MENUJU KE PENUBUHAN SINEMATEK MALAYSIA?
Teks: Mustafar A.R. & Anwardi Jamil
Foto Dari Pelbagai Sumber
Di Edit Di Semak & Di Susun: Zaini Yusop
RETURN TO NOSTALGIA" TRAILER
Iedil Putera Sebagai Leftenan Rashid (Lakonan Semula)
Jasmine Suraya Chin Sebagai Zaharah (Lakonan Semula)
KEPADA mereka yang ada kuasa mutlak, kepada mereka yang ada kuasa 'decision maker', filem dokumentari "Return To Nostalgia" boleh dijadikan asas untuk menubuhkan Sinematek Malaysia atau dalam Bahasa orang putihnya, Cinematheque Malaysia.
Anwardi Jamil telah menulis (lihat artikelnya di bawah), saya pun juga sudah beberapa kali menulis Lihat Disini, dan dalam perbualan tersangat ramai mahukan Sinematek Malaysia diwujudkan tetapi mereka malas menulis.
Ini bererti betapa pentingnya sinematek kepada negara sebagai pelindung, menjaga dan memelihara filem-filem lama yang kini sudah dianggap klasik.
Sinematek, bukan sekadar melindung, menjaga dan memelihara, malah boleh pula bertugas sebagai pencari filem-filem yang dianggap sudah ghaib, tetapi dijangka masih ada tersimpan atau tersorok di mana-mana, di Indonesia, Hong Kong, Amerika Syarikat atau pun London.
Kita sering terpekik terlolong: "Hilang! hilang!! hilang!!!..." Apa? Sudahkah kita (atau pihak yang ada kuasa) berusaha mencari filem-filem yang hilang itu.
Bak kata pepatah: "Jika tidak dipecahkan ruyung manakan dapat sagunya".
Indonesia dan Filipina sudah ada sinematek masing-masing sekian lama. Hasilnya beberapa filem yang hilang telah mereka temui.
Filem "Apa Jang Kau Tjari, Palupi?" (Apa Yang Kau Cari Palupi?) adalah filem Indonesia tahun 1969 yang diarahkan oleh Asrul Sani dan berjaya dipilih sebagai Filem Terbaik di Festival Filem Asia Pasifik Ke-16 (FFAP16) di Jakarta pada tahun 1970.
Ia dikatakan hilang, tetapi dengan adanya Sinematek Indonesia filem yang cukup berharga itu ditemui dalam keadaan dhaif, namun dapat dibaikpulih dengan menggunakan teknologi canggih, dan kini tersimpan dengan baik di Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta.
Adanya Sinematek Indonesia juga, beberapa filem-filem seperti "Lewat Djam Malam", pemenang anugerah filem terbaik Festival Filem Indonesia Pertama (1955), dan "Tiga Dara" yang diarahkan oleh Usmar Ismail dapat dibaikpulih (restored) dengan kualitinya seperti filem baru.
Begitu juga filem Filipina, "Zamboanga", yang diarahkan oleh Eduardo De Castro. Ia dikatakan hilang selepas perang dunia ke-2, tetapi dijumpai di Finland dan Amerika Syarikat oleh Sinematek Filipina.
Begitulah kesannya apabila sesebuah negara itu mempunyai kesedaran betapa penting adanya sinematek bagi tujuan melindungi, menjaga, memelihara dan mencari filem-filem lama yang kini sudah dianggap klasik, dan sangat berharga.
Mana tahu, apabila wujudnya Sinematek Malaysia, akan dijumpai filem-filem kita yang selama ini sudah dianggap hilang antaranya "Seruan Merdeka", "Bakti," "Pontianak", "Buloh Perindu" dan "Si Tora Harimau Jadian".
Amir Muhammad, pengacara majlis
Lim Ying Xian dan Woo Ming Jin, menjawab soalan dikalangan hadirin
Mustafar A.R., ketika memberi pandangannya mengenai "Return To Nostalgia"
Sebahagian anak muda yang meminati filem datang menonton
Pada 8 Januari 2016 yang lalu, saya bersama isteri, Zaini Yusop, telah menonton filem dokumentari "Return To Nostalgia" di Platinum Sentral, Kuala Lumpur atas jemputan Lim Ying Xian (selaku produser) yang mewakili Greenlight Pictures.
Ramai yang hadir, tidak cukup tempat duduk, dan terpaksa kerusi-kerusi dari luar bilik preview dibawa masuk. Lim Ying Xian pun tidak menjangka ramai yang mahu tengok dokumentarinya itu.
Saya mengikuti dengan teliti dan penuh khusuk. Semasa filem berputar, fikiran saya melayang-layang, timbul satu persoalan. Kenapa, anak muda berBangsa Cina bersusah payah mengeluarkan filem dokumentari mengenai pencarian filem Melayu yang sudah dianggap hilang - "Seruan Merdeka" yang diarahkan oleh B.S.Rajhans pada tahun 1947.
Mereka sanggup ke hulu ke hilir, ke selatan (Singapura) dan ke utara (Perlis) mencari kepastian mengenai "Seruan Merdeka" yang dibintangi oleh Salleh Ghani dan Rokiah Hanaffi itu, semata-mata mahu memberitahu dunia betapa ruginya Malaysia di atas kehilangan filem tersebut yang menggambarkan rakyat berbilang kaum menentang kekejaman tentera Jepun sewaktu memerintah Malaya termasuk Singapura.
Bukan itu saja malah Woo Ming Jin (Bangsa Cina), sebagai pengarah, memfokuskan kepada perjuangan Leftenan Rashid (Bangsa Melayu) menentang kekejaman yang mana dirinya hampir terkorban di atas perbuatan khianat Bangsanya sendiri yang bernama Harun.
Dengan lahirnya "Return To Nostalgia", memberi pengertian yang mendalam Sinematek Malaysia perlu diwujudkan, bukan saja filem-filem lama atau klasik perlu dilindungi, dijaga dan dipelihara tetapi juga filem terbaru dan seterusnya, yang bakal dikeluarkan.
Saya difahamkan, banyak juga filem-filem baru (selepas penuntupan Merdeka Studio) sukar diperolehi originalnya (dalam format 35mm) antaranya "Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan", "Sumber Ilhamku" dan "Syahadat".
Sinematek memerlukan bajet besar, dan kemampuan hanya terletak kepada agensi Kerajaan seperti Finas. Pihak lain tidak boleh melaksanakan projek ini, sekadar membantu mungkin!
Diharap dipermulaan tahun 2016 ini disamping lahirnya "Return To Nostalgia", pihak-pihak yang ada kuasa (terutama Finas) harus memikirkan cara mana bagi memperolehi peruntukan mengwujudkan Sinematek Malaysia.
Jika tidak, jika masih tertangguh-tangguh, yang hilang akan terus ghaib, yang belum ghaib akan terus hilang.
WONG MING JI
Satu adegan terdapat dalam "Seruan Merdeka"
AMIR MUHAMMAD
MUSTAFAR A.R.
