Topography of Mirror Cities

10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka (2007)
35 minutes
Directed by Fahmi Reza (MY)

Film Description

October 20th, 1947 was a historical day in the rakyat’s constitutional struggle for independence from British colonialism. This documentary chronicles the events that culminated in the Malaya-wide ‘Hartal’ day of protest against the undemocratic Federation of Malaya Constitutional Proposals devised by the British Colonial Government and the UMNO, and the rise of the people’s democratic movement in Malaya, 10 years before Merdeka.

Director Bio

Fahmi Reza was born on the 7th of June, 1977. He is best known for being a Graphic designer and street artist who is known for his works with a range of political commentary and subjects. 

He first started garnering attention for his art in June of 2016 when he was charged with “Violating Multimedia Laws” from his clown caricature of the former Malaysian prime minister Najib Tun Razak. He is also known for his activism work and won the Most Outstanding Human Rights Film award for his documentary Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka at the 2007 Freedom Film Fest.

The Big Durian (2003)
74 minutes
Directed by Amir Muhammad (MY)

Film Description

On the night of 18 October 1987, a soldier ran amok with an M16 in the area of Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur. Due to the thorny circumstances of the time and place, his amok triggered a citywide panic and rumours of racial riots.

Director Bio

Born on December 5, 1972 in Kuala Lumpur. He has a Law degree but does not use it. In 2000, he wrote and directed Malaysia’s first DV feature, LIPS TO LIPS.

“The film was so bad, that everyone start to think they could make a better film.” Hence the Malaysian New Wave starts from there. More known as “Malaysian Independent Film” movement, James Lee, Osman Ali etc, had then started to make their first films. Both his THE LAST COMMUNIST and VILLAGE PEOPLE RADIO SHOW were banned in Malaysia. Not that all his previous films were pass. Hence, none of Amir Muhammad’s films had been theatrically released in Malaysia.

No one could make film like Amir Muhammad. He is sharp and witty, but he is just so funny that you don’t know what to do with him. The famous incident was the screening of THE LAST COMMUNIST for the parliament members to review the ban. Expecting interviews with Chin Peng or their side of stories, the ministers were totally puzzled by the film. “It is not violent enough!” one of the minister commented. Or, other comment, “The film is too amateurish.”

World Without Shadow (2011)
90 minutes
Directed by Khoo Eng Yow (MY)

Film Description

A centuries-old form of theatre is under threat in the state of Kelantan. The wayang kulit, the art of shadow play, has become the victim of conservative state policies and Islamic puritanical influences. What was once a revered art form is now seen as a threat to religious values, although it had co-existed with Islam since the 13th century. Many wayang kulit practitioners are now caught in the conflict between the art and the government. This documentary looks into the lives of the few remaining master puppeteers who hold steadfastly onto their dying art despite the great odds.

Director Bio

From Taiping, Malaysia and an engineer by training, his interest in still photography led him to his full time profession as an Editor. Having edited other film makers’ works in recent years, Eng Yow started making his own from 2002. He enjoys the freedom of form and style in independent filmmaking. The gritty real lives are always evident in his films as seen in his award winning short film Railway Steps and docu-drama Ah Kew the Digger.

Absent Without Leave 不即不离 (2016)
84 minutes
Directed by Lau Kek Huat 廖克發 (MY)

Film Description

This story begins with a man’s portrait hanging in my family home in Malaysia. The identity of this man has always been a taboo, until one day I discovered it was my grandfather, whose identity was hidden from me because he was a member of the Malaysian Communist Party. This is a journey to discover the secret history of my country through the eyes of my grandfather.

Director Bio

Lau, Kek-Huat Malaysian filmmaker based in Taiwan. His debut film Boluomi, was in competition Busan International Film Festival, New Currents section and Golden horse nominated for Best new director. The project won him the Tokyo Talent Award 2015,  Best Script Award in 2013 Taiwan and selected for La Fabrique. Cinema du monde. His short film Nia door won Best Short Film Award, Sonje Award in Busan International film festival, selected for 38th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Both his documentary Absent without leave and The Tree Remembers still face censorship challenge today in Malaysia. He is an alumnus of Golden Horse Academy and Berlinale & Tokyo Talents.

Warisan (2014)
36 minutes
Directed by Wong Siew Ki (MY)

Film Description

Kuala Lumpur has seen a huge transformation from a small tin mining town to a bustling city in the past few decades, but this has come at the expense of many historical grounds, buildings and villages, all of which make Kuala Lumpur unique. Realising how fast we are losing our heritage grounds, the filmmaker, Wong Siew Ki decided to document the fight of certain groups to preserve them. ‘Warisan’ tells the story of the fight to preserve Kampung Bandar Dalam, Kampung Railway and Jalan Sultan.

