Film Title: Hero Borneo
Film Logline: A film about a fisherman’s father-son relationship intertwined with the conflict between dying trades and modernity.
Film Trailer link: https://youtu.be/-TviUNcUL2Q?si=zip0clHq8N8aUwcF
Primary Language: Malay, Sabahan dialects (with English subtitles)
Length of Film: 65mins
Screening date: 6 October 2024, 3-5pm
Screening venue: The Projector (Golden Mile), Singapore
Tell us a brief synopsis of Hero Borneo
This film pays homage to the toil and importance of fishermen, through the telling of the story of conflict between Asian filial piety and youthful dreams, of the clashes between tradition and modernity.
What makes Hero Borneo a very unique story is how firstly, it represents the rare Borneo narrative in a sea of Mainland Peninsular cultures’ stories, told through the lens of a Singaporean city denizen; and secondly, how it weaves in plot twists in the back story of the main characters to bring across the point that in life sometimes there are tensions and juxtapositions, and to underscore the prevalent themes of appearances vs reality. This story is actually based on the true story of a person I know, and though I have taken some artistic liberties, it will be relatable to some people whose lives have turned out in ways they never imagined it could.
1. What makes your story different and unique, and why you are the right storyteller for this project?
Pak Demai (Zaidi Omar) is a hard-working, quiet and simple fisherman who is content with the uncomplicated village life and raising his family uneventfully. His son Aman (newcomer child actor, Qarl Feldorado Osmund) has always been pressured to follow in Pak Demai’s footsteps since Aman was a little boy, but Aman aspires to lead a different life in the romanticised big city and to pursue the music he is passionate about, especially even more so as he grows older. Aman’s mother (Liza Abdullah) is a simple, faithful wife and motherly figure who loves both her husband and son deeply; her simple demeanour belies a secret that causes her to view Aman’s preferences favourably— except that Pak Demai and her also have secrets they have kept from Aman’s knowledge, and they don’t wish for Aman to leave the village because Aman is their only child and companion, who his ageing parents want to stay in the village and to continue the proud legacy and tradition of fishermen who toil to put food on millions of tables across the world.
The escalation of conflict comes to a head when the now-grown up Aman wants to go to the big city to study music and become a professional musician, in contravention of his parents’ wishes. As the only child, Aman is mindful of his duty to his parents, but his young heart wants what it wants, and in the heat of the moment in an argument with Pak Demai, Aman indeed leaves the village for greener pastures to pursue his dreams.
After years of struggling financially on his own and getting a university education through a scholarship, Aman’s career as a musician fails to launch in the manner he dreamt of but he perseveres and refuses to go back to the village until he is successful so that he can show his parents. One day, by a sheer stroke of luck after a particularly degrading breakup with his girlfriend, Aman hitches a ride with an oil truck driver and makes friends with him. The truck driver then recommends him to get a job in a big O&G company, where Aman eventually becomes a respected sustainability manager due to his hard work and his intelligence especially with his vast knowledge of the fishing industry.
With his newfound career success, Aman starts sending money home to his ageing parents, and after 8 years of being away, finally decides to come home for Hari Raya— for a most emotional last Hari Raya with his parents. Will Aman be forgiven? Will he reconcile with his parents?
I believe that Hero Borneo is very unique because firstly, this is a narrative about the rare sub-ethnicity (non-main ethnicity) Sabahan characters that do not get featured in mainstream discourse of Malaysia, and it has a very unique plot that is not like other cliched coming-of-age or fishermen stories. And I have found that the other Sabahans I know, are quite proud of this being a Sabahan story despite it not being from the lens of a Sabahan director. As Sabah films are somewhat rare, and far and few between outside of Sabah, I was touched that the Sabahans are proud of me for making this to represent them and the welcome ‘outsiders’ that live amongst them, so to speak.
Secondly, I believe Hero Borneo is quite thought-provoking and intellectual on many levels instead of being two-dimensional and straightforward. The plot twists pertaining to the back story of the main characters and the prevalent themes of not judging someone based on their appearances (in this case, a fisherman and simple village housewife) because the appearances belie highly educated individuals who have come to certain crossroads in their lives. What makes me the best person to tell this story is because this story is actually based on the true story of a person I know, and I am not a mere pedestrian (although I took some artistic liberties with certain aspects of the story to make it worth the audience’s time).
2. Describe your creative vision and artistic approach. Explain your particular creative storytelling.
The visual elements being carefully curated are organic beautiful landscapes and places in Sabah that are NOT touristy and not being splashed to outsiders in the usual commercial Sabahan propaganda. The village settings are recognisably Sabah (instead of just generic places that could be anywhere), and the seas that we shot at are arguably the most well-kept in Sabah compared to the touristy side of Sabah on the East side. So, on that tangent, Hero Borneo is already a notch above some so-called Sabahan-based commercial movies like Takluk that were shot in Sabah but did not even bother to feature distinctive Sabahan places or characteristics (other than the kampung air scenes, the bulk of their movie may as well have been shot in anywhere generic from Batu Pahat to Cebu, and nobody would be able to tell the difference whatsoever). The indigenous visuals and colours of the Bajau Samah villages are quite different from other parts of Sabah, so it will open up the eyes of those who have never been there— to the beauty of such places and why they must be preserved with dignity.
