Local Dystopian Thriller Pendatang Hits Youtube Dec 21

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‘Pendatang’, billed as Malaysia’s first fully crowdfunded movie, will be available for viewing on YouTube this Thursday (Dec 21).
Director Ng Ken Kin told Malaysiakini he was inspired by the positive response from viewers at screenings held at the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival and Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.
Indeed, the journey towards getting the film made was in itself a tale worth telling, as it was only saved through the kindness of strangers.
Based on Lim Boon Siang’s screenplay, ‘Pendatang’ is a dystopian thriller set in a fictional Malaysia where the different races are not allowed to mix, by force of draconian law.
The story begins when a Chinese family moves into their new “allocated” house and discovers a small Malay girl hiding there. Should they just get rid of her and put her in mortal danger, or risk their safety and lives by trying to smuggle her back to the “Malay area”?
The movie’s director Ng Ken Kin said he is excited that the movie is now ready for wider viewing.
Director Ng Ken Kin“It was a great experience making the film and I hope the audience will enjoy the ride.”
He said pre-production started in late 2022 and principal photography started in February 2023, with the original release targetted for August 2023.
“Our post-production took more time than expected and we had to delay the release. Everything finally wrapped up in October 2023,” Ng explained.
Many have expressed curiosity about the film and the filmmakers have received invitations to hold more private screenings.
When asked what he hopes the audience will take away with them after watching the movie, Ng said:
“I hope the audience and producers will embrace the different kinds of stories that we can tell. Malaysia has a lot of potential and it would be a waste to just stick to the regular formula.”
A story of increasing division
Screenplay writer Lim Boon Siang, who is happy his work has finally been made into a film, added, “I think the director, the crew, and the cast did a great job with the limited budget. Some parts are different from the script, but I understand this is Ng’s take on the story and he made the changes for good reason.
“I’m just grateful to everyone involved, especially the producers, the director, and the backers, for making it happen.”
The story touches on the increasing divide of our multi-racial society and Lim said he had the idea for the story before 2015.
“The movie still resonates with me. I guess it shows that not much has changed, unfortunately.”
Lim is currently translating web novels but still has several horror-thriller scripts yet to be produced.
“Among them, ‘Jadian’ and ‘Makhluk’ have been optioned by Kuman Pictures through competitions, and both scripts touch on environmental issues in Malaysia,” he said.
On Aug 15, 2022, Kuman Films launched its crowdfunding efforts via Indiegogo and their target was to hit RM300,000 to make the film by Oct 6.
Kuman Films managing director and producer of ‘Pendatang’ Amir Muhammad said the film would be shelved if they did not hit the target amount.
He said the whole reason behind the crowdfunding exercise is so they can make the movie free for everyone and thus using conventional methods of funding would defeat the purpose.
However, ‘Pendatang’ only managed to raise RM161,637 as of Sept 28, 2022.
Amir was still hoping for a miracle and told Malaysiakini, “We are hoping the Malaysian stereotype of being ‘last-minute’ is true.”
Right after news broke that the movie was struggling to get funding, support poured in and, in a dramatic turnaround, they managed to crowdsource RM335,981 as of Oct 4, 2022, surpassing its RM300,000 target.
The extra money also meant they could pay off the crowdfunding platform’s RM28,614 fee, with change to spare.
For more information on ‘Pendatang’, you can go to the Kuman Pictures website.
‘Pendatang’ was always meant to be screened on YouTube and this was mentioned even when they were seeking crowdfunding.
With the platform, the filmmakers neither have to be concerned about censorship nor the length of the film if it were to be screened in cinemas.
It is open to anyone who has access to YouTube. - Mkini

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