20 years on, FreedomFilmFest still all about nation-building
Originally published on Malaysiakini by Zarrah Morden. Published: July 28, 2024
According to founders Anna Har and Brenda Danker, the FreedomFilmNetwork (FFN) has always aimed to highlight the voices of marginalised communities, empowering them to tell their stories with their own voices.
In an interview to commemorate their 20th anniversary, they told Malaysiakini that they regard what they do as a form of nation-building by supplementing the gap in the mainstream Malaysian narrative.
“For me, it’s really nation-building because we also tell stories from the peninsular to Sabah and Sarawak - it’s really all our identities and through different eras.
“We’re building the nation through these different stories, through these issues, through the political landscape,” Danker said.
“We’re supplementing the missing stories in the narrative, completing it, making it a bit more complete,” Har added.
The communities and issues have changed since FFN first started 20 years ago.
Their popular event FreedomFilmFest (FFF) began with human rights NGO Pusat Komas in 2003, when the centre began teaching grassroots communities how to shoot videos.
“We started to make all these videos and there was no platform for them to disseminate and reach a wider audience with our stories and that’s how the festival came about,” Har said.
Since then, the festival has grown larger.
Previously, volunteers came from communities involved in the filmmaking process of the films shown. They were tasked with activities such as setting up festival equipment and registration of audience members.
“It’s a bit more polished now. Last time, it was very volunteer, very DIY (do-it-yourself).
“You got five minutes, okay, you come and help,” Har said with a laugh.
Political and environmental hot potatoes
Reminiscing on the past, Har and Danker said the films used to be more political as the focus then was on the draconian Internal Security Act 1960.
But now, the films revolve around current concerns such as environmental issues, indigenous communities and Malaysia’s future as an ageing nation.
The 20th edition of the FFF will be held next month, over four weekends from Aug 3 to 25, at PJ Live Arts in Jaya One, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
This year’s festival is much longer than previous years and more than 50 films will be screened.
The main festival will be held in Petaling Jaya but it will also be held in other states, thanks to the festival’s partners.
“These are state partners whom we’ve been working with for a long time.
“So they are very activated and also they have their own audience already,” Danker said.
There will be eight to nine different screenings including in Langkawi, Miri, Kota Kinabalu, Johor Bahru, Ipoh and Malacca.
One of the films featured this year was selected by an independent panel for a film grant.
“Nothing Gentle in the Shadows”, a 20-minute film, was directed by first-time filmmaker Joshua Inberaj.
It deals with the rarely discussed topic of male sexual abuse.
“It's a very difficult story to tell but it seems that it’s something that needs to be addressed.
“It’s not spoken about at all and it seems that it’s also quite rampant, it happens a lot,” Danker said.
Orang Asli
Another film Har and Danker are excited to show audiences this year is “Semangat Tinak”, the fourth film made by a group of young indigenous women known as “Apa Kata Wanita Orang Asli”.
Set in Kampung Petoh in Pahang, the film is in Bahasa Jakun and revolves around a young indigenous woman, Tinak, and her tribe’s struggle against the encroachment of their ancestral land.
“The extras and cast are all from the village,” Danker said.
Aside from local films, international films are also on the list this year, including those from within the Asean region.
The issues dealt with by the international films will still be relatable to the local audience as they are matters faced by everyone globally, they think.
“You’re talking about all this far-right narrative that’s happening. And it’s actually global, you know.
“It’s not just in Malaysia. It’s not just happening here.
“It’s actually happening everywhere in the world,” Danker added.
Two decades of impact
According to her, the FFF has strived to be impactful in the work that it does.
“By impactful, we mean filmmakers’ lives were changed and community’s lives were changed.
“And this happened after we highlighted the issue first through our films, then the issue gets picked up by other advocates/media, which helped bring awareness of the issues quite far,” she said.
Over the years, a large number of impactful movies have included “Alice Lives Here” (2005) about the now-scrapped plans to build an incinerator in Broga, the “alternative” look at history through Fahmi Reza’s “Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka” (2007) and “Hak Dinafikan” (2010) by Orang Asli activists Abri Yok Chopil and Shafie Dris.
Others include the “Story of Kam Agong” (2018) by Lawrence Jayaraj, Agnes Padan,] and Wong Chin Hor which details a tragic loss of life in rural Sarawak due to poor infrastructure and bureaucratic indifference.
There’s also “Menunggu Masa” (2018) by Sherrie Razak Dali and Seira Sacha Abu Bakar which addressed the issue of capital punishment and Amirul Ramthan’s “Fafa: Perjuangan Yang Tak Didendang” (2022) which tells a tale of how a schizophrenia patient faces discrimination from her surrounding community.
The impact of their movies has occasionally triggered a crackdown such as in 2021, when FFN saw its office in Petaling Jaya, along with the home of cartoonist Amin Landak, raided by the cops over a nearly four-minute documentary, “Chilli Powder and Thinner”.
Detailing the heartbreaking tale of alleged torture and abuse suffered by three boys told from the perspective of one victim, it was a short but impactful animated piece on police brutality.
The short film was a collaboration between human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) and FFN, and was directed by then-Suaram programme director Mohammad Alshatri Abdullah.
Ensuring safety
A lot of preparation goes into ensuring the safety of those involved, said FFF’s founders. FFN does a risk assessment for every festival which requires the team to know the law in depth.
This is especially important because of the eyes that the authorities have on its events.
“We do get surveilled quite a lot at all our screenings, I would say.
“They (authorities) might say (that they’re doing it) because of our security but generally we are under surveillance.
“Sometimes we get warning letters, sometimes they come to the festival,” Har said.
Besides security concerns, mental health professionals are also roped in, especially when it comes to films like “Nothing Gentle in the Shadows” that deal with potentially explosive topics.
“The spirit of the festival is ‘dare to document’ whether you are a community member, an industry filmmaker, or an activist, this is the place where we celebrate your voices and also the art and activism,” Danker said.
A Taiwanese filmmaker once came to the festival and told both Danker and Har that she observed how FFN was not just a festival, but a movement.
“You feel that there is this vibe where everybody is coming to this space to make that change - and it doesn’t just end there on that day.
“Collaborations happen later, campaigns go on, and we can see people are transformed and empowered.
“She said that the festival is really a movement. When you come, you are part of this movement to create change,” Danker added.
Aside from that, the network’s films are also an archive of Malaysian stories.
Har described it as the legacy that she and Danker will leave behind - a collection of actions and voices involved in generating change in the country.
If the younger generation wishes to know more about what those who came before them had done, it would be simple to access the network’s films, she said.
Not only will they be inspiring for the youth, but they would also be relatable, she added.
And of course, it’s simply fun work.
“It’s fun and meaningful, that’s why we’re still here,” Har said, with a twinkle in her eye.
