Dilemma of Indie Documentary Filmmaker Malaysia

Abstract

Documentary films are so-called non-fiction films that have the elements of persuasion, objective content and candid cinematic techniques. It is an important propaganda tool for assisting the government in the development of the country and changing people's attitudes. The Freedom Film Fest, held annually since 2003 by the Community Communications Center, provides indie documentaries an alternative and more freedom for indie documentary filmmakers to represent social, economic and political issues. However, this genre of media has not received much attention especially from the youth or film industry as it is considered a less attractive medium. Most indie documentary filmmakers no longer produce documentaries as they are not well received. The objective of this study is to identify the problems faced by documentary filmmakers, especially those called indie filmmakers in Malaysia. Interviews with five indie documentary film makers and filmmakers were conducted in this research to examine the problems they faced in producing documentary films. The results have shown that the lack of distribution and broadcasting platforms, finance, promotions, legal restrictions, production techniques and flawed production plans are the main problems faced by indie documentary filmmakers in the Malaysian industry. Keywords: Indie documentary film, documentary filmmaker, Malaysia film industry, broadcasting and distribution, Critical thinking.