Rokiah Hanaffi sebagai Zaharah dalam "Seruan Merdeka"
HASSAN MUTHALIB
WAN KHAZIM WAN DIN
KAREN CHAN
LEE THEAN CHOR
Rokiah "Seruan Merdeka" tidak sama dengan
Rokiah "Jiwa Lara"
DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY
WOO MING JI
PRODUCED BY
LIM YING XIAN
* TEO WEY YINN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
EDMOND YEO *
KIM JI-SEOK/BIFF *
YANG SUNG-DONG/KBS BUSAN
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
TAN TECK ZEE
ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY
LESLY LEON LEE *
WOO MING JI *
TEO WEY YINN *
LEFTENAN RASHID (IEDIL PUTRA)
ZAHARAH (JASMINE CHIN)
CAPTAIN TANAKA (SAM CHONG)
PAK RAHMAT (ANGGRIS SARI)
HARUN (SAMSURI SHAROM)
SOLDIERS: WONG MUN KWONG
* HEW YOKE KEONG *
MOHD.FAIZAL BIN KAMARUDIN
* WONG PAK SHENG * MOHD.RASHID HASSAN * NG CHEN KIAT >br />* CHENG GOON SHENG * CHONG KONG ON * JASON YAP POO LEONG * LAI ZHI HONG * CH'NG CHIN KWANG * WONG YEW KEONG COMPOSER WONG WOAN FONG STORYBOARD ARTIST YEN EE EDITORS WOO MING JI * TEO WEY YINN
ULASAN FK___
Oleh Mustafar A.R.
Kekuatan "Return To Noslatgia" ini, in my point of view, terletak kepada jalan cerita (plot or story). Idea atau kreativiti merupakan sesuatu yang boleh dianggap baru, belum pernah didokementarikan.
Pencarian filem "Seruan Merdeka" yang dikatakan hilang, Woo Ming Ji, selaku pengarah, bersama krewnya mencari dan bertemu sesiapa saja yang boleh memberikan maklumat mengenai filem yang diarahkan oleh B.S.Rajhans itu.
Bukan mudah melakukan tugas pencarian filem yang sudah lama hilang. Kalau 20 atau 30 tahun yang lalu mungkin senang, tidak kini yang umurnya (dibintangi oleh Salleh Ghani dan Rokiah Hanaffi) sudah menjangkau hampir 70 tahun.
Kerana kesukaran tersebut, Woo Ming Jin, terpaksa melakukan lakonan semula klimaks filem tersebut disertai juga dengan lukisan (sketch) berdasarkan cerita yang terkandung dalam novelet tulisan jawi karya Salleh Ghani. Tiada sedutan dari filem, bayangnya pun tidak pernah ada.
Jesteru itu, dari segi persembahan "Return To Nostalgia" tidak sebaik yang diharapkan. Ada kekurangan dimana-mana. Banyak juga, tidak perlulah saya ulas. Nobody perfect.
Ia lebih banyak menyentuh tentang kekejaman tentera Jepun sewaktu memerintah Malaya, pelakon berbilang kaum, tetapi tidak banyak memperkatakan pelakonnya, Salleh Ghani dan Rokiah Hanaffi.
Mungkin, Woo Ming Ji merasakan lakonan dan pelakon tidak perlu dihighlightkan, yang diutamakan pencarian filem. Namun saya merasakan perlu, sedikit pun jadilah.
Sepatutnya, Woo Ming Jin turut menemuramah Adam Salleh, anak Salleh Ghani, meminta pandangannya mengenai ayahnya dalam filem tersebut. Seperti Nasir dalam kisah P.Ramlee di History Channel.
Ada dua tersilap fakta terdapat dalam dokumentari ini;
1. Komen saya menyatakan "Seruan Merdeka" berdasarkan novelet Salleh Ghani. Setelah dibuat kajian sebenarnya, novelet tersebut dipadankan dari filem itu sendiri. Ertinya, filem dulu baru novelet.
2. Rokiah Hanaffi "Seruan Merdeka" dan Rokiah "Jiwa Lara" tidak sama orangnya. Rokiah Hanaffi (Rokiah Wanda) meninggalkan filem terus jadi penyanyi manakala Rokiah (Rokiah Jaafar) terus sebagai pelakon membintangi beberapa filem selain "Jiwa Lara", "Antara Senyum Dan Tangis" dan "Putus Harapan".
Temuramah dengan Wan Khazim Wan Din (wajahnya seiras L.Krishnan) yang sedang terlantar di hospital ketika hidungnya berwayar, membantu memberi sedikit gambaran apa yang terkandung dalam filem tersebut.
Macam L.Krishnan, dia ni kelakar juga orangnya. Ramai penonton ketawa dengan dialognya. Saya juga ketawa apabila dia berkata umurnya 58 tahun, sebenarnya 85 tahun.
Apa pun, tajuk "Return To Nostalgia" (pada pendapat sayalah) lebih sesuai dan lebih menarik kalau... "Return To 1947".
Pada keseluruhannya, "Return To Nostalgia" menarik dan merupakan filem dokumentari yang boleh membuka mata ramai pihak yang ada kuasa terutama Kerajaan (Finas) menubuhkan Sinematek Malaysia.
Dengar khabar KP Finas, pergi ke BusanIFF turut sama memberi sokongan moral kepada "Return To Nostalgia" dan ini merupakan satu petanda baik, harapan wujudnya Sinematek Malaysia adalah sangat cerah.
Ayuhlah Kamil Othman, mari kita sama-sama selamatkan khazanah negara (filem) dengan menubuhkan Sinematek Malaysia sebelum kerusi panas itu dirampas oleh orang lain. Bertindaklah sekarang...
SI TORA HARIMAU JADIAN
PONTIANAK
MUTIARA
SERUAN MERDEKA"
PELANGI
MEGA MENDONG
MELANCHONG KA TOKYO
BULOH PERINDU
BANYAK FILEM HILANG, ANTARANYA YANG PERLU DICARI;
* Leila Majnun
# Filem pertama berBahasa Melayu
* Mutiara
# Filem pertama keluaran Shaw Brothers
* Seruan Merdeka
# Filem pertama selepas Perang Dunia Ke-2
* Singapura Di Waktu Malam
# Filem pertama keluaran Malay Film Productions (MFP)
* Chempaka
# Filem pertama dibintangi Kasma Booty
* Bakti
# Filem pertama P.Ramlee sebagai hero.
* Si Tora Harimau Jadian
# Filem pertama arahan P.Ramlee di Merdeka Studio
* Buloh Perindu
# Filem pertama dibuat keseluruhan dalam warnawarni
* Adam
# Filem pertama arahan S.Roomai Noor
* Pelangi
# Filem pertama keluaran Nusantara Film Company
* Pontianak
# Filem seram mendapatan kejayaan box office luar jangkaan
* Melanchong Ka Tokyo
# Filem pertama MFP dibuat penggambaran di luar Singapura
* Mega Mendong
# Filem Adik Wan Hussain menang pelakon kanak-kanak terbaik
APA YANG KAU CARI PALUPI?
ZAMBOANGA
THE LONG HOUSE
MATINYA SEORAN PATRIOT
RANJAU SEPANJANG JALAN
OUR FILMS, OUR HERITAGE
By Anwardi Jamil
CARI The Malaysia LifeStyle Media
July 29, 2013
Many local films are missing. Anwardi Jamil feels there is a need to establish a national film archive.