I have always liked to use extremely wide shots in almost all my past films, and so here in Hero Borneo I used several wide shots to show the vastness (including the immense feeling of loneliness and emptiness), and the 6K Blackmagic camera used do justice to the beauty of the landscapes and environment. All of which the audience would notice, and this would then cause them to be conflicted about how they feel about Aman’s wanting to leave the place for the big city (understandably, because there are more economic opportunities and exciting pursuits in the city) instead of just being a bored child amidst all that ecological vastness. However, when Aman becomes an adult, most of the things in the city life bother him and he misses the serenity and nostalgia of his childhood village (evident in the various scenes after his return).
The music being used are nostalgic and indigenous elements because we use a few unique and original Sabahan music (given that Sabahan culture is extremely diverse and so different from Mainland Malaysia) by Sabahans. We also composed the big band theme song that young Aman often sings throughout the film (that Aman in the story composed himself, and recurs throughout the film), “Sabahku”, sung by the child actor himself, Qarl Feldorado Osmund, bless him. So, we’re promoting our Southeast Asian talents, in many ways, to show how rich and diverse the region is, artistically.
3. How long did it take to make Hero Borneo?
This is a project that took 2 years and overcame many, many obstacles to come to fruition… culminating in our 31 August screening, so we truly hope that people from nature lovers to music lovers to fishing enthusiasts, heritage enthusiasts and film lovers will come and support this Singapore production of a foreign film. To see what a Singaporean lens has to offer, by way of paying respects to these themes whilst bringing more of Sabah culture to the mainstream spaces.
4. What were the main problems you faced in making Hero Borneo?
Funding, funding, funding. We needed so much funding and still do. This was not a frivolous Tik Tok video shot on a mobile phone in 10mins— this 1hour film shot with Blackmagic 6K and 4K cameras, took TWO YEARS to make. It employed almost 50 cast and crew. It has a helicopter, has boats, has famous influencers and A-lister actors. Do you think the cost is insignificant? Or would you say it would be at least market rate along the lines of your standard telefilm costs? When we first got conned by the Sabah Tourism Board and its Oil & Gas entities, I had an anxiety attack trying to get the money, trying to pull from here and there, after it was clear that the months and months of hard work to try and raise funds from hundreds of government and corporate entities in Malaysia did not even yield a single cent of funding for this film. And yet, despite not getting a single cent of funding from any government bodies or any corporate entities— they all ignored our pleas for assistance the whole 2 years we struggled so hard to make the film, and treated us like trash— I made it happen, regardless. At the expense of my personal finances and sanity.
Other similar roadblocks are that modern urban audiences are typically not interested in what they think is a sleepy village fisherman story, without knowing the drama, the helicopter and boats available in the film— there is already some kind of prejudice against a film that is not salacious like Hollywood blockbusters. Therefore, a lot of time and marketing/promotion costs are needed to explain to the masses the selling points of the film, and why it would defy all of their preconceived notions to make not only an entertaining but also enlightening film.
Ideally also, we would love to hold a screening there for the communities involved or even just Sabahans in general but the Malaysian industry barriers to entry are very high (you need connections to go for pitching etc) and nobody wants to help us with getting a network/distributor to buy this film so that it can be screened for the indigenous Sabahans so they can relate and see some light at the end of the tunnel with regard to their socio-economic situation.
5. As the director, writer and producer, what are your motivations behind making this film despite the high costs, and problems galore?
A sincere deep love for Sabah and its rich and diverse culture. A great respect for seafarers and those who toil to put seafood on our tables. A desire to deviate from my usual Chinese films that I have been making and always take my references from, having grown up on TVB dramas and Hong Kong films as a staple. For instance, I wanted indulgent, long takes of certain scenes for a reason. I wanted certain dreamy blurry dreamscapes for a reason, I wanted the audience to get inside little Aman’s head.
I wanted the audience to buy into the romance of the simple village life because I myself often escape to go off the grid into the jungles and villages in Sabah alone to decompress and get away from the hustle and bustle of my life as a corporate boffin.
And I forged ahead with the film despite all the gargantuan struggles because I am a person who when committing to something, I see it through and hate to leave things halfway. I wanted to be true to myself, even if almost everyone else around me sabotaged the whole process be it by their sheer incompetence, their attitude, their literal cheating me of money, or their lackadaisical work. Because I know, given the right funding and the right team and/or tools, I am beyond good enough.
I also did not want to disappoint the fabulous A-lister veteran actors I was blessed to work with, Zaidi Omar and Liza Abdullah, because they gave me their all and it was all reflected in their work ethics. They taught me so many things even though I am not new to film, and I am very grateful to have directed so many amazing veterans other than them, in my more than 10 years of making films. This is why I wanted them instead of taking any regular or unknown amateur actors— they bring so much value to the film and the production, beyond mere gravitas.
