Yasmin Ahmad

Yasmin Ahmad (1958-2009) was a controversial internationally renowned, award-winning film director and writer from Malaysia. Her films were often centered on racial interactions involving love in the face of racial or religious intolerance. This was a reoccurring theme when addressing these types of conflicts in her home country of Malaysia.

She has won awards at the Malaysia Video Awards, Association of Accredited Advertising Agents in Malaysia, Malaysian Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, and Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

The following is a short film she made entitled, Chocolate. At the beginning of the film the boy's mother lashes out at him for not wanting to leave Malaysia, believing that the Malays (who rule the country) will not give equal opportunity for progression to the Chinese (I believe they are a Chinese family). Shortly after a customer appears (a young Malay girl) and despite the boy's apparent liking to her, he treats her unfavorably after his mother reaffirms her disgust in the Malays, poisoning the boy's mind and not allowing himself to treat her kindly.

Sepet (which could be translated as "slit eye"), is one of her most successful films. Based on a relationship between a Chinese boy and a Malay girl, it touched a very sensitive place with respect to race amongst the people of Malaysia, where the memory of the terrible 1969 riots between Chinese and Malays is still strong. Ironically, Ahmad was married to a Chinese man. She made the film for $400,000 and shot it in Ipoh, where Chinese and Malay communities live in close proximity. This film was released after her death.

Trailer for Serpet:

Some of her other feature films include:

Rabun (My Failing Eyesight, 2003)

Gubra (Anxiety, 2006)

Mukhsin (2007)

Muallaf (The Convert, 2008)

Talentime (2009)

This is a commercial she made about a young Chinese boy and his crush on a Malay girl. The last line says, "Our children are color blind. Shouldn't we keep them that way? Happy 50th Anniversary from Petronas."

I think that as an auteur, Yasmin was a pioneer in exposing the harsh reality of life for the racial sub-groups in Malaysia and how the ignorance and lack of understanding from all sides is perpetuated by family and passed down to the younger generations. Her openness about her rejection of stereotypes, racism and fundamentalism is clear in her films, and she makes a provocative and powerful statement with her art, yet always peaceful and promoting harmony. I learned about her through research, I had never previously heard of her or her work, but from the little that I have learned about this woman, she has seemingly won the respect and admiration of many, Malays and Chinese alike. I don't believe that she received a large amount of publicity while she was living, yet I think she has been recognized posthumously. The fact that she was a woman and Malaysian may not have helped her in receiving the recognition that she should have received while she was a living artist.

As with any activist, their voice and power for expression are always powerful tools that they use to benefit whatever cause they are advocating. In the case of Yasmin, I think that she was pushing for a movement very important amongst the interest of her people and the fact that she was a woman, married to a Chinese man, this gave her more of a powerful image and made her a more powerful auteur. As we discussed in class, the director is the voice, channeling his desires, his opinion, his vision into what ultimately creates the image of the film. Yasmin, sensitive to the racial issues in her country, used and expressed that sensibility to promote awareness amongst her fellow Malaysians and citizens of the world, to not only advocate for change within the borders of her own people, but globally. This kind of auteur wins my ultimate respect, and I think that directors with this type of positive and progressive vision should be recognized more.