The National Heritage Act 2005 was gazetted, various aspects of our culture, traditions and heritage were included and identified as items to be protected, revived, restored and to be promoted.
In the Act, various traditional forms of arts, both tangible and intangible, were listed, such as traditional dances and music.
It states “intangible cultural heritage” includes any form of expressions, languages, lingual utterances, sayings, musically produced tunes, notes, audible lyrics, songs, folksongs, oral traditions, poetry, music, dances as produced by the performing arts, theatrical plays, audible compositions of sounds and music, martial arts, that may have existed or exist in relation to the heritage of Malaysia or any part of Malaysia or in relation to the heritage of a Malaysian community.
In another portion of the Act, it states that “cultural heritage” includes tangible or intangible form of cultural property, structure or artefact and may include a heritage matter, object, item, artefact, formation structure, performance, dance, song, music that is pertinent to the historical or contemporary way of life of Malaysians, on or in land or underwater cultural heritage of tangible form but excluding natural heritage;
What if film is an historical object? No. The Act states that “historical object” means any artefact or other object to which religious, traditional, artistic or historic interest is attached and includes any:
a) ethnographic material such as a household or agricultural implement, decorative article or personal ornament
b) work of art such as a carving, sculpture, painting, architecture, textile, musical instrument, weapon and any other handicraft
c) manuscript, coin, currency note, medal, badge, insignia, coat of arm, crest flag, arm or armour or
d) vehicle, ship and boat, in part or in whole, whose production has ceased.
Unfortunately, cinema or film seems to have no importance and significance in our history and culture.
Protecting our cinema history
Our cinema history is just under 100 years old, an industry that began with the first feature film, "Leila Majnun", directed by B.S.Rajhans and produced by the Motilal Chemical Company. It was screened in Singapore in 1933. Maybe something that is less than 100 years old is not considered historical?
I find it hard to accept that a historically important movie like "Leila Majnun" is not considered a heritage item. Film as a form in itself is not that old, just a mere 150 years old today beginning with the first images recorded on film by the Lumiere Brothers who invented the first moving picture camera in 1895 in France.
Yet, while countries like the United States, most of Europe, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Hong Kong (China) consider cinema and film as an important part of their own cultural heritage, we have not yet deemed our own cinema as one.
So when cinema history is not labelled as a national heritage or culture, it will not be protected. What does that mean? It means a whole generation, no, maybe two generations worth of Malaysian cinema will be lost forever and that the future generations will never have a chance of knowing what Malaysian cinema was.
How can it be lost?
If there are no acts or institutions created to protect our film heritage, the films of the 1940s, 1950s right through the 1990s may be lost forever due to the prints or negatives being destroyed through lack of care and proper storage.
Today, many know and watch the movies of P.Ramlee, which are screened nearly every week on various television channels. Not many, however, have had the chance to view other classics by past masters like Phani Majumdar, L.Krishnan, Jamil Sulong, M.Amin, Hussein Haniff, Salleh Ghani and Omar Rojik.
"Leila Majnun" is long gone. Not a single complete print is known to have survived. In the same year that "Leila Majnun" was produced, a foreign-financed movie titled "Samarang" was also produced and screened in Singapore a month before "Leila Majnun". A print of this movie is available in the US and it’s considered historical.
Two early movies were also shot in Sabah around that time. Finas Chairman, Mohd.Affendi Hamdan said, that two movies shot by Martin and Osa Johnson titled "Jungle Depths Of Borneo" and "Borneo", were filmed at Abai, Kinabatang in Sabah, in 1935.
However, the earliest film footages shot in Sabah, maybe in 1920, when the Johnsons took some footage of the island on their first trip to North Borneo (Sabah) and edited it into an earlier movie titled "Jungle Adventures" and "Wild Men & Beasts Of Borneo".
However, their 1937 feature film, "Borneo", was brought to Sabah last year and screened for the first time there at the Borneo Eco Film Festival. The September screening of the 75-minute movie, with sound, was made possible through the efforts of the Sabah Museum and the Johnsons’ Safari Museum based in Chanute, Kansas.
The cultural content in these movies are timeless. Apart from photographs and paintings, no other medium can record our history as accurately as cinema. Of course, movie makers do take creative licence when making movies (like the Johnsons did with "Borneo" and "Wild Men & Beasts Of Borneo"), but nevertheless, the films, including documentaries and newsreels, hold great cultural and historical significance.
In the US, an institution called the United States National Film Preservation Board was created in 1988. Under the Board, The National Film Registry (NFR) was formed along with the non-profit National Film Preservation Foundation.
The NFR names up to 25 “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films” every year showcasing the range and diversity of American film heritage in the hope that it would increase awareness for its (the movies) preservation in the Library of Congress.
What is unique about this effort is that the American public nominates the films to be considered for preservation and inclusion into the National Film Registry.
Since its creation, the NFR had received thousands of titles that were nominated but to date only 600 titles had been approved for listing and preserved in the Library Of Congress. The oldest is Newark Athlete, a film made in 1891.
Since then both culturally, aesthetically and significant American movies have made the list including "Matrix", "Star Wars", "Do The Right Thing" and "Raging Bull".
the latest movies approved last year for listing include "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" (1914), "3:10 To Yuma" (1957), "Breakfast at Tiffany’s" (1961), "Dirty Harry" (1971) and "A League of Their Own" (1992).
The Indonesian Scene
Indonesia, which has a cinema history slightly older than ours, established it's own film archives called Sinematek Indonesia in 1975, located at the Usmar Ismail Film in Jakarta.
It started as a private endeavour by film critic Misbach Yusa Biran who established, in 1970, a small private office and started collecting old Indonesian films with the help of one of Indonesia’s cinematic fathers, Asrul Sani.
In 1973, Pak Misbach, as he is known to friends, received a scholarship from the Dutch government to study the film archiving system adopted by a cinematheque in Amsterdam.
Two years later, when Ali Sadikin, the then governor of Jakarta, officially opened Sinematek Indonesia, who better to head it than Pak Misbach. Sinematek Indonesia became the first State-supported film archive in Asia.
Such an archive does not only look for old classic movies buried in vaults or storage containers around the world. Part of its responsibilities is to locate missing cinematic treasures.
According to local film critic and historian, Mustafar A.R. (who is also a vocal supporter for the establishment of a Malaysian Film Archive) an acclaimed Indonesian movie, "Apa Yang Kau Cari Palupi?", which won the Best Film Award at the 1970 Asia Pacific Film Festival in Jakarta went missing.
Mustafar said: “Years after winning the award, it was discovered that all the screening copies of the movie was missing and even the negatives in Tokyo had been destroyed. They can’t even trace the producers of the movie. There was a real concern that this little gem of a movie has been lost forever.”
However, in the late 1980s, a single print was discovered but due to the poor storage conditions, only the colour red remained in the print.
Today, Sinematek Indonesia has in its proper archives more than 2,700 titles including cinematic classics directed by Asrul Sani, Usmar Ismail, Teguh Karya and May Priyono.
In the Philippines
In The Philippines, the National Film Archive Of The Philippines was created only recently in 2011. So it’s really not too late for Malaysia.
