A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT THE RECENT FFM

I won't delve into the recent FFM fiasco lah. Eventhough many of my readers and fans want my take on it, I would not offer my in-depth analysis of something that creaks and rattles every year.

If I did I would be repeating myself. It's the same thing over and over again, and I have already said my peace on FB about the quality of the jurors. The results of the recent FFM reflect the quality of the said jurors.

What I would like to repeat is that I still despise the racial separation of films in the festival.

It is called Film Festival Malaysia not film festival berbahasa Melayu.

So, you really cannot fault any movies made in Malaysia, by Malaysians, for Malaysians, and then tell them their films cannot qualify for the main awards. WTF.

I mean lets be frank about Merong Mahawangsa, Having watched it, I am quite sure there was more English dialogue than BM dialogue. Heck, even the Chinese princess and her maid were speaking the Queen's English.

So how do you justify MM for winning so many awards including the biggie Best Film Award?

If Great Day or even Homecoming, both which had more Mandarin dialogue than BM, were in cinematic terms a better movie than MM, shouldn't they be declared Malaysia's best film?

Or does FINAS want the non-BM films to start their own festival and chuck out the Bahasa Malaysia movies?

And how would we feel if these non-BM films win big in overseas film festivals and yet the BM films like Majika or MM do not win at any prestigious film festival overseas?

Won't the foreign film press make fun of our cinema industry? And are we happy when they they accuse our film industry as racist? Do we need another black mark in the global arena?

Now, if it is at all possible, can the people who organise the festival tell me, if I decide to make a movie like The Artist (a Cannes award winning favourite and now an Academy Awards hotshot), what category would the film be categorised in?

For those in FINAS who don't know about The Artist, it is a movie shot without dialogue.

Now, if I were to make a movie like that - with no BM dialogue, there's no English dialogue, and there's no Chinese dialogue. A silent movie as such.

It is bona fide Malaysian movie. Let's make it more interesting. I fill the movie with a hundred percent non-Malay actors, funded by Chinese producer, with Chinese psyche and cultural references. Tell me oh organisers of FFM, where would this film stand in competition?

Confused? Scared? Create another category for silent film?

Rules of festivals can be changed lah. Mistakes can be made and always happen. Only the Quran cannot be changed.

So, come on folks, stay with the times. Cinema is moving fast and it is borderless. The only language that matters in making movies is the language of cinema. Full stop.

FOOTNOTE: Are FINAS and the persatuans doing anything about the influx of foreign workers in our cinema industry? These includes actors, stunt directors, producers and directors. Are their paperwork properly done and legal? Do they pay government taxes? Do they have active work permits? Do we still need them?