Instructor: Yow Chong Lee

Course Synopsis

This course discusses issues related to the formation of Malaysian Cinema. It offers the students a better understanding of the history of Malaysian Cinema and its link to the stakeholders. Throughout this five week's online classes, topics such as the early history of cinema in Malaya and Singapore, the golden period of the studio era and the trend in the film industry will be covered.

This OpenCourseWare@UNIMAS and its related materials are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Learning Objectives:

To be able to:

• Make the connection of the cultural interaction of the past(precolonial and colonial Malaysia) with the film culture established in the 20thcentury.
• Capture the features of pre-cinematic culture
• Explain the influences of socio-cultural past to the present filmmaking scene in Malaysia.

Learning Objectives:

• To explain the early film culture (viewing, exhibiting and promoting) in Singapore and Malaya.
• To discuss on “culture” – What constitutes “culture”? Is “culture” fixed forever?

Learning Objectives:

• To debate on the “originality” of films
• To explain and discuss:
  • the developmentof the early film industry (how it came about)
  • the effects of Japanese Invasionon the film industry in Malaya and Singapore

Learning Objectives:

• To describe the studio system formed after the post war period – how it worked
• To identify studios existed after the post-war period
• To explain the early film exhibition in Borneo

Learning Objectives:

• To identify the directors – their background, films & contributions
• To explain the reasons of their employment