It is entrusted to collect, preserve, and provide access to the audiovisual heritage of the Philippines. It was created under the auspices of the Film Development Council Of The Philippines and the Office Of The President.
In its official site, it announced its creation as that of an institution established and consequently given powers and functions to collect, conserve, and protect audiovisual materials as part of the nation’s historical, cultural, and artistic heritage.
NFAP is also duly mandated to take charge of the collection, archiving, preservation, management, and access provision of all Filipino films and other audiovisual materials produced in the Philippines and/or abroad.
With such an institution existing, film historians and researchers can have a reason to locate missing classics to be archived, preserved and maybe restored for future generations to view and appreciate.
For example, a friend of mine, award winning filmmaker and activities, Nick de Ocampo, went on a hunt to locate a missing piece of Filipino history. An early movie titled "Zamboanga", which is said to have been the first Filipino movie to vie for the Foreign Language Academy award in the US in 1936, was nowhere to be found in the country.
His search took him around the world and ended 10 years ago when he found it in the Library Of Congress of the United States.
At the launching of the NFAP last September, the Filipino film industry was once again overjoyed when another discovered and restored 1950 classic, "Genghis Khan", directed by Michael Conde was screened. At that launch, the original 35mm prints of Conde’s movie, discovered in the Venice Film Festival archives, was also handed over to the NFAP for safe keeping.
Poor archiving
Meanwhile, we do have our National Archives or Arkib Negara and while it is part of its responsibility to archive print, audio and video materials of our country’s history, it is not geared to become a bona fide film archive institution, one that requires a different set of mentality, system and management.
A quick look via its website’s search engine shows how seriously lacking its archival of our country’s film heritage is. I typed in "Hang Tuah" in the search engine and what did I see? A reference stating they have a video copy of the movie screened on Astro. Not even a proper DVD copy of the classic 1955 movie directed by acclaimed Indian director Phani Majumdar, what more a 35mm copy?
What was sadder was that "Hang Tuah" was deemed our first Eastmancolour movie ever and was the first Malay movie to enter the prestigious Berlin Film Festival and therefore had historical importance.
Actually, according to the National Archives act, every producer is required by law to send a copy of their films to be archived. However, enforcement is sorely lacking and has become something of a voluntary exercise.
For example, I doubt that my directorial feature film debut, "Tuah", starring Jamal Abdillah (1989), the only Malaysian entry to win an award at the 1989 Asia Pacific Film Festival in Jakarta, can be found in its original 35mm form in our National archives. However, I know a pristine 35mm copy is kept in the Fukuoka Film Library in Japan which purchased a print from the producer in the mid-90s.
Despite our short cinema history, there are easily more than a 1,000 titles produced since the mid-30s. Many are gone. Some may lie in private collections in Amsterdam, in London and maybe the United States.
Some are destroyed and we will never see them again. A famous story local film historians tell is that of how the late cinema magnate, Ho Ah Loke, in a fit of anger, threw his collection of movies into the sea.
The story has many versions. In one, Ah Loke only threw one film, "Pontianak", into a river. But it is a fact that Ah Loke did throw some of his films (into the sea or river), and because of that, many Cathay Keris titles cannot be viewed anymore.
There are many missing movies that need to be hunted down, purchased, restored and preserved. This would include the missing "The Long House" directed by Phani Majumdar in Sarawak.
This 1957 movie is important on many levels. It was Shaw’s second Eastmancolor film and Malay Film Productions first movie to be shot entirely in Sarawak. And it was the first ever local movie to shoot the natives of Sarawak as they were (bare breasted).
After its first screening, the movie was pulled from cinemas because of its risque images and kept by Shaw. Till today, no one knows what has happened to the prints. Did Shaw destroy it or was it kept somewhere in his vast vaults of old movies.
More recent acclaimed and award winning movies like Rahim Razali’s "Matinya Seorang Patriot" and "Tsu-Feh Sofia", Jamil Sulong’s "Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan", are rare and difficult to locate. P.Ramlee’s horror movie "Si Tora Harimau Jadian" is another missing film.
In the early 1980s, Cathay Organisation’s then chief Chu Weng Choon, went out of his way to locate and restore a 35mm copy of Hussein Haniff’s classic "Hang Jebat". This was one of the very few times when someone in the film industry had gone out of his way to find and restore a piece of Malaysian film history. The sad thing is though, no one knows where this restored 35mm restored copy is today.
Films are part of our legacy. Films are part of our culture and history and therefore need to be treated as such. We are not asking that every movie be archived and preserved — only those that are historically, aesthetically and culturally significant.
It’s time that a Malaysian National Film Archive is established and people employ those who know how to curate and archive our cinema history — not only the 35mm prints, but also alternatively, high quality restored HD prints, and related paraphernalia like movie magazines, movie posters and photographs.
Only then will future generations know and realise that our film history is actually rich and vast instead of just movies by the late P.Ramlee that television stations keep screening.
# UPDATE AKAN DILAKUKAN DARI MASA KE MASA.
ANDA MUNGKIN JUGA MEMINATI___
FILEM KLASIK MALAYSIA
berapa banyakkah yang masih ada?
SIPUT SERAWAK
begitu kecewa gagal jadi pengarah filem
A.R. TOMPEL
lawaknya mencuit dan menggelikan hati
R. AZMI
berada dalam kamar sepi dalam kesepian
AHMAD MAHMOOD
ahmad mahmood bintang di langit seni
LATIFAH OMAR
ikon era gemilang filem melayu
SALMAH AHMAD
kejelitaannya terletak didagu, ya tak?
KONSEP PENERBITANNYA HARUS DIPUJI
Setelah diamati buku setebal 355 muka surat ini, kesimpulannya konsep penerbitannya harus dipuji kerana ia berlainan sekali dari apa yang pernah disajikan sebelum ini. Dilihat pula dari segi kesungguhan kedua-dua insan (Datuk Aziz Sattar dan Mustafar A.R.) yang pernah mengenali P. Ramlee, banyak betul perkara yang boleh kita ambil iktibar, dan 20 tahun bukan masa yang sedikit untuk mereka menyiapkan buku yang cukup bermutu ini. Memang benar karya peninggalan Seniman Agung Tan Sri P.Ramlee tiada bandingan dan sumbangannya dalam bidang seni terus abadi dan terpahat dalam minda semua lapisan masyarakat, namun di sebalik kehebatannya, buku ini yang turut menyelitkan gambar-gambar dari filem, sinopsis, ulasan dan pengalaman kedua penulis ketika pembikinan 66 filem P. Ramlee, ada memaparkan kisah menarik antaranya bagaimana P.Ramlee menceduk idea dari filem-filem luar untuk disesuaikan dengan filem-filem arahannya - KAKAK TUA.
Teks: Mustafar A.R. & Anwardi Jamil
Foto Dari Pelbagai Sumber
Di Edit Di Semak & Di Susun: Zaini Yusop
RETURN TO NOSTALGIA" TRAILER
KEPADA mereka yang ada kuasa mutlak, kepada mereka yang ada kuasa 'decision maker', filem dokumentari "Return To Nostalgia" boleh dijadikan asas untuk menubuhkan Sinematek Malaysia atau dalam Bahasa orang putihnya, Cinematheque Malaysia.
