Kota Kinabalu: The State Government commended the effort to document Sabah’s rich diversity through a locally-produced documentary dubbed “KITA - Sabah Celebrating Diversity” which premiered on Saturday.
The one hour-45 minute documentary showcased Sabah’s diversity in three separated yet interrelated parts – ethnicities, beauty and food.
It showcased the real life stories of 10 Sabahans – projecting the realities, values and aspirations of Sabah’s people in embracing, celebrating and preserving the cultural diversity in the State.
Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Abidin Madingkir said the documentary would be helpful in letting others, especially those outside Sabah, learn more about the State.
“For those who have not been to Sabah, this (documentary) is good for them to know the cultures – the people of Sabah are friendly, there are lot of good food and beautiful destinations for them to visit in Sabah.
“It is fantastic. On behalf of the State Government and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor, thank you very much and congratulations,” he said when attending the premiere at City Cineplex Citymall, here, Sunday.
Mayor Datuk Noorliza Awang Alip, who was also present during the screening said: “What I saw today was truly inspiring, more than ever I am proud to be Sabahan”.
The film’s main director, Nova Goh hoped that the documentary could bring a fresh and deeper meaning to the word “diverse”.
Growing up in a Chinese family and community, Nova’s only experience of other cultures was from the media, with no first-hand experience. He would see the word ‘diverse’ in Malaysian textbooks, but it was just a meaningless term to him.
“In making this film, we have traveled thousands of miles to find people who are totally different from who we are. We have used all of our senses to experience other cultures firsthand and found that many stereotypes we believe about other cultures are not true.
“One of the key messages of the film is – before we start commenting about other cultures, we should use all our senses to understand another culture before commenting (making stereotypes) about them.
“Through this, diversity is no longer just a noun, it becomes a verb, and action to be lived. As a plural society, we need a deeper way to understand other cultures and we hope through this film the term diverse has new meaning,” he said.
The film’s producer Lim Hock Song said the film took two years to make, comprising 10 months of shooting throughout 15 locations in Sabah and Kuala Lumpur.
“We wanted to cover as many festivals as possible, which started from Christmas and then Chinese New Year, Hari Raya and Kaamatan,” he said.
Lim said among challenges faced was finding the right characters to cast, as they had certain criteria to look out for in order to effectively communicate the message they wanted to convey through the film.
He added that the aim was to also portray a balanced representation of diversity, which is why the team travelled through Sabah’s interior as well as east and west coast to document as many differences as possible.
“We even had an excel spreadsheet to track each character’s language, religion and background to make sure it (the portrayal of diversity) was balanced,” he said.
Lim added there are plans for the film to be screened nationwide, but it would start in Sabah first.
“KITA” the film is produced by Videographics Productions Sdn Bhd in collaboration with Sabah Unity in Diversity Community Partners, funded by the Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (Finas)
The 10 casts were Agnes Chung, Erna Nasir, Yunus Lee, Quen Pang, S.Chong Teo, Pangrok Sulap, Anne Antah, Raphael Lee, Jack Weldie and Pison Jaujip.
It was co-directed by Aks Kwan and Pentium Tee, while the Script Writers were Ryan Ong and Lee Kuo Cheng. Its Executive Producer is Lee Yen Phin and Line Producer is Gayle Jokinin.
The film will be released for public screening at Cineplex, City Mall on Mar 3.
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