The search for a “new cinema” in post-colonial Malaysia: the films of U-Wei bin HajiSaari as counter-narrations of national identity

ZAWAWI Ibrahim

Introduction to the article

When U-Wei bin HajiSaari’s internationally acclaimed work, Kaki Bakar (The Arsonist), adapted from William Faulkner’s short story, “Barn Burning”, was first made in 1993, it was shot on video to be slotted as one of the many locally made TV dramas to be shown on the National Malaysian Television network (RTM). Somehow that never eventuated; RTM rejected it, reportedly on the basis of “its rather strong social commentaries” (Koay 2001: 6). As it turned out, that was a blessing in disguise: Pierre Rissient, a member of the Cannes Film Festival Selection Committee, saw the video version and decided to choose it as an official selection for the non-competition-based “Un Certain Regard” category of the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, with the condition that it should first be transferred from video into a 35mm film format. With a ‘film’ look, sponsored by the Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (FINAS), and a haunting soundtrack contribution by the well-known Javanese composer Embie C.Noer, Kaki Bakar was shown to excellent critical reviews at Cannes and received invitations to other major film festivals around the world. Already, the Cannes event was a historical debut and a major achievement for a Malaysian director whose work was honoured to share the same stage with the world selected elites in the business. But when Kaki Bakar went on further, in the same year, to win the Best International Film award at the Grand Prix, Brussels, it seems that U-Wei has finally arrived to make his international mark as a film maker on the world stage.

To what extent does the above recognition reflect the coming of age in the Malaysian post-colonial search for “a new cinema” and identity? The following article is an attempt to review U-Wei’s major works in the light of the above discourse, specifically on the subject of representation and identity in the search for a new cinema in post colonial Malaysia.

Author’s biography

    Zawawi Ibrahim is a social anthropologist, presently researching on the new generation of Malaysian filmmakers. He has researched and written extensively on the various indigenous communities in Malaysia and Borneo. He is currently Professor of Sociology and Deputy Dean, Faculty of Social Science, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. He is also a singer/composer and at the end of 1996, released an ethnic-acoustic musical album/CD titled ‘Dayung’ (Under the BMG Pacific Label), with self-composed songs on themes of love, peace and the environment, which among others features the voices and music of the indigenous Temuan Orang Asli and Kelantanese Mak Yong.