6. Tell us about your journey in filmmaking, how you got started and what inspired you?
If I were to recount the whole entire story of how I fell in love with film and then got into filmmaking itself, it would take me 3 hours to tell you everything.
But to summarise… I can say that because I was left to my own devices as a child, I was obsessed with 3 things growing up: reading voraciously, sports and watching films. As a toddler right up to my teenage years, I loved watching old classic black-and-white (B&W) stuff in various languages— I mostly watched English, Japanese, French, Lebanese, Hindi and Tamil films, art films. Things like Orson Welles, Kurosawa, heavy stuff that shaped my artistic appetite. And then in the 1990s and early 2000s, of course during the New Wave of Singapore movies, I watched (on TV, VCDs or online) Singaporean stuff like Mee Pok Man, Teenage Textbook, Eating Air, 12 Storeys, 15, 881 and I was besotted with local Singaporean talents such as Royston Tan, Joe Ng, Lum May Yee. I was also very much into Hong Kong films and TVB dramas as well as my daily staple of local Channel 8 dramas morning, noon and night— so that phase of my life saw me learning and absorbing a lot of Chinese and Asian cinema, in addition to the numerous early influences from B&W films that I devoured, especially from my life living in the US. I can’t tell you how many CDs and DVDs I bought from Wal-Mart when I was living there.. I simply love everything about the films from that specific era of 1950s-2000s.
I started making home video type of movies, especially of my travels and my music, around the late 1990s.. and then in my undergraduate days in NUS, it was intertwined with my predominantly radio work. I was a producer-presenter at the NUS radio station. I had my own shows and also produced audio political forums back then for radio, but at some point I also started recording the visuals and learnt editing and other aspects of production work that eventually led to me now being a master of all trades where film production is concerned (except I would never do my own colour grading!). I went to loads of film screenings (mostly independent ones, basically non-Hollywood mainstream films, foreign films) over the years and met several filmmaker idols like U-wei Shaari, Royston Tan, Chan Kah-mei. But I’ll tell you where the turning point came.. that made me realise we have a higher calling as filmmakers, and it spurred me on to do more than just consume films.
There was this film that I was particularly struck by, in my youth—it’s titled Innocence for Sale, and the director-producers were these two seemingly unknown Singaporeans, Chan Kah-mei and the now-deceased Ho Choon Hiong. It was about the human trafficking trade in Batam, and I was so absolutely enraged and so moved by that film (it was a documentary) that I started volunteering more with church organisations and other places that fought for such causes of breaking the poverty cycle and empowering young girls to get higher education, causes that sought to eradicate abuse, trafficking etc. All, from just watching this film and speaking to the directors (later on in life, my path crossed with the late Choon Hiong again when we were political activists in the same circles) to discuss the issues in the films. It was at that point that I realised, even if just one person could be so moved and changed by your film, that one person could move mountains and grow mountains over the years, with that force of conviction. And I started making my first serious, substantive film in 2013, which was also an expository documentary entitled “Police State”; shortly after, my first fiction narrative, “Ji Fan”, was made in an ode to my Singaporean heritage of loving chicken rice and premised on my own complicated race-class barriered relationships. Since then, I have made 1 film every year, and have also made countless music videos either for my own band’s songs or for others.
And today, unfortunately, this passion for making films has totally consumed me so much to my own detriment— I live to be on shoot, because there is an indescribable high there that I can’t get enough of, but I wish I didn’t have to work my punishing 16-hour days corporate job just to fund my addiction to making films. At some point, I truly hope that I can finally get Indestructible Films up and running as a sustainable, well-respected international film production company that makes valuable films that contribute to humanity, gets paid well for all that we do, and can allow our friends/partners/production crew to earn a decent living. And I guess I will forever be working towards creating that masterpiece, and another and another and another until I don’t ever have to do any interviews yet people will know me from my body of work.
7. What was the impact you made, working with this specific community in Hero Borneo?
Working with our Sabahan friends who are largely marginalised and suffering from socio-economic problems despite being the Malaysian state with the most amount of natural Oil and Gas resources (that are wholly exploited by others, like the big corporations, to the indigenous people’s detriment), due to faulty policies, government corruption and opportunistic West Malaysians, is a whole new experience on many levels. Sabahans are actually a very amazing people, and very amiable and happy-go-lucky, despite their unfavourable conditions in the country.
So by us working alongside them trying to tell their stories to the world and giving them a relatable ‘product’ to identify with, they feel represented, seen and those with their culture as sea-reliant natives feel respected. The local Sabahan film industry is also in a very fledgling state therefore when we work with them and employ so many of them, there is a massive transfer of knowledge to them and it benefits future generations of production crew in so many ways… Because these people we have worked with now know what it means to work as hard as I do, and they now know the high standards required by people like me (Singaporeans) who are not accustomed to (or tolerant of) slow paces or deficiencies— and hopefully they will become better crew to the next productions that they are in, so that the Sabah production industry can improve significantly for their own good. I believe in sharing knowledge and opening up minds to greater possibilities, and hopefully this was the impact I managed to make in Hero Borneo.