[HEADLINE] It’s show time
[SUBHEAD]The 15 filmmakers tell us, in their own words, what their short films are all about.

[YASMIN AHAMD’S LAST(?) INTERVIEW]
CHOCOLATE
By Yasmin Ahmad, no comment
What’s it about When I make my films, I don’t think about it; I film them based
on my feelings. Before I film a story, I will write the story down, watch it
and then only think about what it means. One cannot think in advance because if
you do, your work will be poor (Her muse, Sharifah Amani plays the lead role)
Film’s message Now that I’ve shot the film, I would say maybe it’s about love
and sex being more powerful than politics, race issues, wealth and greed
altogether
Why she chose to participate I like Pete Teo!
Describe the film in three words (“Can it be five?” she asks) Love more powerful than politics
You may have seen her works Sepet, Gubra, Muallaf, Talentime, those tearjerker Petronas ads

POTONG SAGA
By Ho Yuhang, 34
What’s it about A Chinese boy’s misadventures in getting an Islamic bank
account after coming back from overseas. (See if you can spot YouTube sensation
Namewee!)
Moral of the story My stories have no morality
Why he chose to participate They chose me; I didn’t have a choice. I’m
the chosen one - just like Jesus!
Describe your film in three words Hope it’s funny
You may have seen his works Rain Dogs, Visits: Hungry Ghost Anthology, As I Lay Dying

GERHANA
By James Lee, 36
What’s it about How Malaysians distance themselves from the happenings that
made headlines in newspapers around the Malaysia and how the media is a part of it
Film’s message We are living in a surreal country and we know some things are
not true but we just learn to accept it as we can’t do much - we become numb to
it. The film is presented in a stylised way but it’s also not too direct
Why he chose to participate Pete asked us to do it and we’re familiar
with him. We trust him with the whole concept
Describe your film in three words Stylised and surreal
You may have seen his works The Beautiful Washing Machine, Histeria, Call If You Need Me

HALAL
By Liew Seng Tat, approaching 30
What’s it about How to slaughter animals the halal (permissible) way
Film’s message To inform the public about this procedure
Why he chose to participate Because Pete chose me!
Describe your film in three words Very, very good
You may have seen his works Bread Skin With Strawberry Jam, Not Cool, Flower In The Pocket

AS YET UNTITLED
By Amir Muhammad, 37
What’s it about It’s the preachiest film ever made: An interview with Nik Aziz in Kelantan about the concept of an Islamic community
Why he chose to participate I’ve always wanted to film in Kelantan for the longest time and with this platform, now I have a reason to
Describe your film in three words Vote for PAS
You may have seen his works The Last Communist, Apa Khabar Orang Kampung, The Big Durian, Susuk

AS YET UNTITLED
By Woo Ming Jin, 32
What’s it about It’s a parody about corruption and party-hopping in Malaysia. An illegal DVD seller stumbles upon this exchange between two Datuks. One Datuk tries to convince the other to hop party while the other questions the political morality of this (Veterans Patrick Teoh and Harith Iskandar tickle us in this film)
Film’s message I make films to entertain the audience, not to inform
Describe your film in three words Half-naked men
You may have seen his works Salon, The Elephant and The Sea, Kurus

AS YET UNTITLED
By Tan Chui Mui, 31
What’s it about The film is set in the future. Everyone lives in a world where everyone is force to change their jobs and family members every day to create equality
Film’s message Our society is always struggling. You want the government to give you something but they don’t always care and they control too much
Why she chose to participate I missed the chance to join Pete’s project last year (she made seven short films then). This year, I jumped straight away at the chance
Describe your film in three words Funny science fiction (“although some may
disagree,” she adds)
You may have seen her works A Tree In Tanjung Malim, Company of Mushrooms, Love Conquers All

HEALTHY PARANOIA
By Khairil Bahar, 29
What’s it about It’s about what happens when you take something too far. Like,
when you take an advice to a point where you get paranoia
Film’s message Sometimes you shouldn’t take advice warnings too far
Why he chose to participate It was something fun to do
Describe your film in three words Funny as hell
You may have seen his works Ciplak, The Writing On The Wall

