Documentary on Malaysian life for worldwide screening

Catch it on Sept 14 on Astro channels 555 (History Channel) and 575 (History HD).

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian culture and way of life will be screened to a world audience in a documentary produced by the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) in collaboration with the History Channel.

Finas chairman Datuk Md Afendi Hamdan said the documentary titled “Time Capsule Malaysia” which would be screened every Sunday at 9pm starting from Sept 14, would depict the lives of the communities in this country during the 50s and 60s.

“The idea for the documentary was not to focus on any particular issue, but we focused on events or stories which are unknown to many people, such as the wayang kulit and its background,” he told reporters after launching the documentary here today.

He said the documentary lasting about 30 minutes per segment in the six-segment series would be screened on Astro channels 555 (History Channel) and 575 (History HD).

“’Time Capsule Malaysia’ will be hosted by Razif Hashim and screened in conjunction with Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day to reflect our history,” Md Afendi said.

Meanwhile, production director Chris Humphrey said the documentary would show life in yesteryears with all recordings taken from the national film archives.

“We want to have a chance to educate and motivate Malaysian audiences to get them to enjoy, to feel good about their past and to reflect on it in current situations, think about the present and take some pride in what we are going to show to them,” he said.

Producer Gerald Benedict said shooting the documentary took about 10 weeks and began in mid-June.

“We began talks in May and started actual production in mid-June as we had very limited time to complete the project,” he said.

“The challenge was we had to give the best visual clips which were appropriate for both children and adult audiences. It was also difficult combining the clips because they were from the archives and had been shot many years ago using methods which are not like today’s,” he said.

Benedict said the documentary did not highlight events which were common knowledge but focused more on hidden facts unknown to society such as the construction of the National Monument.

“We did not produce a documentary about basic facts such as National Heroes as these are too common, but it is more about communities, and social, sports and health issues,” he said.

-BERNAMA