Odoi Odu: the first all-Dusun language film to win a national level award
March 2nd, 2009Odoi Odu (Oh Grandmother) won the grand prize of the second edition of the ASTRO Kirana Short Film Awards 2008/2009, defeating 9 other finalists, bagging RM100,000 worth of a feature length movie production budget, RM5,000 cash and a trophy. Other than that, the short film was showcased to 2.4 million households in Malaysia, Indonesia & Brunei.
Some screenshots
The competition was organised by Astro Kirana for budding Malaysian filmmakers:
It is part of Astro’s long term vision and commitment to nurture up and coming talents in film-making by providing a platform for them to showcase their creation. We hope to build a sustainable pool of talent to elevate the quality of our local film industry to be at par with global standards. The competition is open to all filmmakers including the industry’s professionals, practicing filmmakers, students, as well as free-lance directors.
It was directed, produced, screenwritten, cinematographed, edited, sounded and art directed by Farizie Morinding of Kg Lohan, Ranau, Sabah.
In other words, a one-man video production company using apparently only Windows Movie Maker as editing software defeated national all-comers in his first attempt!
If you’re wondering why he has 4 trophies in front of him, it’s because apart from winning the Grand Prize, he also won Best Direction, Best Story and Best Performance.
The almost 20-minute long movie is available for viewing at Astro Kirana’s site. Watch it and tell me what you think.
The film might’ve lost in the Best Editing and Best Videography categories but to me, the most important is the story and performance. In less than 20 minutes, it managed to project a truly heart-rending story of the daily life of a poor old woman living alone and ostracised by her fellow villagers. She is truly a rural person, someone who’s never heard of what the world perceives as trendy clothing brands like Fenchurch, someone who doesn’t know that French Connection is the name of both a movie and and apparel brand, and definitely doesn’t care that Jack & Jones sounds like a whisky brand. She’s concerned about the more important things in life – survival.
I would even go further and say that Lukiah Mahadi, who played the lead character is a vastly better actress than most of Malaysia’s celebrity actors/actresses! Even the crying scene was natural, no overacting melodrama there. I say this as someone who would rather watch classic movies rather than the latest blockbusters, as long they get good reviews at IMDB and the world’s most acclaimed movie critic, Roger Ebert.
Congratulations to all involved, and may this be a great start to the long road towards world-class awards like the Golden Globe and of course the holy grail: the Academy Awards.
… definitely no office furniture seen in that short film …
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congrats to him.. who said Sabahan can’t do better movie.. we can follow the footsteps of James Wan from Kuching also by creating good stories like SAW and become cult amongst all movie-goers.
Thanks for the info. Will check him out.
All i can say is, Yes!! beautiful film!! it touched me man!
Sabahans have lots of potentials…proven in both of your entries.
this is what we call “sabah’s own slumdog millionaire’….!!!!
the whole crews/actors/actress deserved an emmy award……..
Slumdog had a budget of USD15 million. Odoi Odu, probably not even 0.01% of that.
congrats. hopefully this will make Sabahans more interested in movie making. and then from amateur, to professional style.
Only Windows Movie Maker and win 4 awards? Incredible!! Congrats to him….
I wonder if I only use PAINT and win best picture (graphic) :)
Not impossible I should think.
Even from the intro of Odoi Odu was powerful enough statement, a belief by KadazanDusunMurut people that the soul of the dead fly to Mount Kinabalu and rest in peace there. Very coherent and complement the ending.
The storyline: Getting an elderly person to act like that was not easy. But she was a natural actress! She look convincingly sad and not looking at the cam too! Same goes to the other actors.
The sceneries: Very nice indeed. Coupled with the occasional sound of traditional music instruments, very mystical, it reminds me of Thailand’s Nang Nak film – sometimes scary! Very creative! He managed to do away with modern instruments to create the mood.
This film was almost a “silent movie”. I think it didn’t need much dialogue anyway. Let the actions tell the whole story. Action speaks louder than words.
Shot framings / angles were rather amateurish or “home movie” style. But that was not the point. He taught us a lesson and proved to us that cheap RM1500 consumer level cams were good enough to render a good story. This reminds me of Blair Witch Project which was shot using a consumer camcorder only! It made it to the cinemas worldwide!
The way he zoomed out for the ending was a very creative way of ending a story! Well thought of indeed!
I could only list 2 minor downsides, reluctantly however :-
1. To improve on the English subtitles;
2. The wedding photo should have been in Black & White or at least Sepia toned,
afterall, it was supposed to be a very very old photo.
Farizie, you made us Sabahans very proud.
Congratulations! I salute your work and creativity.
I am not a filmmaker myself, but I learned from observations.
I learned something about filmmaking on the Internet.
I am a videographer/Photographer, doing it part time only.
macam cerita GOD MUST BE CRAZY…
am trully impressed with the lead actress. she’s so natural, she acted brilliantly! One particular scene that got me misty-eyed was of her inside her hut, leaking roof over her head. she cut a sad solitary figure longing for her beloved departed husband, the kitten and the rain..oh man, that’s freakin’ sad
Yes, I totally agree with you. You are have an observant eye on good acting. But I think the kitten was equally brilliant too in its own class! Let’s hope his next movie would still have that kind of impact on us. Afterall, it’s not rare to find award-winning directors in Malaysia making it to the limelight once or twice, and then failed in their next attempts to sustain their standards. Even singers, etc. No offend ya. Then they remain unheard of for a while, maybe due to frustrations or felt that at least their names were listed in the Hall of Fame. Determination or patience is vital. It does take time to produce a good movie.
and the visual of mount kinabalu in this movie reminds me of Rambo 4 – where Slyvester Stallone also featured Mount Kinabalu in that 4th edition of John Rambo movie, WITHOUT permission or crediting Sabah!!!!