15Malaysia - dan & zeff's top picks

In honour of Malaysia Day week, we wanted to uplift the 15Malaysia project. From the official site:

15Malaysia is a short film project. It consists of 15 short films made by 15 Malaysian filmmakers. These films not only deal with socio-political issues in Malaysia, they also feature some of the best-known faces in the country, including actors, musicians and top political leaders. You may think of them as funky little films made by 15 Malaysian voices for the people of Malaysia.

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Danis and Zeff share their favourite short films from the project, in the hopes this will inspire more people to check out 15Malaysia.

A YouTube playlist is available here with all 15 short films, equipped with English subtitles. Embedded below too!

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danis' picks

The Tree by Amir Muhammad

This was more of a documentary than a short film, but it’s one that will actually provoke your thoughts. Why am I saying this? Well cause it dispels the preposterous ideas and misinterpretations of practising a religion specifically Islam. The person narrating is no other than the late Y.A.B. Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat. By relating to the symbolism of a tree and how trees represent one of the most essential aspects of life, this short documentary has somehow put in a piece that could easily stir up your thoughts and provoke your perspective on religion, culture, and nature. Definitely a must-watch, and it will definitely open up more doors for the inquisitive and optimistic folks.

House by Linus Chung

A tale as old as time, the rich against the poor, the privileged outgunning the underprivileged. Honestly, this short is more of a reminder of how a social crisis of poverty and displacement is still at large, and the blatant lack of empathy and sympathy for the poor. Seeing Rama wanting to portray a part of his reality during a Pendidikan Seni presentation and have nobody - not even his teachers - provide any sort of sympathy, reminded me of a couple of people who I've met in my own life that had to go through that. School was a prison to them, a constant reminder of the hopelessness and futile position that they were in. This riled me up quite badly and the short still kept showing images of pure and utter despair. Love this short but also it’s a cruel reminder of the reality that we’re still faced with. The actors and everyone who worked on this handled this issue maturely and truly spoke their ideas out on the political and societal aspect of this topic.

Meter by Benji & Bahir

Everyone on this short, you guys should just start making more comedy films man. THE FACT THAT KJ OF ALL PEOPLE COULD BE THIS FUNNY, that was too good. Honestly, this was basically a road trip short with the classic “taxi uncle” that would talk to you about a bunch of different things and would do a complete 180 on some of the things he just went and talked to you about. Love the setup of a documentary crew interviewing the “taxi uncle”. If you’re looking for something that’s relatable, funny, and sweet, well this short is the one. I repeat it is “THE ONE”, and honestly i can’t get that one scene where KJ starts mocking a dude for supporting Chelsea. 10/10 comedy gold. Benji & Bahir, make more movies man.

Duit Kecil by Johan John

A film that humanises people. Shows the hypocrisy of people who view themselves as “clean” or “noble” and ultimately placed a mirror for all of us to witness people who work in the underground parts of Malaysia. Johan John and his writers painted a canvas that at first may make someone feel uncomfortable or weary but eventually it starts growing on you. The actors, every single one of them, were amazing. Daring, funny, wonderful and honest with their portrayals of the characters in this short. Overall, it’s a thought-provoking film that paints an honest depiction of people who fall victim to the biases of narrow-minded folks.

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zeff's picks

Slovak Sling by Woo Ming Jin

This short film is told in the perspective of an illegal DVD salesman, who happens to spy upon two politicians in an alleyway, one of which is convincing the other two switch party allegiances for a hefty bribe. This piece is very humorous, though also very real despite the satirical liberty it uses to portray this backdoor, Machiavellian scheming very much present in Malaysian politics. The man doing the convincing initially offers a bribe of money, but then offers his sunglasses as a sort of smaller and more personal bribe. Then he continues to strip more and more articles of clothing to give to the man he is bribing. Of course this all happens as the DVD salesman watches on, and when the police are onto him, he imitates the exact same thing and begins to bribe the policeman by stripping his clothes and offering them as branded items. Overall rather humorous.

Meter by Benji & Bahir

Starring none other than Khairy Jamaluddin who plays a taxi driver. I would describe this short film as a rant based interview mockumentary style narrative, with the plot based on questions asked by the cameraman interviewer, which also serves as the perspective of the viewer. The questions and the reply by the taxi driver concern an assortment of contemporary social issues in Malaysia. This film is absolutely sold by the acting of Khairy Jamaluddin, as well as by Baki Zainal’s incredible performance, as he rapidly switches between three languages fluently in his part, which was very impressive.

Healthy Paranoia by Khairil M Bahar

I was completely taken unawares by this short film starring Ex-Minister of Health Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai, but I later understood his presence was necessary to what could possibly be a satirical remark directed at his anti-smoking campaign. His complete deadpan reaction to the lively and charismatic acting of Baki Zainal was a dynamic that worked very well. In this film, Baki Zainal plays the role of someone who petitions to put those warnings you see on cigarette packets on basically everything that is remotely harmful to health. The premise was very amusing, especially when, as I mentioned, it was directed at the actual Minister of Health at the time.

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Support 15Malaysia by spreading the word. Short films deliver the same impact as feature films, but in a fraction of the runtime. Never forget the power of shorts - 5 minutes is enough to say anything.

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