Venue: The British Council, Jalan Bukit Aman, KL
Time: 8 pm
Tuesday 10 March
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam
Bill Couterie; US, 1987, 87 min., col. bw
An extraordinarily moving account of the Vietnam War, told via news footage and letters written by American soldiers fighting and dying in one of the most violent and controversial conflagrations of this century. Gut-wrenching human drama with excellent use of music ranging from I960's rock classics to Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA. The letters are read by stars including Robert De Niro, Michael J. Fox, Ellen Burstyn, Kathleen Turner, Sean Penn, Matt Dillon. "An intensely moving and disturbing experience" (Time Out).
Tuesday 17 March
Malaysian Shorts II
In October 1998 we successfully ran the first round of Malaysian shorts featuring works of filmmakers like Wong Hoy Cheong, Yuhang, Bernard Chaulv, Ben Rongen, Din Said, Haneem Bamadhaj and Bernice Chauly. In this follow-up programme, we show works by Patrick Lim, Amir Muhammad, Ann Lee and Lai Nyiou Nyiou. We hope to have the filmmakers themselves present to talk about their films. Also included is an acclaimed short Portrait of Solitude by young Japanese filmmaker Junko Miura.
Tuesday 31 March
Mabo - Life of an Island Man
Trevor Graham; Australia, 1997, 87 min., col.
A highly-acclaimed documentary on the life of Eddie Koiki Mabo, an aboriginal man from Murray Island in the Torres Strait, whose claim that Murray Islanders held "native title" to three islands was upheld by Australia's High Court in 1992 in a landmark judgement that laid to rest the legal fiction that Australia was an empty land (which palpably it wasn't) when first occupied by white people. Winner of many awards, including best documentary at the AFI awards and the Sydnev Film Festival. "You must see Mabo ... it's emotionally devastating, sometimes funny, and eventually uplifting" (Filmink).
