to get bored with) grey environment.. but with touching moments. she always had this ability to put very subtle messeges in her works. Malaysia will miss a great talent like her.. well.. i know i do.

do watch the making of Chocolate video. the link is on the same page.. scroll down and look under 'More'. eh.. might aswell give youthe link =D view video here.

tentang 15Malaysia - short films

i only heard of it today when all this posts and tweets suddenly appeared about 15Malaysia. i actually ignored it thinking it is another one of those government related thing. i remember thinking 'whatever happened to 1Malaysia? now we have 15???'. i have no problem with the government or opposition and what they say and all.. but i just dont like reading about politics. but thanks to post from Simple White Tofu that i discovered i was so wrong.

check out the website:


15Malaysia is actually a damn cool idea. a great effort to raise the level of Malaysian films and our attitude (and interpretation) towards shorts and indie films. congratulations to everyone who is involved with 15Malaysia.

what it is is a compilations of shorts made by Malaysian directors such as Amir Muhammad, Tan Chui Mui, Woo Ming Jin, and the late Yasmin Ahmad. shorts are released one every 2 to 3 days begining with Ho Yuhang's Potong Saga on August 17th 2009. i personally cant wait to watch Yasmin Ahmad's Chocolate scheduled to be released on the 19th.. which is today ^_^



the first short,Potong Saga, is hilarious. i laughed my head off watching this. i didnt remember who that guy was until i read Justin Hee's post about this. it is that dude who made that Negaraku rap few years back lah. LOL thanks Justin.

also, check out the 28Malaysia project. a 'sub-project' where anyone can make their own short and get it featured on the 15Malaysia website. interested? read the instructions here

NOTE: i am confident most of the shorts will have subtitles. so dont worry about language barriers mkay