No Need To Be Poor

No Need to Be Poor

A brief, unreliable survey by filmmaker Mahen Bala.

A brief, unreliable survey of documentaries produced by the Malayan Film Unit (later Filem Negara) in the ‘60s. From Malaya to Malaysia, desa to bandar, what were the elements foregrounded as desirable and aspirational in narratives of nation-building and transformative modernity? How have these narratives and their embodied values persisted or developed in the present? I’m not sure, that’s why I’m asking these questions. Come and join the conversation.