6 Inspirational Female Malaysian Directors Which You Should Know

Most movie buffs know great directions from across the oceans like Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, Edgar Wright and the likes. But we tend to overlook the great ones in our own country, and better yet, the female ones that are more often ignored and unnoticed by most of our fellow Malaysians. So here’s 6 great Malaysian female directors and filmmakers that everyone should know about.

1) Yasmin Ahmad

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Of course the first on this list would be the late Yasmin Ahmad, who was well-known for being a great film director, writer, and scriptwriter. She was also the executive creative director for Leo Burnett in Kuala Lumpur. She is well known for her humorous TV commercials and films that also capture the heart and love that surpasses cross-cultural barriers such as her ads for Petronas. Her works have also won many awards both locally and internationally. However in Malaysia, her films tend to become highly controversial due to them depicting events and relationships that are usually seen as forbidden by social conservatives.

2) Tan Poi Sin

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This TV drama and documentary director-producer started out as a screenwriter and was a producer-director in Astro. Her praiseworthy efforts in historical research landed her the role of Assistant Director in Astro AEC’s amazing documentary, ‘My Home!’. Her directional work also includes Journey with Jason, Taste with Jason and Hai Zi. She has even produced, directed and wrote the script for New Village Stories, which broke the rating record of locally produced Chinese content show on paid TV. With these on her resume, she has received tremendous response from the Chinese community.

3) Datin Paduka Shuhaimi Baba

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Born in Negeri Sembilan, this Malaysian film director has won many awards in her lifetime. She landed her first award as the Best Director in the 13th Malaysian Film Festival and had also broken the conformity by being the first female director to win this award. She has also won the Best Director in the foreign language category at the 19th Brussels International Independent Film Festival in 1997.

4) Low Ngai Yuen

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This local film director is also a producer, actress and TV show host. She is also a women’s right activist and an entrepreneur in the arts industry, leading 3 NGOs; Global Entrepreneurship Movement (GEM), Kakiseni and WOMEN:girls. She has directed the production of short films and documentaries that advocate women’s rights and is also the co-founder for 4 business service companies.

5) Erma Fatima

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Her directorial debut was ‘Perempuan Melayu Terakhir’ which is about a producer of western drama who travels to Malaysia’s east coast in search for his identity as a Malay. She had received the Best Director Award at the 7th Pyongyang International Film Festival in North Korea for this film. The film had also won Best Story, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Most Promising Actor and the Special Jury Award at the 14th Malaysian Film Festival.

6) Tan Chui Mui

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Chui Mui had graduated from Multimedia University with a Bachelors of Multimedia in Animation& Film, with her debut feature film winning several awards such as The Swiss Oikocredit award at Fribourg, the Tiger Award at 36th International Film Festival and the New Currents Awards and Fipresci Award at the 11th Pusan International Film Festival in 2006. Since then, Chui Mui has been recognised as being at the forefront of a new wave of Malaysian filmmakers who deal with social issues. Her film, Year Without A Summer had received the Special Mention Awards (Cinema of the Future) at the 13th Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema in 2011.