Famed filmmaker tracks down former Japanese soldiers in Malaysia.
Social & External
Temiar Senoi, an indigenous people of Malaysia, live in the realm of unique dream culture. Their exceptionally harmonious and non-violent way of living has been claimed to be a direct result of their dream directed habits. Their sole aim is to exist in balance with nature and fellow man. But the nature is under threat by a massive rain forest logging operation masterminded by the Malaysian government. And the tribe itself is under another, direct threat by the same government, who try to institute "modern" customs among the tribes, including state religion and education programs.
Teens on a study program abroad have to learn survival techniques when they crash on an uncharted Malaysian island.
A German diving instructor, Tom Broder, falls in love with the natural beauty of Malaysia - and with a courageous Malaysian biologist and environmentalist, Sarifah Bt. Ismail, fighting with her to prevent an unscrupulous hotel owner from constructing a holiday resort on a nature reserve where turtles are preserved from extinction. Then, when his elder brother, Kai, and his family turn up unexpectedly, the diving instructor is confronted with his past... because the woman his brother married was once the love of his life, until she chose the other brother. Since then the two of them haven't said a single word to each other. Now the older brother announces that he wants them to be reconciled. Nobody realises at this stage that he is up to his neck in debt and plans to fake his death in Malaysia, so he can begin a new life.
M for Malaysia documents the 2018 Malaysian General Elections when the people of Malaysia, led by a 92 year-old former Prime Minister, overthrew one of the longest ruling governments in the world. Despite endless barriers thrown at them, the tense campaign pushed on with the most surprising result in the country’s history.
The creator, Seth Ho, takes his audience on a journey to Malaysia to explore and review the unique menu items offered at a local McDonald's. Blending food commentary with a personal travel experience, the documentary highlights the physical effects of globalization, migration and its role in modern culture.
The documentary retraces the steps of Bruno Manser, a man from Switzerland who went to live with the indigenous tribe of the Penan in the Jungle of Borneo and endef up helping their struggle to defend their rainforest against greedy logging companies. The movie features original film, photo and voice recordings by Bruno Manser made in the 1980s, as well as new recordings showing how the life of the Penan has changed in just a few decades.
Explore one of the most ancient forests on Earth through the eyes of its youngest inhabitants. Follow a baby proboscis monkey, translucent spiderlings, and a captivating orchid mantis from infancy to adulthood in this vibrant jungle world.
Bilkuin, Shima and Didi are three youths living on Omadal Island, situated off the coast of Sabah in Borneo, where a majority of the population consists of the stateless Bajau Laut (Sea Gypsies). After joining and excelling in a filmmaking workshop, they are selected to be junior directors or apprentices to be mentored by a professional film crew. 'Jom Kita Ke Laut' tells the specific story of their three lives as they try to document it on their own, which eventually gives us a view of how life is on the island for the Bajau Laut and the challenges they face by being stateless in their own land and not having access to basic human rights like education and healthcare.
Over the years Malaysia as a country has invested millions into promoting tech startups, in an attempt to replicate Silicon Valley in the West. This documentary looks at a 10year journey of e-Sentral, an e-book tech company that began as a startup, and its journey going through the different phases of growth. The film interviews startup industry players in Malaysia; leaders, executives, and entrepreneurs sharing their perspectives and experiences on how it actually is, and not as how it has been typically portrayed. A must watch if you like the tech space as the film portrays a genuine feel for perseverance and grit.
Malaysia has two countries in one, divided by the South China Sea. Nestled between India and China, Malaysia is the most multiracial country on earth.
A travel documentary essay, interspersed with specially composed songs, about the early life and legacy of Chin Peng, exiled leader of the banned Communist Party of Malaya.
“DISCIPLES” is a new Dazed film by Jess Kohl exploring the subcultural world of Malaysian skinheads including the traditional, SHARP skins, and Nazis.
“In Search of Unreturned Soldiers was about former soldiers of the Japanese army who chose not to return to Japan after the war. I found several of them who had remained in Thailand. Two years later, I invited one of them to make his first return visit to Japan and documented it in Outlaw-Matsu Returns Home. During the filming, my subject Fujita asked me to buy him a cleaver so that he could kill his ‘vicious brother.’ I was shocked, and asked him to wait a day so that I could plan how to film the scene. By the next morning, to my relief, Fujita had calmed down and changed his mind about killing his brother. But I couldn’t have had a sharper insight into the ethical questions provoked by this kind of documentary filmmaking.” —Shôhei Imamura
"The Tides Will Decide" is a documentary that follows Priscilla Patrick, a well-known Malaysian radio personality, and how she was caught in the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. Miraculously surviving the devastating waves, she opens up about the harrowing incident and the events that followed. As Priscilla prepares to return to Sri Lanka for the 20th anniversary of the tragic event, this documentary will share glimpses of her life, highlighting the individuals who have influenced her, her relationship with God, and how everything came together when the ocean nearly claimed her life.
They sacrificed their lives fighting for the independence of their country, but their stories remain untold for 60 years. The story begins with a man’s portrait, which has been hanging for more than 30 years in an old wooden house where I was born and grew up in Perak, Malaysia. It’s long become a taboo that my families do not talk about this man, not even to bring up his name or his past. Eventually I found out he is my grandfather, who sacrificed his life fighting for Malaysia’s independence and decolonisation, but his and his comrades’ stories are excluded from history. This documentary set out to unveil the mysteries.
In the fall of 2000, a group of Malaysian underground musicians arrived at the Rockers' village in the outskirts of Beijing. Living illegally in a farmhouse, they tried to blend into the Beijing underground scene. They sought performance opportunities and gigs in pubs and bars.