Anwardi Jamil telah menulis (lihat artikelnya di bawah), saya pun juga sudah beberapa kali menulis Lihat Disini, dan dalam perbualan tersangat ramai mahukan Sinematek Malaysia diwujudkan tetapi mereka malas menulis.
Ini bererti betapa pentingnya sinematek kepada negara sebagai pelindung, menjaga dan memelihara filem-filem lama yang kini sudah dianggap klasik.
Sinematek, bukan sekadar melindung, menjaga dan memelihara, malah boleh pula bertugas sebagai pencari filem-filem yang dianggap sudah ghaib, tetapi dijangka masih ada tersimpan atau tersorok di mana-mana, di Indonesia, Hong Kong, Amerika Syarikat atau pun London.
Kita sering terpekik terlolong: "Hilang! hilang!! hilang!!!..." Apa? Sudahkah kita (atau pihak yang ada kuasa) berusaha mencari filem-filem yang hilang itu.
Bak kata pepatah: "Jika tidak dipecahkan ruyung manakan dapat sagunya".
Indonesia dan Filipina sudah ada sinematek masing-masing sekian lama. Hasilnya beberapa filem yang hilang telah mereka temui.
Filem "Apa Jang Kau Tjari, Palupi?" (Apa Yang Kau Cari Palupi?) adalah filem Indonesia tahun 1969 yang diarahkan oleh Asrul Sani dan berjaya dipilih sebagai Filem Terbaik di Festival Filem Asia Pasifik Ke-16 (FFAP16) di Jakarta pada tahun 1970.
Ia dikatakan hilang, tetapi dengan adanya Sinematek Indonesia filem yang cukup berharga itu ditemui dalam keadaan dhaif, namun dapat dibaikpulih dengan menggunakan teknologi canggih, dan kini tersimpan dengan baik di Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta.
Adanya Sinematek Indonesia juga, beberapa filem-filem seperti "Lewat Djam Malam", pemenang anugerah filem terbaik Festival Filem Indonesia Pertama (1955), dan "Tiga Dara" yang diarahkan oleh Usmar Ismail dapat dibaikpulih (restored) dengan kualitinya seperti filem baru.
Begitu juga filem Filipina, "Zamboanga", yang diarahkan oleh Eduardo De Castro. Ia dikatakan hilang selepas perang dunia ke-2, tetapi dijumpai di Finland dan Amerika Syarikat oleh Sinematek Filipina.
Begitulah kesannya apabila sesebuah negara itu mempunyai kesedaran betapa penting adanya sinematek bagi tujuan melindungi, menjaga, memelihara dan mencari filem-filem lama yang kini sudah dianggap klasik, dan sangat berharga.
Mana tahu, apabila wujudnya Sinematek Malaysia, akan dijumpai filem-filem kita yang selama ini sudah dianggap hilang antaranya "Seruan Merdeka", "Bakti," "Pontianak", "Buloh Perindu" dan "Si Tora Harimau Jadian".
Mustafar A.R., ketika memberi pandangannya mengenai "Return To Nostalgia"
Pada 8 Januari 2016 yang lalu, saya bersama isteri, Zaini Yusop, telah menonton filem dokumentari "Return To Nostalgia" di Platinum Sentral, Kuala Lumpur atas jemputan Lim Ying Xian (selaku produser) yang mewakili Greenlight Pictures.
Ramai yang hadir, tidak cukup tempat duduk, dan terpaksa kerusi-kerusi dari luar bilik preview dibawa masuk. Lim Ying Xian pun tidak menjangka ramai yang mahu tengok dokumentarinya itu.
Saya mengikuti dengan teliti dan penuh khusuk. Semasa filem berputar, fikiran saya melayang-layang, timbul satu persoalan. Kenapa, anak muda berBangsa Cina bersusah payah mengeluarkan filem dokumentari mengenai pencarian filem Melayu yang sudah dianggap hilang - "Seruan Merdeka" yang diarahkan oleh B.S.Rajhans pada tahun 1947.
Mereka sanggup ke hulu ke hilir, ke selatan (Singapura) dan ke utara (Perlis) mencari kepastian mengenai "Seruan Merdeka" yang dibintangi oleh Salleh Ghani dan Rokiah Hanaffi itu, semata-mata mahu memberitahu dunia betapa ruginya Malaysia di atas kehilangan filem tersebut yang menggambarkan rakyat berbilang kaum menentang kekejaman tentera Jepun sewaktu memerintah Malaya termasuk Singapura.
Bukan itu saja malah Woo Ming Jin (Bangsa Cina), sebagai pengarah, memfokuskan kepada perjuangan Leftenan Rashid (Bangsa Melayu) menentang kekejaman yang mana dirinya hampir terkorban di atas perbuatan khianat Bangsanya sendiri yang bernama Harun.
Dengan lahirnya "Return To Nostalgia", memberi pengertian yang mendalam Sinematek Malaysia perlu diwujudkan, bukan saja filem-filem lama atau klasik perlu dilindungi, dijaga dan dipelihara tetapi juga filem terbaru dan seterusnya, yang bakal dikeluarkan.
Saya difahamkan, banyak juga filem-filem baru (selepas penuntupan Merdeka Studio) sukar diperolehi originalnya (dalam format 35mm) antaranya "Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan", "Sumber Ilhamku" dan "Syahadat".
Sinematek memerlukan bajet besar, dan kemampuan hanya terletak kepada agensi Kerajaan seperti Finas. Pihak lain tidak boleh melaksanakan projek ini, sekadar membantu mungkin!
Diharap dipermulaan tahun 2016 ini disamping lahirnya "Return To Nostalgia", pihak-pihak yang ada kuasa (terutama Finas) harus memikirkan cara mana bagi memperolehi peruntukan mengwujudkan Sinematek Malaysia.
Jika tidak, jika masih tertangguh-tangguh, yang hilang akan terus ghaib, yang belum ghaib akan terus hilang.
Rokiah "Jiwa Lara"
* WONG PAK SHENG * MOHD.RASHID HASSAN * NG CHEN KIAT >br />* CHENG GOON SHENG * CHONG KONG ON * JASON YAP POO LEONG * LAI ZHI HONG * CH'NG CHIN KWANG * WONG YEW KEONG COMPOSER WONG WOAN FONG STORYBOARD ARTIST YEN EE EDITORS WOO MING JI * TEO WEY YINN
ULASAN FK___
Oleh Mustafar A.R.
Kekuatan "Return To Noslatgia" ini, in my point of view, terletak kepada jalan cerita (plot or story). Idea atau kreativiti merupakan sesuatu yang boleh dianggap baru, belum pernah didokementarikan.
Pencarian filem "Seruan Merdeka" yang dikatakan hilang, Woo Ming Ji, selaku pengarah, bersama krewnya mencari dan bertemu sesiapa saja yang boleh memberikan maklumat mengenai filem yang diarahkan oleh B.S.Rajhans itu.
Bukan mudah melakukan tugas pencarian filem yang sudah lama hilang. Kalau 20 atau 30 tahun yang lalu mungkin senang, tidak kini yang umurnya (dibintangi oleh Salleh Ghani dan Rokiah Hanaffi) sudah menjangkau hampir 70 tahun.
