Saturday July 15, 2006
Filmmaker baffled by decision to axe 18?
KUALA LUMPUR: Independent filmmaker Danny Lim, whose documentary 18? was reportedly vetoed by the Malaysian embassy in South Korea from being screened at a festival there, said he did not think his film would court any controversy.
Made in 2004, the documentary examines the sudden appearance of socio-political graffiti around the city. Most of the graffiti feature the number 18, while others were caricatures of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and also cartoons about the National Service and human rights.
The Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), organiser of the EBS International Documentary Festival, had to pull the film from the festival line-up after the embassy rejected it for featuring an “anti-government political activist.”
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Lim: His 2004 documentary has won several awards |
Lim said he was confused about the situation pertaining to his film.
The senior writer with an English magazine said the only political activist who appeared in his film was former ISA detainee Hishamuddin Rais.
“And he only talked about the origins of graffiti, such as cave paintings,” he said. “He also talked about whether graffiti was an art form. What if I made a documentary about the breeding habits of dugong, and I interviewed a political activist who happened to be an expert in that field? Would that be approved?”
18? won the Gold Prize in the Short Film: Documentary category of the 2005 Malaysian Video Awards, and was also the runner-up in the amateur category at the 2005 Freedom Film Festival.
It was screened at the Singapore International Film Festival last year, and at the Jakarta Film Festival in 2004.
It can be downloaded for free at http://danlim.twofishy.net/18
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