Karayuki-san, the Making of a Prostitute is a 1975 Japanese film by director Shohei Imamura. It is a documentary on one of the Japanese "karayuki-san," who were women that were taken from their homes in Japan and used as prostitutes in the post-war period. Many of these women were told that they were doing this to support their families because of the extreme poverty that the war left much of Japan to live in. Imamura focuses on a particular such woman who was sent to Malaysia and never returned to Japan. Joan Mellen, in The Waves at Genji's Door, called this film, "Perhaps the most brilliant and feeling of Imamura's fine documentaries."
The Borneo Case is a unique story filmed over 25 years and tells the epic tale of how the rainforest, home of the last nomads was stripped of its natural resources. It reveals how billions of dollars of illegal profits solicited by the Chief Minister of Sarawak State in Malaysia were money laundered with the assistance of the largest global banks into offshore accounts and property portfolios all over the world. The case was labelled as the largest environmental crime of the century.
In 1997, Louis Theroux made a documentary about the world of male porn performers in Los Angeles. 15 years later, he returns to find a business struggling with the deluge of free porn on the internet. Louis revisits some of the original programme's contributors as well as meeting the latest crop of porn performers dreaming of porn stardom.
A documentary on the making of the three Godfather films, with interviews and recollections from the film makers and cast. This feature also includes the original screen tests of some of the actors for "The Godfather" film, and some candid moments on the set of "The Godfather: Part III."
Learn the incredible behind-the-scenes story of how the original Star Wars movie was brought to the big screen in this fascinating documentary hosted by C-3PO and R2-D2 which includes interviews with George Lucas and appearances by Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.
Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old veteran of the New Guinea campaign in World War II, sets out to conduct interviews with survivors and relatives to find the truth behind atrocities committed by Japanese military, in particular the unexplained killing of two Japanese privates in his unit.
On September 15, 1963, a bomb destroyed a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls who were there for Sunday school. It was a crime that shocked the nation--and a defining moment in the history of the civil-rights movement. Spike Lee re-examines the full story of the bombing, including a revealing interview with former Alabama Governor George Wallace.
Featuring a wealth of previously unseen archive, this film looks at how Bowie continually evolved: from Ziggy Stardust to the Soul Star of Young Americans, to the ‘Thin White Duke’. It explores his regeneration in Berlin with the critically acclaimed album Heroes, his triumph with Scary Monsters and his global success with Let’s Dance. With interviews with all his closest collaborators, David Bowie - Five Years presents a unique account of why Bowie has become an ‘icon of our times’.
A depiction of life in wartime Britain during the Second World War. Director Humphrey Jennings visits many aspects of civilian life and of the turmoil and privation caused by the war, all without narration.
When Sgt. First Class Brian Eisch is critically wounded in Afghanistan, it sets him and his sons on a journey of love, loss, redemption and legacy.
In 2010 David Crowley, an Iraq veteran, aspiring filmmaker and charismatic up-and-coming voice in fringe politics, began production on his film Gray State. Set in a dystopian near-future where civil liberties are trampled by an unrestrained federal government, the film’s crowd funded trailer was enthusiastically received by the burgeoning online community of libertarians, Tea Party activists and members of the nascent alt-right. In January of 2015, Crowley was found dead with his family in their suburban Minnesota home. Their shocking deaths quickly become a cause célèbre for conspiracy theorists who speculate that Crowley was assassinated by a shadowy government concerned about a film and filmmaker that was getting too close to the truth about their aims.
Going beyond the occasional news clip from Burma, the acclaimed filmmaker, Anders Østergaard, brings us close to the video journalists who deliver the footage. Though risking torture and life in jail, courageous young citizens of Burma live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country.
After a vicious attack leaves him brain-damaged and broke, Mark Hogancamp seeks recovery in "Marwencol", a 1/6th scale World War II-era town he creates in his backyard.
A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.
A journey inside the world of real life caped crusaders. From all over America, these self-proclaimed crime fighters, don masks, homemade costumes and elaborate utility belts in an attempt to bring justice to evildoers everywhere.
Dick Proenneke retired at age 50 in 1967 and decided to build his own cabin in the wilderness at the base of the Aleutian Peninsula, in what is now Lake Clark National Park. Using color footage he shot himself, Proenneke traces how he came to this remote area, selected a homestead site and built his log cabin completely by himself. The documentary covers his first year in-country, showing his day-to-day activities and the passing of the seasons as he sought to scratch out a living alone in the wilderness.
A real-life undercover thriller about two ordinary men who embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world's most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
Following up on his 2007 documentary, The Most Hated Family in America, Louis Theroux returns to Topeka, Kansas, for a week-long visit with the Westboro Baptist Church. He again joins the Phelps family on their controversial pickets where they try to antagonise communities with offensive slogans and anti-gay placards. But four years on from Louis's last visit, there are signs of disarray in the Phelps clan. A series of defections of family members has shaken up the church.
Louis Theroux travels to California to meet the man dubbed "the most dangerous racist in America"; Tom Metzger. Louis meets him, his family and his publicity manager as well as following him to skinhead rallies and on a visit to Mexico.
The most comprehensive retrospective of the '80s action film genre ever made.
Journey into the extraordinary world of "The Witcher" — from casting the roles to Jaskier's catchy song — in this behind-the-scenes look at the series.
Join the likes of Jeremy Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, Florence Pugh, and Vincent D’Onofrio as they reveal how Marvel Studios’ “Hawkeye” was conceived and created. Witness firsthand what it took to pull off the show’s pulse-pounding action set pieces, and discover how iconic characters from the pages of Marvel Comics such as Kate Bishop were adapted and brought to life for the six-episode series.
