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Malaysian films edge towards Oscar-winning goal amid censorship battles, death threats
- Several Malaysian films such as Tiger Stripes and Rain Town have won acclaim at international film festivals
- Local filmmakers, however, often have to deal with censors who deem their works as contrary to the conservative majority’s values
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In a year marked by international acclaim, heavy censorship and even death threats in the film industry, Malaysia’s leading auteurs are determined to continue making works that challenge societal dogmatism.
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At the launch on Monday of Rain Town, a Cantonese-language family drama set in the Malaysian town of Taiping, the chairman of the country’s National Film Development Corporation (Finas) proclaimed 2023 as a breakthrough year for Malaysian films.
“The world now knows Malaysia,” Finas chairman Kamil Othman said. “Malaysian cinema is making its wave so our duty and challenge is that it continues.”
Tiger Stripes, a horror film by Amanda Nell Eu in her debut as a feature-length director, won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Abang Adik, a tale about two orphans by first-time director Lay Jin Ong, won accolades at Italy’s Far East Film Festival and Taipei’s Golden Horse Awards with its lead actor Wu Kang-ren clinching the best actor prize.
The awards came two years after the Malaysian government announced the country’s ambition to win an Academy Award and launched the “Road to Oscars” mission to improve the quality of Malaysian films.
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