120 Malay Movies (HB) by Amir Muhammad (Matahari Books -- 2010) RM60.00Book talk with video by Amir Muhammad at Silverfish Books, 58-1 Jalan Telawi, Bangsar Baru, 59100 Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 21st August 2010 at 5.00 pm. (Amir says the first edition won't go to the chain bookshops! Yay.) The event will finish before buka puasa. (Admission is free.)
120 MALAY MOVIES is a romp through the films that were made in Singapore and then in Kuala Lumpur from 1948 to 1972. (120 represents about a third of all Malay-language films during that period, and this book features most of the famous titles as well as some overlooked gems.) Malaysian writer and filmmaker Amir Muhammad watched them in chronological order and responds to the stories in his own contemporary context. How was the world depicted in those films different from the one we live in today? This book is a serio-comic interrogation into how the iconic fantasies of the past might have unexpected reverberations in the present. This hardcover book also contains hundreds of photographs, and the first edition is not sold in the chain bookshops. View three sample chapters here!
