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120 Malay Movies



Author: Amir Muhammad
ISBN: 978-9834484545
Pages: 432 (hardcover)
Layout & Cover: Liza Manshoor (Eclectic Design)

Printer: Vinlin
Distributor: Academe

Price: RM60 / US$40 (Amazon)

First Edition: July 2010

Second Edition: October 2010


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. The Introduction can be downloaded here.