Time Capsule Malaysia takes a light-hearted look at the country in the 1950s and 60s, writes Bibi Nurshuhada Ramli
CELEBRATE Malaysia Day with History Channel’s unique documentary series that highlights the country’s glorious past through rare and never-before-seen clips from our film archives.
Hosted by actor and TV personality Razif Hashim, Time Capsule Malaysia takes a light-hearted look at the country in the 1950s and 60s, covering various topics from public transportation and hairstyles to food and culture.
He will engage the public on these topics complemented with archived film clips courtesy of Finas (National Film Development Coporation).
“Every year, we look for an idea that would be good for the Merdeka month,” says A+E Networks Asia Production director Chris Humphrey. “This series is about acknowledging the Malaysian archives and for History Channel to bring a modern and unique twist that will appeal to a younger audience.”
Series producer Gerard Benedict told Humphrey about the treasure trove of beautifully shot material that he had seen at the Malaysian archives.
Benedict says: “It was amazing to see almost 47,000 films in our collection, some we have seen and some we haven’t.”
“Although the material is accessible to everyone, we wanted to share them with a wider audience,” says Humphrey.
FINDING THE METHOD
Humphrey says that History Channel today features many new and hip programmes. Black and white footage may be a turn-off to some, but it is real history.
First, they had to find a way to turn an archive show into one that will appeal to a younger audience.
“It was important to make the footage appealing and meaningful for audiences today because the collection of films that we have gathered is priceless,” says Humphrey. “It was a risk that we had to take by going with a different documentary style.”
Benedict says he found a young production team that helped provide many vital ideas targeted at the young.
It took the team a while to choose which film footage to feature on the show. After that, they had to come up with ways to make the topics contemporary.
“It was challenging for us to look for comparable examples between yesteryear and today, but somehow we made it,” Benedict says.
An example was a clip of travelling wayang kulit performers from 1956, and a modern artist who created wayang kulit with a Star Wars theme.
“We only highlight the topics that stand out among the numerous clips found in the archives,” Benedict says.
EDUCATING THE AUDIENCE
Razif enjoyed working on Time Capsule Malaysia with its script by Frederick Rendina, who has worked with A&E Networks.
“Rendina came to Malaysia for the first time on June 18 to write the script. Only then was he introduced to Malaysian culture, but in a short time, he was able to capture the quirkiness of the clips and Malaysian life in general,” says Benedict.
He was happy to have Rendina on board, because scripts for documentaries can be challenging to write.
Speaking to the public was fun for Razif as well. “Many people didn’t know about things that happened back then. They were really amazed by the clips that I showed them,” he says, adding that speaking to the public about the topics for, the show instilled patriotism.
Through the series, Humphrey and Benedict encourage Malaysians to enjoy their past and think about the present.
“I hope younger viewers will watch and think, ‘Wow, is that us? That’s amazing!’ and the older segment of audience will look at the films with nostalgia and pride,” says Humphrey.
Benedict assures viewers that the clips will not disappoint. “One will realise that filmmakers back then were really world-class. (They feature) wonderful editing, filming, directing and storytelling.”
GOOD EFFORT
Humphrey commends Finas for its efforts in preserving these archives and keeping them alive. He would like to help bring them to the present day through the series.
Finas has collaborated with A+E Networks Asia since 2009 and produced 15 documentaries for History, including those on local music legends Sudirman and P. Ramlee. Its chairman Datuk Afendi Hamdan says that this is just the beginning.
“We hope for History to assist in guiding our local producers. Hopefully, the latter can learn a lot from an international brand in terms of how to present content that can be accepted globally.”
He says there are many more local topics that History can help unearth in a collaboration with local producers. Finas, in turn, can help in terms of visuals.
From the collaboration with History, Benedict became aware of the different ways of working with an international network.
“It’s different than what you need to do domestically. It’s a huge learning curve and it’s been a brilliant collaboration.”
Time Capsule Malaysia premieres this Sunday at 9pm with two episodes back-to-back on History (Astro Channel 555and 575).