Director shoots muhibbah film on smartphone

Compiled by SIRA HABIBU, C. ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN

FREELANCE director Ho Yuhang (pic) took up Vivo Malaysia’s National Day-inspired challenge to produce a short film to portray multiracial unity and harmony, Harian Metro reported.

He used his smartphone to shoot the film lasting nine minutes and 44 seconds to showcase the values of friendship, loyalty, tradition and culture in a school setting.

Ho succeeded in evoking the muhibbah spirit in the short film entitled Kita (Us).

He also drove home the point that violence does not resolve problems.

The video clip begins with a teacher introducing a new student named Foo Kok Keong, sparking laughter among his classmates because of his “untrendy” name.

Ho intentionally used the name of Malaysia’s former badminton champion, seeing that the younger generation is not well aware of him.

In Kita, Foo’s family does not support his passion for drawing.

He then paints a wau bulan (large kite) mural together with fellow student Nadia.

Wau bulan, well known as the logo of Malaysia Airlines, depicts the freedom to fly.

Ho hopes that those watching the film would get his message.

“What is interesting is that we return to something that forms the core of our spirit,” Ho was quoted as saying.

Ho, 49, who directed such movies as Rain Dogs (2006) and the acclaimed At the End of Daybreak (2009), also acted in Nasi Lemak 2.0.

He was a winner of the inaugural FT OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Awards in New York in 2015.

> To resolve frequent water

supply disruptions, villagers in Gua Musang, Kelantan, resorted to sourcing an alternative clean water supply on their own, Berita Harian reported.

It took the villagers in Kampung Batu Papan two weeks to lay pipes stretching 3km to divert spring water from a hill.

Now, the 1,000 villagers no longer need to worry about water cuts.

Muhammad Faris Abdullah, 43, said they had to find an alternative water source because Sungai Galas flowing across the village was murky and muddy.

Another villager, Yasin Ahmad, 53, said they no longer feared being left high and dry every time Air Kelantan Sdn Bhd pipes burst.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.