CIPLAK: How Khai Learned To Stop Worrying, And Love Guerilla Filmmaking

Posted by The Visitor at 7:23am.

Posted in Film News , Comedy, Asia.

If anything, Ciplak is a triumph of sheer willpower over insurmountable odds. Its director, 26-year-old self-professed film addict Khairil Bahar (or Khai to his friends), decided he would have to make a film before he turned 26, went out and bought a Canon XM2 MiniDV camera, got all his friends to help out, and shot Ciplak over weekends for three months last year.

And that’s not the end of the story. Later, he managed to secure exhibition with Malaysia’s biggest cinema chain, Golden Screen Cinemas, and the film is currently showing at GSC’s International Screens, a space set up specially for foreign films and local independent productions.

Not bad for a film made for less than RM10,000, which is roughly less than $2,600.

Official website

Kakiseni review

Ciplak, is a Malay slang which means “to plagiarise” or “to pirate.” As a noun, it also means “bootleg.” The story almost reflects Khai’s own real-life aspirations. He wrote, directed, acted in, and edited the film about Jo, a university student who dreams of becoming a filmmaker. To earn enough money to enroll himself into the New York Film School, he becomes a conduit between the DVD pirates in Malaysia and their counterparts in the UK. The film takes place mostly over one day, when the things that could go wrong, go wrong for Jo.

A fast-paced comedy that thrives on sheer energy and the motormouth monologue of its lead character, Ciplak is a hodge-podge of homages to Khai’s influences, which he wears unabashedly on his sleeves, everything from Back To The Future to Fight Club. In the film, Khai even acknowledges Robert Rodriguez as his favourite director.

With such a small budget and guerilla production, it’s only natural that some glaring flaws appear, but Ciplak can hardly be called a slapdash job. The film’s greatest strength is in its editing, and amazingly enough, although every one of the actors is his friend, Khai’s casting is very spot-on.

What’s even more amazing is that Ciplak got passed by the censors even though its subject matter of film piracy is potentially controversial. Of course, because of its subject matter, Khai was asked to make certain changes to the film, and he did it in some creative and very humorous ways.

The trailer can be found at the film’s official website.

You can read more about the production at the website and also at the director’s blog.