The Last Communist R: Amir Muhammad Land: Malaysia 2006 Drehformat: DVCAM Format: Digi Beta PAL, Farbe Länge: 90 Minuten Sprache: Malaiisch, Kantonesisch, Hokkien, Englisch, Tamil mehr Informationen

"The Last Communist" ist ein hybrider Dokumentarfilm: er verbindet Fakten und Fiktion, und vor allem mischt er Zeugenaussagen und Gesang. Chin Peng, die Hauptfigur, wurde 1924 geboren und ist der letz­te Vorsitzende der verbotenen Kommunistischen Partei Malayas (CPM). Obwohl er wiederholt angeboten hat, sich dem Gericht zu stellen, gestattet ihm die malaiische Regierung nicht, aus dem thailändischen Exil nach Malaysia zurückzukehren. Vor dem Hintergrund der konfliktreichen Geschichte untersucht Amir Muhammad, inwieweit sich das Land seit Chin Pengs Jugend entwickelt hat. Gemeinsam mit seinem Kameramann reist er in die Städte, in denen Chin Peng früher gelebt hat. "Wenn ich diesen Dokumentarfilm in einem Wort zusammenfassen müsste, würde ich sagen: es ist ein Film über 'Landschaften'. Wenn ich zwei Worte zur Verfügung hätte, würde ich sagen: es ist ein Film über 'umstrittenes Terrain'." Amir Muhammad [aus dem Forumprogramm]

How would you describe the aesthetics of your film?
Fast, cheap and out of control.

Why did you choose to shoot on a digital format (was it solely for financial reasons, or did aesthetics play a role)?
Mainly for financial reasons; my motto in life is "Other people can do it better, but I can do it cheaper." Also ... Since it's a documentary, I knew I would shoot many hours of footage which I would not even think of using later. Most of the people I interviewed had never been interviewed on camera before, so a small camera is far less intimidating.

What was special about shooting digital (e.g. compared to 35mm, was it your first time with dv or are you used to it ..)?
Almost all my previous movies were on DV, since lower budgets meant that I would have creative control. I only used 16mm in film school. I am now co-directing a 35mm feature called Susuk and it's exciting but also exhausting.

Which format exactly did you choose (MiniDV, DVCAM, HDV, HD...), and why?
DVCam ... because that was the nicest among my friends' cameras that I could use for free.

What was your shoot-edit ratio?
55+ hours of footage became 90 minutes, so it's 37:1.

One good word about dv (or two):
It enables movies that would otherwise never get made.

One bad word about dv (or two):
Nothing really, except for the pretentious tendency of some DV directors to try and make their movies "look like film." They should first of all make sure they have a movie.