Director Bio

Wong Siew Ki is the incumbent Selangor State Legislative Assemblywoman for the Balakong state seat since 2018 and also the Chief for DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) Selangor. Before joining politics, she’s a independent documentary filmmaker. In 2012, she became the director and producer of the documentary about Teoh Beng Hock’s injustice case named “Zhui Luo/ The fallen” besides working full-time in political field. In the past few years (in the year of 2013, 2014 and 2016), documentary named “Inheritance” (heritage preservation), “migration” (anti-lynas movement ) and “Instigation” (Sedition Act).

Unlocking Bengoh (2016)
25 minutes
Directed by Nova Goh (MY)

Film Description

Simo Sekam, Peluk Apeh and Sagen Adan’s families had lived in Sarawak’s Bengoh valley for generations until recently, when they were forced to leave their ancestral home to make way for the Bengoh reservoir dam. This story follows the director’s journey as he discovers the true cost of relocation that these families have to endure in the name of development.

Director Bio

Nova Goh, born and raised in West Borneo, Sarawak – a land full of wonderful and exotic culture and the home of the hornbill. In 1999, he went to Taiwan to study visual communications at the National Taiwan University of Arts. During his stay in Taiwan, he was influenced by the growing indie film scene, and became involved in various short film projects. In 2008, he returned to Borneo, where he directed his first feature-length documentary, Red Rain on the Equator, which screened in New Asian Currents section of the 2011 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in Japan.

Unsung (2017)
10 minutes
Directed by Sanjaythiyan Santhian (MY)

Film Description

UNSUNG is a documentary film that attempts to break Malaysians’ stereotypes about migrant workers. With voices from multiple individuals, the film offers Malaysians insights on the struggles the migrant workers face everyday. From the dangers of their work environment, the discrimination they received from the public, and of course, the pain of leaving their families for years at a time, all for a better life for them back home.

Director Bio

Sanjaythiyan Santhian, 26, a Bachelor of Communication (Hons) Broadcasting graduate from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), is currently a lifestyle photographer. Independent films and filmmaking changed his perspective of life . Since then, films are not only just entertainment in the world of this Johor Bahru native. Storytelling through film is rather a luxury and privilege that he tries his best to share with friends and family.

Living in Pride (2020)
13 minutes
Directed by Vivian Yu (MY)

Film Description

The documentary is made from the perspective of a man who practices drag and attends gigs and events in drag. Drag incorporates in volition, the decision and action to dress with the intention to blur the line between gender and the collective perception of what a gender supposedly appears as. It shows how our interviewee perceives the world, and how society accepts or rejects queer people, through his experience, engagements, and encounters. It also takes a glimpse into the drag community in Kuala Lumpur, showing how vibrant, and flourishing the community can be even when faced in adversity and oppression. This symbolizes what a minority community should do — stand up and fight for their voice, come what may.

Diretor Bio

Vivian Yu is a broadcasting graduate from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR). It was during her internship as a production assistant and upon finding her true calling in producing video content from scratch that she started making short videos related to Malaysia with her peers. In making short videos about different Malaysian sceneries and buildings mostly in Selangor, she was profoundly moved by how such documentation became part of her memory. 

Currently working as an assistant editor and designer in Kuala Lumpur, Vivian is immersing herself in exploring and learning new filmmaking techniques in the media industry. She believes that different ways of narration create meanings that are invaluable to a story, even with just a picture.

Benjamin Chin is a broadcasting graduate from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR). He is driven to tell stories that are important to people, and aspires to give voices to those marginalised in the form of practical assistance and storytelling because he believes stories are the catalysts of change in any facet of society.

Before joining the filmmaking industry, Benjamin taught English to children from the aboriginal villages (orang asli) in Negeri Sembilan. Currently, Benjamin is contributing to a gospel short film production as a gaffer and is exploring more aspects of the filmmaking industry. 

Benjamin enjoys playing DOTA2 with his friends, and playing the piano for the church.

Foreignoble Garbage 洋垃圾(2019)
14 minutes
Directed by Wang Chu Hui

Film Description

This documentary is about the foreign garbage which has been imported to Malaysia from the western countries and it brings lots of environmental pollution regarding to the illegal garbage recycling factories. They process the garbage with ways that will pollute the land, water and air of the local area. In the documentary, a group of locals who wants to save their home, land and country created the Kuala Langat Environment Protect Association to fight for the environment pollution and illegal factories in order to save their hometown and country.