Kerana kesukaran tersebut, Woo Ming Jin, terpaksa melakukan lakonan semula klimaks filem tersebut disertai juga dengan lukisan (sketch) berdasarkan cerita yang terkandung dalam novelet tulisan jawi karya Salleh Ghani. Tiada sedutan dari filem, bayangnya pun tidak pernah ada.
Jesteru itu, dari segi persembahan "Return To Nostalgia" tidak sebaik yang diharapkan. Ada kekurangan dimana-mana. Banyak juga, tidak perlulah saya ulas. Nobody perfect.
Ia lebih banyak menyentuh tentang kekejaman tentera Jepun sewaktu memerintah Malaya, pelakon berbilang kaum, tetapi tidak banyak memperkatakan pelakonnya, Salleh Ghani dan Rokiah Hanaffi.
Mungkin, Woo Ming Ji merasakan lakonan dan pelakon tidak perlu dihighlightkan, yang diutamakan pencarian filem. Namun saya merasakan perlu, sedikit pun jadilah.
Sepatutnya, Woo Ming Jin turut menemuramah Adam Salleh, anak Salleh Ghani, meminta pandangannya mengenai ayahnya dalam filem tersebut. Seperti Nasir dalam kisah P.Ramlee di History Channel.
Ada dua tersilap fakta terdapat dalam dokumentari ini;
1. Komen saya menyatakan "Seruan Merdeka" berdasarkan novelet Salleh Ghani. Setelah dibuat kajian sebenarnya, novelet tersebut dipadankan dari filem itu sendiri. Ertinya, filem dulu baru novelet.
2. Rokiah Hanaffi "Seruan Merdeka" dan Rokiah "Jiwa Lara" tidak sama orangnya. Rokiah Hanaffi (Rokiah Wanda) meninggalkan filem terus jadi penyanyi manakala Rokiah (Rokiah Jaafar) terus sebagai pelakon membintangi beberapa filem selain "Jiwa Lara", "Antara Senyum Dan Tangis" dan "Putus Harapan".
Temuramah dengan Wan Khazim Wan Din (wajahnya seiras L.Krishnan) yang sedang terlantar di hospital ketika hidungnya berwayar, membantu memberi sedikit gambaran apa yang terkandung dalam filem tersebut.
Macam L.Krishnan, dia ni kelakar juga orangnya. Ramai penonton ketawa dengan dialognya. Saya juga ketawa apabila dia berkata umurnya 58 tahun, sebenarnya 85 tahun.
Apa pun, tajuk "Return To Nostalgia" (pada pendapat sayalah) lebih sesuai dan lebih menarik kalau... "Return To 1947".
Pada keseluruhannya, "Return To Nostalgia" menarik dan merupakan filem dokumentari yang boleh membuka mata ramai pihak yang ada kuasa terutama Kerajaan (Finas) menubuhkan Sinematek Malaysia.
Dengar khabar KP Finas, pergi ke BusanIFF turut sama memberi sokongan moral kepada "Return To Nostalgia" dan ini merupakan satu petanda baik, harapan wujudnya Sinematek Malaysia adalah sangat cerah.
Ayuhlah Kamil Othman, mari kita sama-sama selamatkan khazanah negara (filem) dengan menubuhkan Sinematek Malaysia sebelum kerusi panas itu dirampas oleh orang lain. Bertindaklah sekarang...
BANYAK FILEM HILANG, ANTARANYA YANG PERLU DICARI;
* Leila Majnun
# Filem pertama berBahasa Melayu
* Mutiara
# Filem pertama keluaran Shaw Brothers
* Seruan Merdeka
# Filem pertama selepas Perang Dunia Ke-2
* Singapura Di Waktu Malam
# Filem pertama keluaran Malay Film Productions (MFP)
* Chempaka
# Filem pertama dibintangi Kasma Booty
* Bakti
# Filem pertama P.Ramlee sebagai hero.
* Si Tora Harimau Jadian
# Filem pertama arahan P.Ramlee di Merdeka Studio
* Buloh Perindu
# Filem pertama dibuat keseluruhan dalam warnawarni
* Adam
# Filem pertama arahan S.Roomai Noor
* Pelangi
# Filem pertama keluaran Nusantara Film Company
* Pontianak
# Filem seram mendapatan kejayaan box office luar jangkaan
* Melanchong Ka Tokyo
# Filem pertama MFP dibuat penggambaran di luar Singapura
* Mega Mendong
# Filem Adik Wan Hussain menang pelakon kanak-kanak terbaik
OUR FILMS, OUR HERITAGE
By Anwardi Jamil
CARI The Malaysia LifeStyle Media
July 29, 2013
Many local films are missing. Anwardi Jamil feels there is a need to establish a national film archive.
The National Heritage Act 2005 was gazetted, various aspects of our culture, traditions and heritage were included and identified as items to be protected, revived, restored and to be promoted.
In the Act, various traditional forms of arts, both tangible and intangible, were listed, such as traditional dances and music.
It states “intangible cultural heritage” includes any form of expressions, languages, lingual utterances, sayings, musically produced tunes, notes, audible lyrics, songs, folksongs, oral traditions, poetry, music, dances as produced by the performing arts, theatrical plays, audible compositions of sounds and music, martial arts, that may have existed or exist in relation to the heritage of Malaysia or any part of Malaysia or in relation to the heritage of a Malaysian community.
In another portion of the Act, it states that “cultural heritage” includes tangible or intangible form of cultural property, structure or artefact and may include a heritage matter, object, item, artefact, formation structure, performance, dance, song, music that is pertinent to the historical or contemporary way of life of Malaysians, on or in land or underwater cultural heritage of tangible form but excluding natural heritage;
What if film is an historical object? No. The Act states that “historical object” means any artefact or other object to which religious, traditional, artistic or historic interest is attached and includes any:
a) ethnographic material such as a household or agricultural implement, decorative article or personal ornament
b) work of art such as a carving, sculpture, painting, architecture, textile, musical instrument, weapon and any other handicraft
c) manuscript, coin, currency note, medal, badge, insignia, coat of arm, crest flag, arm or armour or
d) vehicle, ship and boat, in part or in whole, whose production has ceased.
Unfortunately, cinema or film seems to have no importance and significance in our history and culture.
Protecting our cinema history
Our cinema history is just under 100 years old, an industry that began with the first feature film, "Leila Majnun", directed by B.S.Rajhans and produced by the Motilal Chemical Company. It was screened in Singapore in 1933. Maybe something that is less than 100 years old is not considered historical?
I find it hard to accept that a historically important movie like "Leila Majnun" is not considered a heritage item. Film as a form in itself is not that old, just a mere 150 years old today beginning with the first images recorded on film by the Lumiere Brothers who invented the first moving picture camera in 1895 in France.
Yet, while countries like the United States, most of Europe, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Hong Kong (China) consider cinema and film as an important part of their own cultural heritage, we have not yet deemed our own cinema as one.
So when cinema history is not labelled as a national heritage or culture, it will not be protected. What does that mean? It means a whole generation, no, maybe two generations worth of Malaysian cinema will be lost forever and that the future generations will never have a chance of knowing what Malaysian cinema was.
