It has been an exciting year for the Malaysian documentary industry and also for MyDocs. As we ring in the new year, here's a look back at some of our achievements from 2019:
1. Behind the scene changes
MyDocs' President, Harun Rahman and Executive Director, Lina Teoh are honoured to have been included in a panel to advise Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (KKMM) in proposing a new and improved plan for the FINAS Dana Kandung Digital (DKD) / Digital Content Funding for 2020 and beyond.
They have been working tirelessly over the past six months to help create a new funding structure that will help support Malaysian documentary filmmakers to deliver world class factual films.
To do this, they used their past international experience and studied many successful film fund models from around the world to come up with a structure to suit the local film industry. The proposal was recently shared at a town hall held in FINAS with the purpose of getting feedback from the industry. The aim was to collectively create a system that supports and nurtures the Malaysian film industry for years to come. We look forward to seeing the hard work that everyone has put in, to come to fruition.
2. New generation of filmmakers
We have seen an influx of new participants at our workshops this year, which signals a new generation of filmmakers paving their way into the industry. This has been a very welcomed development as our mission statement has always been to help create a bigger and more knowledgable network of skilled documentary filmmakers in Malaysia.
Our 'Documentary Production 101' workshop early this year garnered interest from many emerging filmmakers from all over the country, with one group flying in all the way from Sarawak to attend. The workshop was lead by six local industry experts with years of experience honing their skills on the field. The trainers noted that it was refreshing to teach young filmmakers who were eager to learn more about how to develop their story ideas into high quality documentary films.
We look forward to watch the community continue to grow and for documentaries to have a stronger presence within the Malaysian filmmaking scene.
3. Reaching rural communities
It has always been our goal to reach people beyond the urban walls of Kuala Lumpur. This year we had the opportunity to partner with Yayasan Hasanah to create a documentary filmmaking program titled 'Kanta Komuniti' for rural communities in Perak.
The aim of this program was to teach individuals from undiscovered parts of Peninsular Malaysia to have filmmaking skills as a tool to highlight issues involving their communities. The participants started the program with zero filmmaking knowledge but managed to produce their very own short documentaries at the end of the three months.
The two short documentaries on the extinction of Ikan Kelah in Sungai Tiang and the rising rate of fatal motorbike accidents of school students in Kampung Bongor collectively garnered over 10,000 views on social medias. The films were also screened at PJ Live Arts, along with seven other community films produced by participants of 'Suara', a similar program in Sabah ran by Borneo Eco Film Festival.
4. International & local collaborations
In the spirit of creating a bigger documentary network, we were honoured to have collaborated with various international & local organisations to bring you more events this year.
From a film screening held in collaboration with NHK Japan, to hosting a talk with the programmer of International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), to a partnership with Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) in organising a historical documentary workshop held for Afghan filmmakers - we have had an eventful year filled with exciting collaborations.
We also continued our long standing partnerships with local organisations such as Freedom Film Network by supporting their events, and also with FINAS by organising a workshop for DKD recipients.
5. Promoting Malaysian projects to the world
Our website receives visitors from all over the world, and we saw this as an opportunity to create a platform where local filmmakers are able to showcase their projects. With that in mind, this year we launched the 'Malaysian Made Documentaries' page where we put the talents of our industry on full display!
We are always accepting submissions for this page, so if you would like to promote your work please submit your project details to syakirah@mydocs.my and include the following:
- Link to project trailer
- Project title & year
- Company's name & website
- Project synopsis
- Names of producer, director & editor
Thank you to everyone who made this year a success!
We would not have been able to do any of this without you and we highly appreciate your support. To know more about anything mentioned above, please visit our past events and gallery.
Join the MyDocs family!
We will be bringing new & exciting opportunities for the documentary filmmakers in Malaysia in 2020!
If you would like to be a part of this fast growing community, please support us by becoming a member today! MyDocs is a non-profit association which needs your support to help us continue to do the work we do.
For an annual fee of only RM150 or RM50 for students, MyDocs members are privy to join all our free events as well as get access to various partnership privileges, training programs and industry updates.
Please visit our membership page to sign up. If you are already a member, please keep an eye on your inbox as we will send out a reminder for membership renewal 7 days prior to your expiry date.
Contact us
We love hearing from you! If you have feedback or any ideas on what kind of programs you would like to see next year, please write to us at info@mydocs.my . We are always open for suggestions!