Director Bio

My name is Wang Chu Hui and I am a Junior Online Media Marketer in a Johor Company. I enjoy discovering some awareness to contribute plenty of help in our society. I’ve graduated from Southern University College in 2020 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication. While in school, I participated in lots of events and media awareness campaigns to build up the awareness and the attention in the Malaysia society.

The Nelayan(2019)
10 minutes
Directed by Joshua Tarwinder

Film Description

Short film description: Sungai Tebrau is one of the major rivers in Johor, Malaysia where it filled with garbage and it polluted the place along the area. A team of Southern University College Mass Communication students shoot a documentary to expose the pollutions and interviewing the “Nelayan” (fishermen) who is Bahrom bin Abdul Kadeer and document their living being nearby to the river where it led the life of fisherman and the challenges they facing as the story deeply dive into the cause of pollutions.

Director Bio

This is Cathy, and I’m here to represent our team to share our documentary project ‘Nelayan’. The team members include Joshua Tarwinder, Li Ping, Darren Chen and Wendy Chia. We are previously a team of Degree students majoring in Department of Mass Communication of Southern University College, Johor Bahru. We have been doing a lot of video projects such as short films, advertisements, interview videos including this documentary guided by our beloved lecturers throughout our study. We are learning at the same time enjoying all the moments in the shooting process.

Skudai Vi.mage(2019)
17 minutes
Directed by Southern University College & Dr. Loh Yoke Ling

Film Description

Kampung Baru, or New Village(s), was a military tactic under the Briggs Plan to address the communist threat during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s. Kampung Baru Skudai is one of them. It was the new settlements formed by the predominantly Chinese in Johor Bahru. Due to the communist activities, Kampung Baru Skudai was declared as “black area” during the Malayan Emergency. This documentary reveals the story behind the barbed wire perimeter fence included the experiences of curfew and communist ambushed. Today, the Kampung Baru Skudai has been replaced with a brand new look, the once guarded settlements to prevent the attacks from the communist can only be found in the historical past.

Director Bio

Dr. Loh Yoke Ling, Senior Lecturer in Department of Communication and Media Studies, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. She is an independent documentary and film director. She has 7 years of experience in the drama and film making industry in Malaysia before she went on to further study in the field of screen studies. She is passionate about the power of storytelling through aesthetic media.

The Silent Riot (2013)
31 minutes
Directed by Nadira Ilana (MY)

Film Description

What happens after the end of a political reign? After serving two terms as Sabah’s government, Barisan Nasional led Parti Berjaya is unexpectedly toppled by newcomers Parti Bersatu Sabah, with the cooperation of the United Sabah National Organisation. On the night the 1985 state election results are announced, the secret coalition between PBS and USNO falls apart at the seams, leading to an overnight power struggle that takes place at the State Palace. This coup would become the precursor to dramatic demonstrations the following year. An incident that is rarely talked about today — making this — The Silent Riot.

Director Bio

Nadira Ilana is an award-winning filmmaker, film programmer and activist from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Drawing inspiration from her Borneo heritage, she founded Telan Bulan Films with a focus on crafting contemporary indigenous and minority stories. ‘The Silent Riot’ was the first East Malaysian project to receive the Justin Louis Grant, which subsequently won Best Human Rights Documentary at Freedom Film Festival in 2012. 

Disappearing Hills (2016)
30 minutes
Directed by Yeo Kai Wen (SG)

Film Description

Stern-faced soldiers wielding M-16 rifles stood guard as excavators mowed down rows of chrysanthemums, leaving behind broken stalks and fallen petals.
At a distance, farmers stood by helplessly as they watched years of their hard work destroyed under government orders.
The Cameron Highlands has in recent years been under development pressure. While this has created a secure and comfortable lifestyle for many farmers, it has also resulted in large swathes of forests being cleared to make way for farm expansion.
As a result, flooding has become an annual affair, claiming property and lives while contaminating rivers with human waste, plastics and dangerous levels of pesticides.
The Disappearing Hills documents the human stories behind these environmental issues.

Director Bio

Kai Wen has bathed in arsenic-contaminated water, travelled to the arctic’s edge, and slept in Asia’s largest slum, all in the name of telling stories. Through his photographs and videos, he hopes to better understand the human condition, and find himself in the process. He is currently based in Singapore, specialising in editorial and documentary photography and videography. Clients that he works with include Google, Facebook, and government agencies such as the Ministry of National Development.