How can it be lost?
If there are no acts or institutions created to protect our film heritage, the films of the 1940s, 1950s right through the 1990s may be lost forever due to the prints or negatives being destroyed through lack of care and proper storage.
Today, many know and watch the movies of P.Ramlee, which are screened nearly every week on various television channels. Not many, however, have had the chance to view other classics by past masters like Phani Majumdar, L.Krishnan, Jamil Sulong, M.Amin, Hussein Haniff, Salleh Ghani and Omar Rojik.
"Leila Majnun" is long gone. Not a single complete print is known to have survived. In the same year that "Leila Majnun" was produced, a foreign-financed movie titled "Samarang" was also produced and screened in Singapore a month before "Leila Majnun". A print of this movie is available in the US and it’s considered historical.
Two early movies were also shot in Sabah around that time. Finas Chairman, Mohd.Affendi Hamdan said, that two movies shot by Martin and Osa Johnson titled "Jungle Depths Of Borneo" and "Borneo", were filmed at Abai, Kinabatang in Sabah, in 1935.
However, the earliest film footages shot in Sabah, maybe in 1920, when the Johnsons took some footage of the island on their first trip to North Borneo (Sabah) and edited it into an earlier movie titled "Jungle Adventures" and "Wild Men & Beasts Of Borneo".
However, their 1937 feature film, "Borneo", was brought to Sabah last year and screened for the first time there at the Borneo Eco Film Festival. The September screening of the 75-minute movie, with sound, was made possible through the efforts of the Sabah Museum and the Johnsons’ Safari Museum based in Chanute, Kansas.
The cultural content in these movies are timeless. Apart from photographs and paintings, no other medium can record our history as accurately as cinema. Of course, movie makers do take creative licence when making movies (like the Johnsons did with "Borneo" and "Wild Men & Beasts Of Borneo"), but nevertheless, the films, including documentaries and newsreels, hold great cultural and historical significance.
In the US, an institution called the United States National Film Preservation Board was created in 1988. Under the Board, The National Film Registry (NFR) was formed along with the non-profit National Film Preservation Foundation.
The NFR names up to 25 “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films” every year showcasing the range and diversity of American film heritage in the hope that it would increase awareness for its (the movies) preservation in the Library of Congress.
What is unique about this effort is that the American public nominates the films to be considered for preservation and inclusion into the National Film Registry.
Since its creation, the NFR had received thousands of titles that were nominated but to date only 600 titles had been approved for listing and preserved in the Library Of Congress. The oldest is Newark Athlete, a film made in 1891.
Since then both culturally, aesthetically and significant American movies have made the list including "Matrix", "Star Wars", "Do The Right Thing" and "Raging Bull".
the latest movies approved last year for listing include "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" (1914), "3:10 To Yuma" (1957), "Breakfast at Tiffany’s" (1961), "Dirty Harry" (1971) and "A League of Their Own" (1992).
The Indonesian Scene
Indonesia, which has a cinema history slightly older than ours, established it's own film archives called Sinematek Indonesia in 1975, located at the Usmar Ismail Film in Jakarta.
It started as a private endeavour by film critic Misbach Yusa Biran who established, in 1970, a small private office and started collecting old Indonesian films with the help of one of Indonesia’s cinematic fathers, Asrul Sani.
In 1973, Pak Misbach, as he is known to friends, received a scholarship from the Dutch government to study the film archiving system adopted by a cinematheque in Amsterdam.
Two years later, when Ali Sadikin, the then governor of Jakarta, officially opened Sinematek Indonesia, who better to head it than Pak Misbach. Sinematek Indonesia became the first State-supported film archive in Asia.
Such an archive does not only look for old classic movies buried in vaults or storage containers around the world. Part of its responsibilities is to locate missing cinematic treasures.
According to local film critic and historian, Mustafar A.R. (who is also a vocal supporter for the establishment of a Malaysian Film Archive) an acclaimed Indonesian movie, "Apa Yang Kau Cari Palupi?", which won the Best Film Award at the 1970 Asia Pacific Film Festival in Jakarta went missing.
Mustafar said: “Years after winning the award, it was discovered that all the screening copies of the movie was missing and even the negatives in Tokyo had been destroyed. They can’t even trace the producers of the movie. There was a real concern that this little gem of a movie has been lost forever.”
However, in the late 1980s, a single print was discovered but due to the poor storage conditions, only the colour red remained in the print.
Today, Sinematek Indonesia has in its proper archives more than 2,700 titles including cinematic classics directed by Asrul Sani, Usmar Ismail, Teguh Karya and May Priyono.
In the Philippines
In The Philippines, the National Film Archive Of The Philippines was created only recently in 2011. So it’s really not too late for Malaysia.
It is entrusted to collect, preserve, and provide access to the audiovisual heritage of the Philippines. It was created under the auspices of the Film Development Council Of The Philippines and the Office Of The President.
In its official site, it announced its creation as that of an institution established and consequently given powers and functions to collect, conserve, and protect audiovisual materials as part of the nation’s historical, cultural, and artistic heritage.
NFAP is also duly mandated to take charge of the collection, archiving, preservation, management, and access provision of all Filipino films and other audiovisual materials produced in the Philippines and/or abroad.
With such an institution existing, film historians and researchers can have a reason to locate missing classics to be archived, preserved and maybe restored for future generations to view and appreciate.
For example, a friend of mine, award winning filmmaker and activities, Nick de Ocampo, went on a hunt to locate a missing piece of Filipino history. An early movie titled "Zamboanga", which is said to have been the first Filipino movie to vie for the Foreign Language Academy award in the US in 1936, was nowhere to be found in the country.
His search took him around the world and ended 10 years ago when he found it in the Library Of Congress of the United States.
At the launching of the NFAP last September, the Filipino film industry was once again overjoyed when another discovered and restored 1950 classic, "Genghis Khan", directed by Michael Conde was screened. At that launch, the original 35mm prints of Conde’s movie, discovered in the Venice Film Festival archives, was also handed over to the NFAP for safe keeping.
Poor archiving
Meanwhile, we do have our National Archives or Arkib Negara and while it is part of its responsibility to archive print, audio and video materials of our country’s history, it is not geared to become a bona fide film archive institution, one that requires a different set of mentality, system and management.
A quick look via its website’s search engine shows how seriously lacking its archival of our country’s film heritage is. I typed in "Hang Tuah" in the search engine and what did I see? A reference stating they have a video copy of the movie screened on Astro. Not even a proper DVD copy of the classic 1955 movie directed by acclaimed Indian director Phani Majumdar, what more a 35mm copy?
What was sadder was that "Hang Tuah" was deemed our first Eastmancolour movie ever and was the first Malay movie to enter the prestigious Berlin Film Festival and therefore had historical importance.
Actually, according to the National Archives act, every producer is required by law to send a copy of their films to be archived. However, enforcement is sorely lacking and has become something of a voluntary exercise.
For example, I doubt that my directorial feature film debut, "Tuah", starring Jamal Abdillah (1989), the only Malaysian entry to win an award at the 1989 Asia Pacific Film Festival in Jakarta, can be found in its original 35mm form in our National archives. However, I know a pristine 35mm copy is kept in the Fukuoka Film Library in Japan which purchased a print from the producer in the mid-90s.
