Malaysian Oscar hope Prebet Sapu explores race relations and shattered dreams in Kuala Lumpur’s dark underbelly
- Known internationally as Hail, Driver!, Muzzamer Rahman’s low-budget debut film will compete for a spot in the Best International Film Category
- Combining the loneliness of the big city with a strong social message, it rekindles the spirit of Malaysia’s cinematic New Wave of the 2000s
The National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) has chosen a monochromatic coming-of-age journey set in the lower echelons of capital Kuala Lumpur to represent the Southeast Asian nation at the 94th Academy Awards next year.
Known internationally as Hail, Driver!, Muzzamer Rahman’s low-budget debut film Prebet Sapu (2020) will compete in the Best International Film Category after turning heads at Italy’s Far East Film Festival, the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival in Indonesia, the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival in Canada, and Spain’s Asian Film Festival.
Prebet Sapu tells the story of Aman, a Malay man who moves from a small town in the forested Malaysian interior to the capital Kuala Lumpur after the death of his father. Looking for a better future, Aman soon learns that the big city can shatter the dreams of naive kampung (countryside) people like him pretty quickly.
“I really love black-and-white photographs of Kuala Lumpur, because the monochrome gives [the city] a very lively, busy, modern feeling that mixes with loneliness,” says director Muzzamer of his unconventional choice of making a black-and-white film.