Speaker Bio

Associate Professor, Department of Architecture, Tamkang University (Tamsui, Taiwan).
Chair, Board of directors, the Organization of Urban Re-s (OURs), Taiwan.
Professor Huang received his PhD in urban and community design from the Graduate Institute of Building and Planning, National Taiwan University. He specializes in practical and research work in architecture, community design, and urban design. He is a veteran activist in spatial issues faced by Taiwanese cities during the process of urban and social development, such as historical conservation, ecological sustainability, the right of access to the city, public art, and social housing.
Prof. Huang established the Community Action Team, Tamsui(CATT) in 1993 to practice community/environmental redevelopment. In addition to focusing efforts on various issues of urban development, Professor Huang has played leading roles in local community actions in historical Tamsui (such as environmental education, citizen activism, and local placemaking), while emphasizing community involvement in the process. For years he also has helped the local government in planning and implementing projects of urban preservation and innovation. 

Speaker Bio

Lee SoonYong Lee is the curator of Little Giraffe Story House, a partner of Little Moments Cafe, and Little Friends Studio. He’s also the founder of BT Eleven Atelier, a part-time lecturer at New Era University College, a picture book writer, and a storyteller. He graduated from New Era College and National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (Taiwan) with a BA in Architecture and Interior Design. During his university years, he majored in vernacular architecture and local design. He believes the bodies of design appear to solve problems and to serve the content of space. He has embarked on the journey of picture book creating and storytelling after coming in touch with Yunlin Story House while attending university in the same city. His major works include 走讀雲林，最美麗的地方 The Most Beautiful Place，最美麗的禮物 The Most Wonderful Gift. Upon graduation, he moved to Lijiang, Yunnan Province (China) to work as a designer, engaging in projects related to indegenous habitat of minority groups and their traditional architecture guest houses. In 2015, he returned to Malaysia and gained practical construction experiences as a site supervisor. In the same year, he picked up the baton as the curator of Little Giraffe Story House. As the new leader, he poured in fresh ideas and new energies to the story house and brought up the concept of sustainable operation for the house. In 2016, he resigned from his full-time job to focus on the relocation project of Little Giraffe. His participation in the project traced from the very first proposal, design, construction, to the operation of the story house.

 Moderator Bio

Teoh is an Assistant Professor and Head of School at School of Architecture & Built Environment. He obtained his Master of Architecture from CYCU, Taiwan in 2005. He specializes in Building Conservation and involved in several notable historical building restorations works in Malaysia and Taiwan, including Taiping Market, Taiping Shuntak Ancestral Hall, Taichung Railway Station, National Monument- Taipei Guest House etc. His teaching and research focus on the areas of cooperative learning and community engagement. Since 2009, he has conducted several design and build community projects, such as Kuala Sepetang ‘Kaktao46’ Community Library, Sungai Buloh Leprosy Story Gallery, Garden Library at Kebun Komunity Rumah Pangsa AU2 etc. He has contributed more than 200+ articles for various media including Sin Chew Daily, MalaysiaKini, Asiaweek, Architecture Malaysia etc on architecture and cultural conservation.

Speaker Bio

The founder of KAWAN STUDIO , REKAN LIBRARY and MUAR RIVER TIMES.
Born in Muar. The Alumni of Chung Hwa High School. Obtained the Architecture Bachelor Degree of Beijing Tsinghua University and Master Degree of UK Nottingham University.
Founded Architectural design practice KAWAN STUDIO in 2012. The studio focus on educational building, commercial and residential project. Engaged in Chung Hwa High School multi-functional building project included library, performance hall and exhibition hall.
​With the idea of starting REKAN, a community library, he started to involved himself into community in 2019. He was then invited to lead the community planning and design project
for Kampung Grisek and  Belemang which along the Muar Riverside.
Founded MUAR RIVER TIMES, a local media platform, during the 2020 pandemic. The media platform was formed by a group of creative and dynamic young talents who live along the Muar River.  The platform not only produce the online content but also publish magazine and organize variety projects with the final goal in achieving sustainable development for the communities along Muar riverside.

Speaker Bio

Wendy Teo is a UK ARB/RIBA Chartered Architect, Curator, Researcher and Tutor that seeing embedding social-culture dialogue in forming architecture as her ultimate pursuit.
Across her architectural career, Wendy Teo’s projects were endorsed by a number of international awards such as Holcim Sustainable Next Generation Award (First Prize), Archiprix, Threadneedle Prize et cetera. Her projects was exhibited across UK, France, Germany, Slovenia, Turkey and Taiwan. One of the notable exhibition is 2013/14 Archilab ‘Naturalising Architecture’ exhibition curated by Pompidou Center director Frédéric Migayrou and FRAC Orlean Director Marie-Ange Brayer.
Her works has been translated into varied medium and scale throughout her commitment with Foster and Partners, Bartlett UCL, Divooe Zein Atelier, Borneo Laboratory, Taiwan Architect Magazine, CanopyU and a number of workshops.
In 2016, Wendy Teo founded the award winning Borneo Laboratory @ Borneo Art Collective to document tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Borneo. The group executed a number of impact driven art projects and their projects were featured in UK, Germany, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. In 2017, she founded her own practice Wendy Teo Atelier based in Borneo and operating in cross disciplinary scale.

