The people’s storyteller
> Local filmmaker Mahi Ramakrishnan has spent years highlighting social issues through her documentaries
subject for her next documentary feature – a look at the Hindu transgender community in Malaysia.
“I have many friends who are transgender,” Mahi says. “I have listened [to their stories of] the abuse they have [suffered from] a society that is not accepting of them. I want to show the layers of discrimination this community faces.
“The Hindu religion is very embracing of everyone, and I want to show that [transgenders] have the right to be a part of [society] like everyone else.”
Aside from its provocative topic, the documentary is also unique for another reason: Mahi will have a co-director for the first time – her daughter, Savita Saravanan, 22, who is in her final semester of studies for her mass communication degree.
“It will be a mother-anddaughter team working on this documentary,” Mahi says.
“Working together can be difficult, because no two people will see a subject in the same way, and I cannot let my ego get in the theSun, stories, and also given her the strength to tackle sensitive issues in her film, despite the risk of attracting controversy.
“I am a storyteller and if there is a story that needs to be told, I will try to tell it, regardless of [any] backlash,” she says.
“I look at myself as [merely] an intermediary.”
She insists it is merely her who becomes his muse and lover.
The Shape of Water Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy romance is a hot favourite for the 2018 Oscars. After taking the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in September last year, the film won best director and best original score at the Golden Globes on Jan 7.
The Mexican director’s film tells an unusual love story between Elisa, a mute custodian at a high-security government laboratory, and a captured amphibian creature.
Sally Hawkins, Doug Jones, Michael Shannon, and Octavia job to report people’s stories. “I would not even refer to myself as ‘the voice of the oppressed’.”
She adds that films are great way to make people compassionate about issues.
“That is the reason I dabble in film. I really believe it is ordinary people like you and me [who] make the positive change we want to see taking place in the world.” Spencer star.
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote It has taken Terry Gilliam no less than 17 years to get his modern adaptation of Don Quixote into cinemas.
After the setbacks of his first attempt with Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort ( as told in the documentary Lost in la Mancha), the Brazil director has tried many times to get the project off the ground.
But, in the end, the former Monty Python star brought the project to life with Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce. – AFP-Relaxnews