General Inquiries is a new monthly column, published hopefully every last day of the month, by SINdie editor Alfonse Chiu that asks questions about the state of contemporary Southeast Asian cinema, with or without satisfying, to-the-point, crowd-pleasing, politically correct, morally acceptable, logically sound, ethically compromised, academically rigorous answers.
In July 2022, they, alongside Malaysian film educator and researcher Eddy Tan, ask “What is happening in Malaysian cinema today???” and the following questions:
Who
- Who actually watches Malaysian films?
- Who actually watches Malaysian films at the cinema?
- Who actually watches Malaysian films on YouTube at 360p?
- Who reviews movies in Malaysia?
- Who reviews movies in Malaysia for a major press?
- Who reviews movies in Malaysia with major readership?
- Who reviews movies in Malaysia for a major press, with a major readership, and in English?
- Who reviews movies in Malaysia in Malay?
- Who reviews movies in Malaysia in Chinese?
- Who reviews movies in Malaysia in any South Asian language at all?
- Who are the film critics of Malaysia?
- Who, amongst these film critics, have contributed to at least one of the following journals: Film Comment, Cineaste, Cahier du Cinéma, and Sight and Sound?
- Who can actually be called a film critic in Malaysia?
- Who is a Malaysian film academic?
- Who is a Malaysian film academic specialist with a PhD in Film History, Cinema Studies, or Media Studies?
- Who is a Malaysian film academic specialist with a PhD in Film History, Cinema Studies, or Media Studies, based in Malaysia?
- Who is a Malaysian film academic specialist with a PhD in Film History, Cinema Studies, or Media Studies, based in Malaysia, and has tenure?
- Who is Senator Datuk Seri Zurainah Musa?
- Who else is scoring Malaysian films apart from Kamal Sabran?
- Who is a Malay filmmaker with a Non-Malay audience? Filmmaker friends notwithstanding.
- Who is a non-Malay filmmaker with a Malay audience? Filmmaker friends notwithstanding.
What
- What do the guidelines from the Malaysian Censorship Board, the Lembaga Penapisan Filem, actually mean?
- What income classification does the majority of Malaysian film students fall under?
- What income classification does the majority of Malaysian filmmakers fall under?
- What income classification does the majority of Malaysia's film producers fall under?
- What is the type of funding that Malaysian film students are seeking?
- What is the type of funding that Malaysian film students are getting?
- … and where are they from?
- What will be the political-cultural impacts of Mat Kilau ten years from now, if any?
- What gender would the protagonist of a hypothetical future Malaysian superhero film be?
- What social class would the protagonist of a hypothetical future Malaysian superhero film be?
- What ethnicity would the protagonist of a hypothetical future Malaysian superhero film be?
- … Same as above, but for the love interest of said protagonist.
- … Same as above, but for the antagonist.
Where
- Where do Malaysian films go to, in the words of Zain Azrai, ‘get a pat on the back overseas’?
- Where have Malaysian films gone where, in the words of Zain Azrai, they ‘[got] a pat on the back overseas’?
- Where have Pinewood Studios gone now that they left Malaysia almost five years ago?
- Where are we headed to in Malaysia in the genre of festive Chinese New Year films?
- Where are we headed to in Malaysia in the genre of festive Diwali films, if any?
- Where are we headed to in Malaysia in the genre of festive Hari Raya films, if any?
- Where are we headed to in Malaysia in the genre of festive Gawai films, if any?
When
- When will a Hang Tuah film match the box office success of Mat Kilau?
- When will a Hang Jebat film match the box office success of Mat Kilau?
- When will a Mat Sentol Museum be built?
- When will Malaysian film critics not receive police reports and libel lawsuits?
- When will international grant-based funding overtake local private equity as standard practice in funding Malaysian films?
- When will a Malaysian film win a prize in Cannes?
- … Or Venice.
- … Or Berlin.
- … Or the Oscars.
Why
… this is dangerous territory, skip.
Bonus Round: How
- On average, how many non-Malaysian films does a Malaysian watch for every Malaysian film?
- How has the Film in Malaysia Incentive helped local projects since its launch in 2013, if any?
- How many co-funded failures will it take for failing ventures to stop being co-funded by whatever sources of Malaysian funding?
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Guest Contributor
Eddy Tan is a film educator and organiser based in Malaysia. A faculty member of the Faculty of Cinematic Arts (FCA) in Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Eddy lectures on topics including Production Management and Silent Filmmaking 101. He is also an aspiring researcher interested in film festivals. As an organiser, Eddy was previously involved in projects such as the Johor Bahru Film Grants, initiated by Think City, as well as co-programming the satellite programme Citarasa | Hadam | Nikmat for Johor Bahru Writers and Film Festival 2017. Continuing his role in working as SeaShorts Film Society's technical manager, Eddy is also currently the festival coordinator and part of the programme team of SeaShorts Film Festival.