Kelab Seni Filem Malaysia’s current president Wong Tuck Cheong has been a member since its early days and a committee member since the 80s. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — Before there was Netflix or the international screen in Golden Screen Cinema which showed offerings from places other than Hollywood, where did film buffs in the city go to watch the work of auteurs like Satyajit Ray or Mike Leigh?

Kelab Seni Filem Malaysia (KSFM), of course. The club, which started back in the 70s, was THE place to watch arthouse films and meet other film buffs which included university students, diplomats and the generally curious. ‘Apur Sansar’ (‘The World of Apu’) by Satyajit Ray is one of those films any self-respecting film geek is familiar with.

KSFM was founded by the late playwright Datuk Syed Alwi Syed Hassan and initially run by a group of volunteers who were themselves film enthusiasts; bringing in some of the most critically-acclaimed or hard-to-get films. ‘Happy Go Lucky’ by Mike Leigh is not a film you can catch at the local cineplex... at least not back then.

KSFM’s current president Wong Tuck Cheong, who has been a member since its early days and a committee member since the 80s, calls those years the “golden age of cinema”; the club had up to 300 members meeting several times a month to watch any number of films they could get their hands on either through industry contacts or collaborative efforts with various embassies.

“Because foreign film demand was really great back then people were just crazy for it. People were really devoted, they came regularly,” he said.

Today, in the face of its stiffest competition — the Internet — KSFM still thrives and serves as a congregating point for film buffs.

“Even with the arrival of pirated DVDs and illegal downloading, we still had members joining simply because people enjoy seeing films on a big screen. It’s an entirely different experience,” Wong said in an interview with Malay Mail Online.

Although attendance has dropped to about 100 members per screening, KSFM’s curated screenings are still go-to events for film enthusiasts.

KSFM has screened foreign film favourites like The Poet by Indonesia’s Garin Nugroho and Red Sorghum by China’s Zhang Yimou but the club also pays special attention to local films.

Malaysia’s Village People Radio Show by Amir Muhammad, Flower in the Pocket by Liew Seng Tat and The Beautiful Washing Machine by James Lee have all been at the receiving end of the club’s TLC, which oftentimes includes an exclusive Q&A session with film-makers as well.

“To me watching a film is an experience that is not only cultural but also critical. Film ignites all sorts of impulses in you. Which other media does that?

“You’re stimulated mentally, intellectually, orally. Films can be very intellectual, they can train you to be observant.

“Plus also the fact that we try to print notes which includes comments, criticisms of the film screened for our members we want them to enjoy the films better,” he said.

He added that despite the advent of movie streaming, it has not diminished the public’s interest in watching foreign films as KSFM appeals to an entirely different audience.

“Every medium, every format, every category has their own audience. Who are we to presume that we can satisfy everyone? It’s impossible, especially with our limited resources.

“If you’re happy downloading films from the Net, that’s fine. But surely you’re not getting 100 per cent of the films because some are very difficult to get. That’s where we come in because we can get some of the more obscure films through our contacts,” he said.

Despite that, Wong concedes that the interest from the younger generation has indeed diminished significantly partly due to the many “distractions” available today.

“There are so many other media to occupy and distract you, not only movies in the cinemas but smartphones and all sorts of other gadgets.

“I won’t blame gadgets 100 per cent for this but I do blame the lack of education. I think people would like films if only they were given more exposure, more chances to see films,” he said.

He likened it to students having to study English literature in schools which is what exposed many to pick up not only the habit of reading but the appreciation for good literature.

“In the same way you studied literature in school, people should be taught to appreciate films. It should start from school... all of this should be taught at an early age,” he said.

KSFM film screenings are currently free of charge and sometimes even feature Q&A session with directors or producers. This is in spite of the club not receiving any financial help from the government.

Apart from the various embassies in Kuala Lumpur, they also get their films thanks to long-standing relationships with cultural centres like Alliance Française and European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC).

However, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for KSFM as over the years, they have had many run-ins with the National Film Censorship Board. Chen Kaige’s ‘Yellow Earth’ was banned by the National Film Censorship Board because its protagonist is a Communist soldier.

One time, Wong said, the then-chairman Datuk Mansor Mohd Noor summoned Wong into his office over Chen Kaige’s Yellow Earth, a movie about a communist soldier’s travels to Northwest China.

“I managed to get a video copy and we submitted it to the Censorship Board. I met the chairman and he said straight away that the film is banned. He said it was about the communist army, the Red Army.

“The character talked about the Red Army’s role but it was actually very innocent. Because of that... the chairman Datuk Mansor, he banned it. This happened also with other films of course some had some nude scenes so we had to negotiate those,” he said.

Eventually a compromise was struck: the film club had to manually block out certain explicit scenes. This was when the club used an actual projector to screen films they just put something in front of the projector when the “problematic” scenes came up!

While KSFM no longer has to fuss with projectors today, they still have to deal with censorship. But the current director-general of Finas, the national film board, Datuk Kamil Othman is a supporter of the club.

In fact, Datuk Kamil was a member of the club many years ago.

“He welcomes events and programmes like what we’re doing because he wants people to enjoy films.

“His goal is to encourage film appreciation or help people see films that they might not be able to get. He’s a real film buff, he’s crazy about film,” Wong says fondly of his long-time friend.

The film club screens movies either at a HELP University lecture hall or at Finas’ Content Malaysia Pitching Centre (CMPC) at Plaza Sentral.

Film buffs can keep tabs on the goings-on at KSFM via Facebook or by getting onto their mailing list by emailing them at [email protected].