Malaysian Cinema: An Intricate Tale of Pride and Prejudice
By Yong-Yu Huang
December 2021 COVER STORY
THE YELLOWING FLYER bears the printed characters 檳城首都戲院. In English, this reads as Penang’s Capitol Theatre. An illustration of a scene from King Solomon’s Mines accompanies the text, still stark against the paper even after many decades, with faces and weapons alike wreathed in shadow. The flyer advertises in both Chinese and English, the film’s midnight screening for July 14, 1956 – 65 years ago!This document, preserved in the archives of the Penang House of Music, is a remnant of...
References
- Leila Majnun––"One of S'pore's earliest Malay feature films". HistorySG. (n.d.).
- Former Malay Film Productions Studio. Roots. (n.d.).
- Malaysian Cinema Then & Now: A Brief History (1927-2011). (n.d.). Academia.
- White, T. 1996. Historical Poetics, Malaysian cinema, and the Japanese occupation. Kinema: A Journal for Film and Audiovisual Media.
- Tsen, Ee Lin. 2021, March 9. The forgotten past of Penang’s New World Park food court. Free Malaysia Today.
- Kang, Hongzhe & Yasin, Megat Al Imran & Osman, Mohd Nizam & Ang, Lay Hoon & Li, Mengyu. 2021. The History and Development of Chinese-Language Films in Malaysia. Psychology (Savannah, Ga.). 57. 794-806. 10.17762/pae.v57i8.1015
- Gray, Gordon. T. 2002. Malaysian cinema and negotiations with modernity: Film and anthropology (dissertation). Napier University.
- Lee Yuen Beng and Sarata Balaya. 2016. From international horror films to the local filem seram: Examining the cinematic identity and roles of the Malaysian Pontianak. KEMANUSIAAN the Asian Journal of Humanities 23(Supp. 2): 161–174
- Pontianak – A Pioneer Horror Film Series. HistorySG. (n.d.).
- Lee Yuen Beng and Sarata Balaya. 2016. From international horror films to the local filem seram: Examining the cinematic identity and roles of the Malaysian Pontianak. KEMANUSIAAN the Asian Journal of Humanities 23(Supp. 2): 161–174,
- 2005, September 16. Malaysian ban on “Babe” lifted. Tampa Bay Malaysian society. Times.
- 1994, March 30. Malaysia lifts ban on ‘Schindler’s List.’ AP News.
- Bernama. 2019, March 20. No, we don’t need cinemas in our state, says Kelantan. Free Malaysia Today.
Yong-Yu Huang
is a Taiwanese student based in Penang. She doesn’t know where she’s headed, but she hopes there’ll be tea.
