JitFest 2025 at PJPAC is a three-day celebration of the late Jit Murad, a theatre trailblazer who reshaped the Malaysian performing arts scene. Photo: Filepic
THEATRE: JITFEST 2025
Venue: PJPAC, 1 Utama, Petaling Jaya
Date: Jan 17-19
This weekend, the theatre world comes together to honour the creative genius of the late Jit Murad with JitFest 2025, a three-day celebration of a theatre trailblazer who reshaped the Malaysian performing arts scene.
Hosted at PJPAC and organised by Dramalab, the festival – with a schedule of year-long activities – offers a rich programme that includes a heartfelt theatre tribute, a film screening, and the unveiling of two original works from the inaugural Jit Murad Playwriting Competition. Through these events, JitFest 2025 not only remembers a legendary figure but also nurtures the next generation of Malaysian storytellers, ensuring his legacy continues to inspire.
Kicking off on Jan 17, What A Load of Jit! celebrates Jit’s life and works with excerpts from his plays performed by renowned actors like Sharifah Amani, Ghafir Akhbar, Zahim Albakri, Harith Iskander, Sofia Jane, Na’a Murad, Jo Kukathas and others.
On Jan 18, Dramalab will screen the award-winning film Spilt Gravy On Rice, based on Jit's play, followed by a post-screening discussion. There will be three screenings this Saturday.
The final day of JitFest 2025 this Sunday highlights playwrights with rehearsed readings of winning entries from the Jit Murad Playwriting Competition: Aku, Kau & Dia by Leysha Al-yahya at 2pm, and Disappear The Mountain by Ridzwan Othman at 5pm.
More info here.
Sharon Bakar, who has been at the helm of the Readings sessions since their early days, is set to celebrate the book community's 20th anniversary on Jan 18. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli
BOOK EVENT: READINGS' 20th ANNIVERSARY
Venue: Seksan Gallery, 67, Jalan Tempinis 1, Bangsar, KL
Date: Jan 18, 3.30pm
One of KL’s longest-running book community events, Readings @ Seksan, celebrates its 20th anniversary this Saturday.
These monthly live literature events first took root at the now-closed No Black Tie jazz club in KL, before finding a permanent home at the Seksan Gallery in Bangsar.
Launched in 2005 by novelist-poet Bernice Chauly, Readings began as a grassroots literary series, nurtured by local talents and bolstered by international visitors during its formative years.
A few years into its journey, British writer, editor, and creative writing teacher Sharon Bakar took the helm of the series with care and dedication – a role she has nurtured with passion ever since.
Readings’ 20th anniversary promises to be a memorable occasion, bringing together familiar voices and fresh faces to celebrate this literary gathering.
The original 2005 line-up of literary luminaries will reunite to celebrate the anniversary, featuring Sharon Bakar, Kam Raslan, Pang Khee Teik, and Zedeck Siew.
They will be joined by special guests Melanie Katz from Switzerland, who curates the poetry project “The Lonely Funeral” as well as Singapore-based author Claire Betita De Guzman.
The event on Jan 18 starts at 3.30pm and is free admission, with no RSVP required.
More info here.
There will be a fish lantern parade around the Kwai Chai Hong and Lorong Panggung vicinity in Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur on Jan 18 in conjunction with Chinese New Year. Photo: The Star/Shaari Chemat
PUBLIC ART: 'BOUNTIFUL BLESSINGS'
Venue: Kwai Chai Hong, Lorong Panggung, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends Feb 16
This Chinese New Year, KL's Chinatown heritage lane Kwai Chai Hong is paying tribute to the significant role and symbolism of fish in Chinese culture through an immersive art installation, Bountiful Blessings.
Inspired by the cherished Chinese idiom, "Nian nian you yu", meaning "Wishing for abundance year after year" and the fact that the Chinese word for “abundance” (yu) is phonetically similar to the word for “fish” (yu), the theme offers visitors a cultural journey into the heart of generosity and sharing abundance with others.
