DARI JEMAPOH KE MANCHESTEÉ is a debut road movie by Hishamuddin Rais.

Constructed within the classical road movie genre, this film takes the audience into the hopes, dreams and desire of the today’s youth. A Malaysian film by birth but Jemapoh Ke Manchesteé, narrative wise could be identified from rural Kuala Pilah, to urbane Absolut sipping Swedes in Stockholm, to post-Berlin Wall youth in Munich, to well discipline 12–storey-HDB-youth in Singapore or to the radical chic youth of post Suharto Jakarta.

Malaysian tropical landscape is exploited cinematically to give the ambience of hope and freedom. Without sounding over pretentious this film is about the young people everywhere. Youthful folly, quirky and at times black humor are used to blend the serious issue raised by Hishamuddin Rais.

DARI JEMAPOH KE MANCHESTEÉ
(Malaysia, 35mm, colour, 110 min)

Date of shooting:
Early 1997

Location of shoot:
Jelebu and Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan; Melawati Dam, Selangor.

Budget:
RM 500,000 excluding promotion.

Festival participation:

Singapore International Film Festival 1998

Munich Film Museum Germany 1998

Stockholm International Film Festival Sweden 1998

Rotterdam International Film Festival (Holland) 1999

BerlinBeta International Film Festival (Germany) 1999

Splitsky Filmski Festival (Croatia) 1999

Jakarta Internat ional Film Festival (Indonesia) 1999.

[ go to the Malay version ]