Speaker Bio

Po Han Huang is born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1992. He graduated from School of Visual Arts majoring in MFA Photography, Video and Related Media.
Huang participated in Mirage: Disused Public Property in Taiwan, led by Jui-Chung Yao, in 2014 and 2016 consecutively. Huang uses not only photography, but also includes video and installation to make works. Huang’s works mainly focused on the correlation between document and memory and on the contradictory between rational information and emotional feelings. Huang is now preparing for alternative space, focusing on promoting lens-based artworks and emerging international artists, in Seoul with SVA alumna.

Speaker Bio

Born in 1994, Lai Hsiao-ying is a native of Kaohsiung. She graduated from Department of Geography, National Taiwan Normal University, and is currently an independent curator and cultural and art co-op activist, specializing in critical theory and intercultural communication. She is especially concerned with visualization of knowledge production and the spatial issues of transitional justice. Starting in 2018, Lai has participated in the management and operation of Scutoid Coop and Co-Art Co-Op, and jointly established the alternative space, Henan 8, focusing on exhibition technology and social practices of art. She also advocates the idea of providing young art and cultural professionals systematic social protection, supports for economic autonomy, and interdisciplinary and friendly creative hotbeds, through sharing and co-making, and strives for the establishment of a mutually benefiting network of art and culture for Kaohsiung. More recently, she has planned the bilingual symposiums “Retourner à La Vie: L’engagement Artistique et Son Intensité” and “Behind the Exhibitions,” and curated exhibitions Simutopia 42 and one of collateral events of 2020 Taiwan Biennial Technological Metamorphosis.

 Speaker Bio

Sandy Hsiu-chih Lo is an independent curator, art critic, art historian, film critic and documentary filmmaker. She has been lecturing in contemporary art and film studies at several universities, and lectures at Department of Architecture, Tamkang University currently. Her research interests are curatorial practice, curating as a form of social practice and critical thinking; film studies, cinematic essay; gender politics; urban studies, space research.

Current Art and Research Projects:
Topography of Mirror Cities in Asian cities (2015-ongoing), as curator.

Speaker Bio

Tsai Shih Hsiang was born in Kaohsiung in 1995 and lives in Taipei currently. He graduated from The Graduate Institute of Trans-disciplinary Art of Taipei National University of the Arts in 2020. His works mainly explores the fragmented narratives of daily life in contemporary society and as well as the wandering, swinging and dialectics involving the margin and the center.

He is used to keeping himself in a state of movement. He uses his images of mumbling and roughness to outline the people, events, times, places, and objects surrounding himself, and at the same time, tries to fill in what he believes to be vacancy with overflowing.

He also regards curation as another path of artistic practice, as well as a supplement to artist creation. He has been trying to face relatively complex situations and issues with a broader and flexible state of collaboration.

Speaker Bio

Born in 1969. Lives and works in Taipei. He graduated from The Taipei National University of the Arts. His works has been widely exhibited in numerous international exhibitions. Yao specializes in photography, installation and painting. The themes of his works are varied, but most importantly they all examine the absurdity of the human condition. Yao has assembled all the black-and-white photos of ruins he took in the past 30 years, grouped under the themes of industry, religious idols, architecture, and military bases. They reveal the enormous ideological black hole in Taiwan hidden behind the trends of globalization and Taiwan’s specific historical background as a continuation of the main theme of his work: the absurdity of the historical destiny of humanity. He has also published several books. His works have been collected by lots of public museum and many other private collectors. Also a Part Time Teacher at the National Taiwan Normal University Department of Fine Arts.

Moderator Bio

Yeoh Lian Heng was born in 1978. In 2004 he founded the art space and collective Lostgen’s comtemporary art space with artist peers, pursuing eclectic expression in the exploration of art’s role in society. In his projects Yeoh utilizes art towards increasing awareness and understanding of various social issues such as the loss of cultural heritage through the Pudu and Petaling Street community art projects. Yeoh has also represented Lostgens at Busan Biennale in 2012 and at the Jakarta Biennale in 2013.