THE SON
By Desmond Ng, 35
What’s it about See last question
Film’s message It’s more of a ‘question-to-self’ than a message
Why he chose to participate Why not? Also, I needed a break from my
day job...
Describe your film in three words Pride and prejudice!
You may have seen his work Tetangga

LUMPUR
By Kamal Sabran, 32
What’s it about Ordinary Malaysians and their views on our country. I interviewed 12 Malaysians – from schoolchildren to elderly folks – of different races and gender based on the words ‘tanah air’ (homeland). I asked them what ‘soil’, ‘water’ and ‘homeland’ means to them and they tell me their perceptions. There are no stars in this film but Malaysians themselves
Film’s message Unity. Oh, and Malaysians’ perception about their country in an
indirect perspective. In a nutshell, it’s about Malaysians and their homeland
Describe your film in three words Ordinary Malaysians hope
You may have seen his works The music videos to Pete Teo’s ‘I Go’ and Malaysian Artistes For Unity’s ‘Here In My Home’

HOUSE
By Linus Chung, 29
What’s it about We’re living in an adult’s world with child-like problems. When kids bully one another, people laugh. But they don’t laugh when adults do it! (Yasmin Ahmad has a cameo role in this)
Film’s message There’s always injustice and bullying, in this dog-eat-dog world
Why he chose to participate I’m a filmmaker and a storyteller. When there is an opportunity for me to tell a story, I will jump on it. It’s also another chance for me to put the film out for people to see
Describe your film in three words Life not fair
You may have seen his work A Note of Love

TAXI
By Bahir, 26 and Benji, 24
What’s it about A mockumentary of a cab driver ala The Office style. In this film, Khairy Jamaluddin, who plays the cab driver, complains a lot about everything but there is sentiment to it
Film’s message When we set out to do the film, the basic concept was that Malaysians tend to complain a lot and not do anything. They also don’t base their arguments on any facts to make the right judgement
Why they chose to participate When Pete calls to ask you to do a short film, you never say no. My partner and I have this discussion about what we can contribute to this issue. So at least we’re contributing something
Describe your film in three words Crazy, ranting maniac
You may have seen their works 5.13, The Joshua Tapes

DUIT KECIL
By Johan John, 34
What’s it about It’s about inflation. The story is about a 9-5 guy who visits a brothel and all that. After doing his business, a discussion escalates about money and the cost of living. I look at it in two ways: a guy with a 9-5 job and prostitution as the oldest of profession, with both parties suffering the same effect. It’s a straight-laced comedy
The message behind his film I think it’s mostly just about people being unhappy about the recession, economy, hike in prices and low salaries. The moral is, a lot of people are quite unhappy about it
Why he chose to participate It was interesting because we could put our views out and there is freedom to express what we feel about this country. For me, I hope people could relate to this
Describe your film three words Hope everyone understands
You may have seen his works Tajuk Cerita, Semalam, Kita

ROJAK!
By The Suleiman Brothers: Mussadique, 32 and Jordan, 29
What’s it about It looks at a cross section of our society. The film collides in one crossroad where the rojak stall is
Film’s message We’ll leave it to the audience to gauge. But in short, the film is about the many differences that people are made up from but we get together because of food
Why they chose to participate We liked the idea of doing collection of short films. We worked with Pete before and we like his direction. He’s tough and picky but that’s fine as everyone is of the same traits, right? But the good thing is he lets us do whatever we like. We also participated because we know the other filmmakers who are a good bunch
Describe the film in three words Outrageous, down-to-earth, colourful
You may have seen their works Makan and the music video to Pete Teo’s ‘Lost In America’

LOLLI POP
By Nam Ron, 40
What’s it about A paedophile kidnaps young girls to abuse. Actor Bront Palarae
has a starring role Moral of the story Keep your child safe
Why he chose to participate Because of Pete!
Describe your film in three words Dark and creepy
You may have seen his work Gedebe, Proses, Misi, Look Back In Anger