Kurus is a coming of age story about a 15 year old boy, Ali, who has to come to terms with growing up with a single father (Namron), and a nosey neighbor (Mislina Mustapha) seemingly eyeing for Budi’s affection. With the arrival of a new teacher, Miss Liew (Carmen Soo), Ali finds himself developing a crush on her. Ali and his best friend Hassan spend the day fishing, getting bullied by the male-female team of Eli and Iqa, and experiencing the awkwardness of being a teenager.

Director’s Bio: Woo Ming Jin
Woo Ming Jin was Born on 5 August 1976 in the Malaysian town of Ipoh, Woo Ming Jin received a scholarship from San Diego State University to study film and television production in 1999. Ming Jin’s debut feature film Monday Morning Glory premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and was invited to the Pusan International Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival (Forum), and Locarno International Film Festival, among others. Ming Jin’s second film, The Elephant and The Sea, hailed by Variety magazine as a “Brilliant, striking new voice on the East Asian scene…”, has won several awards and been selected to screen in more than 15 film festivals worldwide, including the Rotterdam, Los Angeles, Seattle, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Torino, and Karlovy Vary Film Festivals.

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Two boys, Li Ahh and Li Ohm, grow up motherless. Their father, Sui, is a workaholic who shuts himself out of the world. The boys' quest to reach out to their father leads them to adopt a puppy. But when the animal is sent away for being a nuisance, the boys are devastated. For the first time, Sui realizes that all his children ask is simply to love and be loved.

Director’s Bio: Liew Seng Tat
Liew Seng Tat was born on 30th September 1979, in a rather notorious area called Jinjang. He is known for making dark comedy - hilarious, ridiculous, absurd and yet touching. Since his first short film was shown in the Malaysian Shorts series in the Malaysian Film Club, he has never failed to win the audience award. He got a lot of attention with his first short film "Bread skin with strawberry Jam". The film won Best Short Film in the 8th MVA, and in the following year, he win almost all the top prizes for short films categories, with his "Not Cool" and "Flower". Flower In The Pocket is his first feature length film, which has won Liew two awards in the 12th Pusan International Film Festival, the New Currents Award and the KNN Audience Award.

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In a country such as Malaysia piracy isn't just common: it's indispensable. Everything from clothes and shoes to CD's and video games are available in bootleg form. Piracy has allowed the underprivileged to afford over-priced sneakers, exposed the ignorant to the wonders of non-top 40 music and increased the cinema vocabulary of an entire nation through pirated DVD's. Told through the eyes of the consumer, Ciplak brings viewers into the world of pirated DVD's as well as tell the story of a young man facing up to his future.

Director’s Bio: Khairil M. Bahar
Khairil M. Bahar’s first feature length film, ‘Ciplak’, a movie about DVD piracy was reviewed in NewMan magazine recently as “…possibly the best Malaysian movie we’ve ever seen.” He has also directed and edited music videos for One Buck Short, Y2k, Dragon Red and Liang’s debut single “Show Me Whatcha Got.” Khairil is also one of the founders of FYI Entertainment (an independent record label), plays in two bands Y2k and Triple 6 Poser.

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My Indie Rock Darling is a road movie centered on the musical spirit of today’s youth. Simply put, it revolves around the journey of four teenagers from the countryside as they make their way to teeming Kuala Lumpur for the first time. The reason for their trip is to catch their favourite bands live, and in the course of their travels they encounter various obstacles that challenge their friendship. The overarching theme of the movie is the sincerity and honesty inherent in friendships, and how those traits fare when put on a road test. Will the four friends make it to the gig in one piece after all their travails, and will they ever be the same again?

Director’s Bio: Razaisyam Rashid
Razaisyam Rashid was born on 28th June 1985 and holds a Bachelor’s Degree of Art in Media Studies from the University of Malaya. Drawing inspiration from such august filmmakers as Stanley Kubrick, Michel Gondry, Quentin Tarantino, P Ramlee and Joko Anwar, Razaisyam first burst onto the local film scene with his 2005 short Davos … Pandanglah Aku. Two more short films, Konsekuensi in 2007 and 2008’s Jolie, followed, earning him growing recognition and acclaim. My Indie Rock Darling is his first feature-length movie.

