In early September, EngageMedia conducted a film screening in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the invitation of the popular restaurant Palate Palette. The event, titled “Social Justice and Environmental Films From South East Asia“, featured a selection of short films and documentaries from Malaysia, Indonesia, West Papua, and Thailand.
The one and a half hour event was well attended, with a crowd of about 30 people packing the 2nd floor of the restaurant on a Tuesday evening. After an introduction by myself on EngageMedia, its website, and the work that I do as Lingua Coordinator, we proceeded with the screening.
The 9 videos highlighted a variety of issues and topics, from street children to transgender and workers rights in Malaysia, to the grave state of the forest and the indigenous people in Indonesia, to human rights violations in the conflict zone of South Thailand. Some of the featured videos were produced by our affiliates Mahamasabree Jehloh (Southern Peace Media), Sathis Kumar (CJMY), and Indrani Kopal (MalaysiaKini).
The subtitling and translation work by our volunteers in our Amara team helped in making many of the videos accessible by the international audience present.
Audience members commented that the mix of videos served to highlight the common issues facing the region. They were also interested in the other work that we do, and hoped that we could organise similar future events in Malaysia.
EngageMedia will be in Malaysia again on the 22nd and 23rd of September for the Freedom Film Fest, where we are curating a screening session on videos from Papuan Voices, and having an information booth.
We will also be conducting a workshop on online subtitling and video distribution in Kuala Lumpur in November this year. If you’re an activist, filmmaker, journalist, student, or active citizen, please feel welcome to contact me and sign up for the workshop.
Seelan Palay
Lingua Desk
