Among the touching Malaysian dramas brother Having cleaned up numerous awards shows around the world, the director is hoping the lasting legacy of his debut film will come closer to home.
“I sincerely hope that we can inspire the next generation of Malaysian filmmakers and show them that even small-scale Malaysian films can find a global audience,” said director Jing Ong at this year’s Asian Film Awards.
brother It was one of the packets of surprises to emerge from Southeast Asian cinema over the past 12 months. But Ong freely admits there are concerns that the film's storyline may not resonate internationally because it deals with the issues faced by two undocumented immigrant brothers trying to survive every day in modern-day Malaysia.
Instead of, brother It also won awards in places as far away as the Far East Film Festival in northern Italy and the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, known as the Oscars of the Chinese language film industry..
The film also screened at the AFAs in Hong Kong on Sunday night, where stars Wu Kangren and Jack Tan won awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. They left empty-handed, but Ong was already looking to the future and the implications of the film's overall success in Malaysia, one of many Southeast Asian regions producing domestic films, especially low-budget, locally-flavored dramas. It is struggling for release against the dominance of Hollywood and Asian blockbusters.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect success,” Ong said. “But it doesn’t matter whether we review or not. [the film] The audience's reaction was the same in Switzerland, Italy, and even New York. She's crying, and later she hugs me and tells me she's sad but beautiful. Emotions connect us all, and I believe people everywhere can feel the love between brothers. So we have hope that our small film can reach people. Because people everywhere in life share the same feelings.”
Ong, 48, decided to write and direct after a long career as a producer and talent manager in Malaysia. brother He said the film's success had led to discussions with some of the country's leading TV stations and major studios, and he hoped it would inspire Malaysia's younger generation of filmmakers to continue exploring local issues and local life. ..
“The government is now using my film as an example of what can be done,” Ong said. “This gives us all hope.” “Personally, I feel like I’ve given something back to my country and raised awareness about issues we all need to talk about, like undocumented immigrants.”