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Malaysian Made Documentaries

We are proud to showcase what the Malaysian Documentary industry has to offer.  

Here you will find a range of documentaries produced by our talented local filmmakers.  

Bangkit - 11 Days that Changed the Nation (2019)

Director: Justin Ong

Producer: Aminda Faradilla Omar

Editors: Lim Soo Ching

Witness the gripping story of Malaysia's historic 14th General Election where the people voted to change the government for the first time in history. 

Refugees No More (2019)

Director: Elroi Yee

Producer: Elroi Yee

Editors: Talha Khan

The news spread like wildfire through the community – refugee protection for the ethnic Chin community in Malaysia was coming to an end, and they all had to return to Myanmar. The announcement raised alarm among the Chins. They staged a protest in front of the UNHCR office two weeks later, calling the policy discriminatory and non-consultative. UNHCR was unmoved, saying that the policy change is a global one made in Geneva, not specific to Malaysia. But for the Chin community, this seemingly reasonable policy change has deep consequences.

Hooked (2018)

Director: Aminda Faradilla Omar

Producer: Jeand Chang

Editors: Effendy Yusof

For generations, drugs have plagued the fishermen on Malaysia's east coast. Is it the fishing culture, men making bad choices, or are there more sinister forces at play? Where are the drugs from? Will the authorities succeed in controlling the drug problem?

Student / Trafficked (2017)

Director: Elroi Yee

Producer: Elroi Yee

Editors: Elroi Yee

In 2016, investigative journalists with R.AGE started receiving reports that young Bangladeshi men and women were being cheated and trafficked to Malaysia - through private colleges. To uncover the truth about these syndicates, the journalists spent over a year undercover, infiltrating the colleges, speaking to the trafficking agents, and following their trail all the way to the “epicentre of the student trafficking trade” - Dhaka, Bangladesh. They uncovered a booming trade worth millions of dollars, leaving behind a trail of devastated families and ruined lives. 

Operation Sumatran Rhino (2016)

Director: Chris Annadorai

Producer: Lydia Lubon

Editors: Michael Young, Sharon Chong

A race against time is ongoing in Malaysia. Conservationists are on a desperate mission to save the country's last Sumatran Rhinos. The only way to achieve this is to capture all remaining individuals in the wild - a dangerous and costly operation. "Operation Sumatran Rhino" chronicles Malaysia's foremost rhino scientists in their incredible quest to save this critically endangered species.

Programmed To Kill: Melioidosis (2016)

Director: Gerard Benedict

Producer: Gerard Benedict, Harjit Kaur

Editor: Harjit Kaur, Effendy Yusof

In 2010, eight members of a search party looking for a drowning victim, at the Lubuk Yu recreational forest in Pahang, mysteriously died within a week of the rescue mission, shocking the local medical community.  It was long after they had been buried, that the deadly assassin was identified as Melioidosis, a bacterial disease that can infect in 24 hours and kill in forty-eight.  

 

This film takes us from Malaysia to Thailand, Laos and Northern Australia, to seek answers to how a relatively harmless bacteria in the soil can morph into an efficient killing machine.

Heart of Taiko (2015)

Director: Shamyl Othman

Producer: Lydia Lubon

Editor: Lynn Wong

Heart of Taiko” tells a compelling story of personal transformation set against the backdrop of Japan’s picturesque Ishikawa prefecture. Ina a suspenseful race against the clock, three teenage drummers from Malaysia must find a level of commitment and expression previously unimagined. Universal in revealing the struggles of coming of age and feminist in its focus on the changing roles of women worldwide, this through provoking documentary offers a rare glimpse into the dedication required by an ancient art form that his the very essence of Japan.

Remembering MH370 (2015)

Director: Justin Ong

Producers: Aminda Faradilla Omar

Editor: James Toh

This documentary tells the story of the families of those missing on Flight MH370 which disappeared without a trace on 8th March 2014. 

Among The Great Apes with Michelle Yeoh (2008)

Director: Harun Rahman

Producers: Lara Ariffin, Lina Teoh 

Editor: Daniel Shiere

Join renowned Malaysian superstar Michelle Yeoh on a very personal journey back home to Malaysia and into the world of the orangutan. Orang-utans - whose name means 'persons of the forest' are among the planet's most endangered primates, and they are the only great ape found in Asia.

 

Once ranging from China to Java, orangutans now survive only on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. They could be extinct in less than 50 years if nothing is done to protect them and the forest they depend on. Due to poaching and illegal logging, orangutans have lost their natural habitat and forced into smaller areas, making it difficult for them to sustain long-term population and biodiversity.

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