KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 — After two years of underground screenings, acclaimed Malaysian independent film Mentega Terbang will be coming to the Asian streaming platform Viu on January 19.
The film follows 15-year-old Aisyah, who becomes curious about faith and the afterlife because of her mother’s declining health.
Mentega Terbang was screened at the Indonesian Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival in 2021 and was the closing film of the 2022 Aceh Film Festival.
Its story touches on the differences and similarities of the major religions in Malaysia which is a sensitive topic for a local film to discuss.
The film also asks the universal question: What happens after we die?
“Initially, I was incredibly uncomfortable and scared that there would be major backlash from our audience members,” co-producer Tan Meng Kheng said in a statement.
“But we’ve been pleasantly surprised that the reception so far has been overwhelmingly positive.”
According to director Khairi Anwar, the film was initially a small passion project submitted to the Kuman Pictures Feature Film Challenge.
But the film’s pitch was able to gain enough support to reach the final stage of the competition and become Khairi and Meng’s first feature-film project.
Mentega Terbang hopes to create a safe space for audiences to question their beliefs without the fear of judgement and hate.
The duo are thankful for the support of local audiences and look forward to more people within Asia watching their humble tale of faith and friendship.
For more information on the film, visit @mentegaterbangmovie on Instagram and mentegaterbangmovie on Facebook.
