15Malaysia

This post is a couple of days overdue, at least. But better late than never, especially since this project is ongoing. So, what is 15Malaysia?

15Malaysia quite simply is a local short film project. It involves 15 short films made by 15 of our very own filmmakers. This initiative is produced by Pete Teo who is local singer-songwriter with the help of P1. Yes, P1 the WiMAX people. They’re the ones who are sponsoring the project and making this possible.

The 15 short films are directed by known filmmakers like Amir Muhammad and the late Yasmin Ahmad, as well as relatively unknown directors. The actors in the short films aren’t nobodies either. The cast of these films feature actors, musicians and even politicians, the most notably of which is Khairy Jamaluddin.

What are the films about? Well, a lot of things.

All our films have socio-political subject matters. These vary from corruption, race relations, inflation, Islamic banking, social apathy, ethical commerce, pedophilia, government health warnings and so on. Some are funny, other serious – all try to deal with aspects of Malaysian life. Each filmmaker was responsible for choosing his or her own subject matter.

The brilliant thing about this project is that all 15 of the short films are available for viewing and download on the Web, entirely FREE. However, not all 15 films are available just yet. A new short film is made available every couple of days. The project was launched this past Monday and a film by Ho Yuhang titled Potong Saga started things off. Yesterday, Yasmin Ahmad’s short film, Chocolate was released. You get the idea. Tomorrow, we’ll be getting The Tree by Amir Muhammad, which I’m very much looking forward to. The last film to be released will be Rojak! by the Suleiman Brothers on September 16th.

Where can you watch or download these films, you say? Well 15Malaysia have their very own website at 15malaysia.com. It’s a very well done site with a lot of information but very simplistic in design. Be sure to check it out if you haven’t already and download the short films.

Here are a couple other 15Malaysia links:

Their Facebook fanpage already have over 35,000 fans. http://www.facebook.com/15malaysia

Their Twitter account has already amassed an astonishing 782 followers. http://twitter.com/15malaysia

You can also follow Pete Teo on Twitter. And, of course, myself as well at @mikecampton.

To end this post, here are some trailers for the short films. Remember to check the films out on 15malaysia.com.