The alley has been decked with lanterns of all shapes, sizes and colours, but the centrepiece are the fish lanterns, inspired by the traditional fish lanterns of Anhui province, China.
This weekend, join the festivities at Kwai Chai Hong, which will be hosting the Happy Fish Marketplace from 9am-6pm, showcasing renowned masters of Chinese ink painting and calligraphy, as well as local watercolourist Jason Min.
Be sure to stick around after for the rare chance to witness an actual Fish Lantern Parade on Jan 18. Starting at 7pm from Kwai Chai Hong's gate, you can join the parade and watch the fish lanterns lighting up the streets as the parade makes its way around the block. You can even hold a fish lantern and join in the fun.
Free admission, with the lane open from 9am-midnight daily.
More info here.
A view of independent bookshop Riwayat in downtown Kuala Lumpur. Photo: The Star/Chan Tak Kong
PHOTOZINE LAUNCH: 'PHANTOM' BY CHEN LONG WEN
Venue: Riwayat, Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, Kuala Lumpur
Date: Jan 18, 2pm
Riwayat bookstore, in collaboration with Photobook Club KL, invites photography enthusiasts to the launch of Phantom, a self-published photo-zine by Chen Long Wen, a full-time teacher and self-taught photographer who documents street scenes in his free time.
Lurking beneath the “decisive moment” concept, Chen's Phantom revisits a decade of street photography and reveals a deeply personal state of mind.
This zine invites readers to confront the discontent of reality, where “style" and "idea” often stray from genuine experiences of seeing the world.
More info here.
A general view the 'Tokyo Before / After' exhibition, featuring a series of photographs that juxtapose different eras of Japan's capital. Photo: JFKL
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION: 'TOKYO BEFORE / AFTER'
Venue: GMBB creative mall, Kuala Lumpur
Date: ends Feb 23
Take a trip into the Japanese capital city’s unique past - and explore its present - in the Tokyo Before / After photography exhibition, now showing at the GMBB creative mall.
This exhibition, created on the occasion of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, features a selection of 80 works, in which works by photographers who had captured images of Tokyo in the 1930s-1940s are presented in juxtaposition with those taken after 2010.
Exhibition curator Kotaro Iizawa, a Japanese photography critic, has structured the show into two distinct eras. The "Before" section features works from KOGA (Light Pictures), NIPPON, and Kineo Kuwabara, while the "After" section showcases contemporary photographers, including Nobuyoshi Araki, Mika Ninagawa, Motoyuki Daifu, SATO Shintaro, Shinya Arimoto, Natsumi Hayashi, Kenta Cobayashi, and Daido Moriyama.
The exhibition (free admission) stitches together Tokyo’s story like a cinematic montage — vintage charm meets futuristic reinvention in a city that never stops evolving.
Whether you're a history buff, a photography fan, or someone drawn to the city of Tokyo, this exhibition has something for everyone.In Kuala Lumpur, the Tokyo Before / After exhibition is presented by The Japan Foundation, KL, and the Embassy of Japan.
More info here.
Artist Chok Yue Zan is showing 'Between Us' - his first solo exhibition in Malaysia - at The Back Room in KL. Photo: The Star/Low Boon Tat
EXHIBITION: CHOK YUE ZAN'S 'BETWEEN US'
Venue: The Back Room, Zhongshan building, KL
Date: ends Jan 26
Between Us, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Chok Yue Zan, marks his third solo show and his first in Malaysia.
The exhibition, showing at The Back Room gallery in Kuala Lumpur, features five new works from the Tawau, Sabah-born artist’s ongoing series, De Upside Down, which presents realistic landscapes flipped on their heads.
For the past two years, Chok, 30, has been working on De Upside Down, sourcing images from open-source photography websites and blending various landscape genres into a single, collaged composition.
By incorporating upside-down elements, Chok, who is based in KL, creates serene yet unsettling worlds – uncannily perfect but undeniably alien.
In 2017, Chok won the UOB Painting of the Year (Malaysia) award. He has since completed art residencies in Shanghai, China and Japan, as well as shown two past solo exhibitions in Singapore.
More info here.
