Yasmin Ahmad’s ‘Talentime’ to be featured at True Colors Film Festival

Actors Pamela Chong and Mahesh Jugal Kishor in a scene from Yasmin Ahmad's 'Talentime'. Photo: TCFF

For its inaugural edition, True Colors Film Festival (TCFF) is showcasing 30 award winning features and short films carrying the theme “One World, One Family’ by exploring topics on connection, diversity, hope, dreams and transformation.

These works are from 15 countries, and they can viewed online for free during the festival’s period, Dec 3-12.

Two of them are Malaysian films – Talentime (2009), which is the last film from the late Yasmin Ahmad, and Here Away (2019) which centres on a refugee from Yemen living in Malaysia, from director Amin Kamrani.

This is the second time Yasmin’s films have been featured at this year’s international film festival. At the recent 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival, a digitally restored Mukhsin was screened at cinemas in Tokyo, Japan.

Other films in the TCFF list include Listen (which is Portugal’s Oscar entry for Best International Film category); Mental, a 2008 film from Japan which won the Best Documentary at Busan International Film Festival and the Dubai International Film Festival; Poop On Poverty from India which received Best Film at the Golden Horseshoe Grand Prix 2014 and Taiwan’s Darkness And Light that received accolades at Tokyo Film Festival, Golden Horse Film Festival and Taipei Film Festival in 1999.

TCFF also launches on International Day of Disability. Hence the festival is presenting a selection of films with disability as the theme.

Among them are 37 Seconds (2019, Japan) about a comic book artist who has cerebral palsy; Elsewhere (2015, Italy) that gives viewers a window into the thoughts of a person with Down syndrome; and Over The Horizon (2017, Russia) which centres on a blind photographer who travels the world to shoot images.

Singaporean director Tan Bee Thiam, whose film Tiong Bahru Social Club premiered at this year's Busan International Film Festival, is the festival’s lead curator.

Tan said in a statement: “We hope that the carefully curated film selection will deepen our understanding of what an inclusive world can be and equip us with the vocabulary and sensitivity to discuss social issues, such as disability, so that these dialogues are captured and represented well.”

Feature films can be streamed via The Projector Plus, while short films will be available on TCFF website.