Despite our short cinema history, there are easily more than a 1,000 titles produced since the mid-30s. Many are gone. Some may lie in private collections in Amsterdam, in London and maybe the United States.
Some are destroyed and we will never see them again. A famous story local film historians tell is that of how the late cinema magnate, Ho Ah Loke, in a fit of anger, threw his collection of movies into the sea.
The story has many versions. In one, Ah Loke only threw one film, "Pontianak", into a river. But it is a fact that Ah Loke did throw some of his films (into the sea or river), and because of that, many Cathay Keris titles cannot be viewed anymore.
There are many missing movies that need to be hunted down, purchased, restored and preserved. This would include the missing "The Long House" directed by Phani Majumdar in Sarawak.
This 1957 movie is important on many levels. It was Shaw’s second Eastmancolor film and Malay Film Productions first movie to be shot entirely in Sarawak. And it was the first ever local movie to shoot the natives of Sarawak as they were (bare breasted).
After its first screening, the movie was pulled from cinemas because of its risque images and kept by Shaw. Till today, no one knows what has happened to the prints. Did Shaw destroy it or was it kept somewhere in his vast vaults of old movies.
More recent acclaimed and award winning movies like Rahim Razali’s "Matinya Seorang Patriot" and "Tsu-Feh Sofia", Jamil Sulong’s "Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan", are rare and difficult to locate. P.Ramlee’s horror movie "Si Tora Harimau Jadian" is another missing film.
In the early 1980s, Cathay Organisation’s then chief Chu Weng Choon, went out of his way to locate and restore a 35mm copy of Hussein Haniff’s classic "Hang Jebat". This was one of the very few times when someone in the film industry had gone out of his way to find and restore a piece of Malaysian film history. The sad thing is though, no one knows where this restored 35mm restored copy is today.
Films are part of our legacy. Films are part of our culture and history and therefore need to be treated as such. We are not asking that every movie be archived and preserved — only those that are historically, aesthetically and culturally significant.
It’s time that a Malaysian National Film Archive is established and people employ those who know how to curate and archive our cinema history — not only the 35mm prints, but also alternatively, high quality restored HD prints, and related paraphernalia like movie magazines, movie posters and photographs.
Only then will future generations know and realise that our film history is actually rich and vast instead of just movies by the late P.Ramlee that television stations keep screening.
# UPDATE AKAN DILAKUKAN DARI MASA KE MASA.
ANDA MUNGKIN JUGA MEMINATI___
berapa banyakkah yang masih ada?
begitu kecewa gagal jadi pengarah filem
lawaknya mencuit dan menggelikan hati
berada dalam kamar sepi dalam kesepian
ahmad mahmood bintang di langit seni
ikon era gemilang filem melayu
kejelitaannya terletak didagu, ya tak?
Setelah diamati buku setebal 355 muka surat ini, kesimpulannya konsep penerbitannya harus dipuji kerana ia berlainan sekali dari apa yang pernah disajikan sebelum ini. Dilihat pula dari segi kesungguhan kedua-dua insan (Datuk Aziz Sattar dan Mustafar A.R.) yang pernah mengenali P. Ramlee, banyak betul perkara yang boleh kita ambil iktibar, dan 20 tahun bukan masa yang sedikit untuk mereka menyiapkan buku yang cukup bermutu ini. Memang benar karya peninggalan Seniman Agung Tan Sri P.Ramlee tiada bandingan dan sumbangannya dalam bidang seni terus abadi dan terpahat dalam minda semua lapisan masyarakat, namun di sebalik kehebatannya, buku ini yang turut menyelitkan gambar-gambar dari filem, sinopsis, ulasan dan pengalaman kedua penulis ketika pembikinan 66 filem P. Ramlee, ada memaparkan kisah menarik antaranya bagaimana P.Ramlee menceduk idea dari filem-filem luar untuk disesuaikan dengan filem-filem arahannya - KAKAK TUA.
Membaca artikel tulisan Encik Mustafar A.R. dan juga tulisan Encik Anwardi Jamil serta lahirnya filem dokumentari "Return To Nostalgia" arahan Mr.Woo Ming Ji, saya merasakan penubuhan Sinematek Malaysia sangat perlu bagi melindung, menjaga, memelihara dan mencari filem keluaran negara kita (khazanah seni) baik yang lama mahupun yang baru. Oleh yang demikian apakata kalau Encik Mustafar A.R. mengambil inisiatif supaya Filem Klasik (FK) bergabung dengan Seniman menganjurkan satu forum (diskusi) bertajuk "Menuju Ke Arah Penubuhan Sinematik Malaysia" dengan ahli-ahli panel terdiri daripada Encik Mustafar A.R. sendiri, Encik Anwardi Jamil, Mr.Woo Ming Ji dan Encik Hassan Muthalib disamping Encik Zed Zaidi dilantik sebagai pengerusi. Selepas forum buat satu memorandum dan kutip 1,000 tandatangan orang-orang filem (sebagai penyokong) mendesak KP Finas, Kamil Othman (salinan hantar kepada Salleh Said Kruak, Menteri Komunikasi dan Multimedia), bertindak menubuhkan Sinematik Malaysia yang sangat penting ini - Kamarul Baharin (via e-mail), Putrajaya, WP.
ReplyDeleteSatu cadangan yang sangat baik daripada Encik Kamarul Baharin yang patut kita ramai-ramai sokong. Jika ada forum tersebut saya akan ikut serta dan turut turunkan tandatangan menyokong 100% Sinematik Malaysia diwujudkan - Adman Osman, Kpg. Pandan, KL.
DeleteSaya sudah menghubungi melalui e-mail dengan Zed Zaidi, Presiden Seniman. Tetapi setakat ini saya belum lagi mendapat feedback. Saya masih menunggu, dan di harap jawapan darinya akan saya terima sedikit masa lagi.
DeleteMenarik artikel ini dan lebih menarik lagi kegigihan Woo Ming Ji menerbitkan filem dokumentari "Return To Nostalgia" yang menggambarkan usaha (bersama krewnya) mencari filem (khazanah negara) dianggap sudah hilang, "Seruan Merdeka". Oleh kerana kajian telah dibuat, noveletnya pun sudah di sketch (macam buat filem juga), apakata kalau Woo Ming Ji mengarahkan (buat semula atau remake) cerita "Seruan Merdeka" itu dengan mengemukakan pelakon-pelakon baru, teknologi filem terkini, berwarnawarni dan berbidang luas. Dari segi copyright tidak ada masalah kerana ia bukan kepunyaan Shaw Brothers atau pun Cathay Keris Film, lagipun cucu Christy masih hidup, boleh minta kebenaran. Greenlight Pictures pun boleh jadi produser, minta peruntukan kewangan dari Finas atau lain-lain pihak yang ada duit. Ini tentu menarik, dan pasti ramai yang mahu menonton - Azlan Shah (via e-mail), Puncak Alam, Selangor.
ReplyDeleteSaya sokong 100% cadangan Encik Azlan Shah. Kalau Mr.Woo Ming Ji boleh lakukan, satu lagi sejarah filem tercatat di Malaysia - Camarudin, N9.
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