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October 20th, 1947 was a historical day in the Malayan rakyat's constitutional struggle for independence from British colonialism. This short documentary chronicles the events that culminated in the Malaya-wide 'Hartal' day of protest against the undemocratic Federation of Malaya Constitutional Proposals devised by the British colonial regime, and the rise of the rakyat's democratic movement in Malaya, ten years before Merdeka.

Director’s Bio: Fahmi Reza
Fahmi Reza is a self-taught graphic artist, designer and documentary filmmaker. He is committed to combining art, activism and politics to explore the role of art in movements for social change. In 2007, he directed the critically-acclaimed political documentary 10 Tahun Sebelum Merdeka, which was awarded the Most Outstanding Human Rights Film at the 2007 Freedom Film Fest. He is currently working on a follow-up film entitled Revolusi '48 which is a documentary about the untold story of the forgotten Malayan Revolution of 1948.

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The Dram Projects
The Dram Projects (TDP) is a privately-funded, non-profit organisation that facilitates arts-based activities which give youth the opportunity to express themselves. TDP supports the bi-monthly open mic gig Project OMG and is a co-facilitator of cultural exchange programme Project Connect. It is also the main sponsor of Reading Room, a library facility for children from marginalised communities. TDP, with the support of Singapore-based WordForward, is the organiser of KL Poetry Slam. For enquiries email info@dramprojects.com or call Daphne at 016-328 1513

Word Forward Limited
Word Forward Limited is a not-for-profit organization created in March 2003 with a vision to build a strong, active and supportive literary community in Singapore by facilitating regular events for writers and the general public. We have established ourselves as strong presence in the Singapore literary milieu specializing in the promotion of the literary arts, cross arts, community and arts education programs. More than 50,000 Singaporeans of all ages have attended our events and workshops.

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The Instant Café Theatre Company
Founded in 1989, Instant Café is a constantly evolving ensemble of performer / writer / collaborators now led by Artistic Director Jo Kukathas. Their ongoing mission is towards forging a theatre that is strongly committed to freedom of expression in a country where self-censorship is a daily reality. Its work ranges from devised work to new writing. It performs contemporary and classical texts from both home and abroad and is committed to inter- as well as intra-cultural collaborations

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Rather Peculiar Theatre 
Rather Peculiar Theatre (RPT) seeks to collaborate with all language based theatre groups in Malaysia to create productions of professional integrity whilst seeking new theatrical expressions to reflect current climate of opinions & the historical legacy of our nation. Its maiden production was a bilingual one woman play, 'Gadis Jalan Burmah', written by Shahredza Minhat (Tat Nenas, Toast!) under the aegis of dramalab, performed at the Stor, Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka in 2006. Recently in April 2008, via collaboration with KLPac, RPT presented RACE Four Original Short Plays (written by Ridzwan Othman, Shanon Shah, Kimmy Kiew & Fauzuly Hamdan Tahir aka D'boy) in Pentas 2, receiving rave reviews throughout.

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Cinejam: "Rock & Roll Attitude in 25 Frames Per Second!"
Back in early 2007, local musician Alda Wong offered local film director Tony Pietra a slot to hold regular film screenings in KL Jam Asia, a popular live music venue in Sri Hartamas. Tony saw the chance to fulfill some semblance of his two pipe dreams, which is to run his own grind-house cinema and a CBGB-type punk rock club. Well, it was far from the real deal, but organizing makeshift film shows in a rock 'n' roll joint was the next best thing ... especially since it gave Tony the opportunity to contribute to the Malaysian independent film scene (being a struggling filmmaker himself). With a hand from friend and fellow filmmaker Khairil M. Bahar, Cinejam was thus born.

By granting indie film folks another platform to feature their work in public (like Filmmakers Anonymous), but this time in an indie music establishment, Cinejam aimed to bring denizens of both underground scenes together into one place. Since indie film and indie music are bound by the same DIY ethic, it made sense to further strengthen ties between both crowds. This became Cinejam's mission statement ... but alas, due to conflicting schedules and other complications, Cinejam went on life support after three runs throughout the year. But thanks to Klue Urbanscapes, it's now back with a vengeance! Rock 'n' roll sound, rock 'n' roll camera, and action! If you wish to submit films or videos for future Cinejam escapades, e-mail: tony.pietra@gmail.com

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A collection of short films and music videos selected by KLue:

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