To celebrate the new year, Liver & Lung, the British-Malaysian theatre company behind Sepet The Musical, is releasing their award-winning short film, Mahsuri (& Other Peculiar Tales).
For RM15 only, viewers can purchase tickets to virtual screenings of the film, which will be held from the 8 – 10 January 2020 at 8 pm. The film will broadcast online on the Peatix Live platform.
Mahsuri (& Other Peculiar Tales) is a musical short that depicts the legend of Mahsuri, a Malaysian tale of a beautiful woman wrongly accused of adultery. The film's soundtrack blends South and South East Asian sounds with contemporary musical theatre elements to reimagine the legend, documenting Mahsuri's arrival in Langkawi, her romance with the warrior Wan Derus and her untimely death at the hands of her evil mother-in-law, Mahura.
The film screening adds on to the launch of its soundtrack earlier this month, which was met with critical acclaim and commercial success.
Directed and composed by Liver & Lung co-founder, Shafeeq Shajahan, the film is a recent finalist at the Short Shorts Film Festival in Tokyo. The film features rising stars Badrika Baluch (as Mahsuri), Joshua Gui (as Wan Derus), Nabilah Hamid (as Mahura) and Nave VJ (as Deraman).
"I developed the concept for Mahsuri (& Other Peculiar Tales) in 2017 as a stage musical. It was hugely successful and won Liver & Lung our first BOH Cameronian Award. The film adaptation has been gestating in my mind for a while, so I'm so happy that we are finally releasing it to the world," said Shafeeq Shajahan.
"I've always believed in the importance of remembering our roots. The Malaysian identity is diverse and colourful and as a film and theatre-maker, I feel a responsibility to keep reintroducing Malaysian stories to new audiences in contemporary & exciting ways," Shafeeq added.
The film is positioned as a pilot for a multi-episode musical TV series, where each episode of the series would explore a different Asian legend.
Liver & Lung is an award-winning, international production company founded by best friends, Shafeeq Shajahan and Hannah Shields. After winning three awards at the Boh Cameronian Arts Awards this year, Liver & Lung has been committed to upholding the arts in what has been a difficult year. This release marks the beginning of their venture into filmmaking.
