Emergency Festival!: Red Alert

For some, the Malayan Emergency (1948 to 1960, in case anyone needs a refresher) is an incident best left in history books and never to be revisited or explored again. The folks at Five Arts Centre however, will beg to differ. In fact in conjunction with the sixtieth anniversary of the Emergency, they’re launching the Emergency Festival! – an eleven day fest dedicated to investigating and re-examining the many different facets of the Emergency. The focus on the Emergency is an immediate draw due to its unconventionality, but wait until you see what they have lined up.

The multi-arts festival will see film screenings, an exhibition, theatre performances and presentations from some of KL’s most talented like Amir Muhammad, chi too, Elaine Pedley, Hardesh Singh, Mark Teh, Yee I-Lann and loads more. Among the events to look out for is 12 Years, an exhibition curated by Wong Tay Sy, Norman Teh and Grey Yeoh which will attempt to place visuals from the Emergency in a contemporary context to allow for an interactive approach to history as well as to allow for alternative interpretations of what happened. Two new plays will also debut at the festival from Fahmi Fadzil and Hari Azizan. Operasi Oktober by Fahmi is a story of four people who meet at the edge of a revolution while New Village People from Hari will follow the trials of two friends who are forced to move to a kampung baru in wake of the Emergency. Mark Teh will be curating a series of presentations and performances entitled Re:Search Re:Source and Fahmi Reza will also premier Revolusi ’48, a documentary which explores the stories of those who fought in the anti-colonial guerilla war. If you were enlightened by Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka, you have to catch the sequel.

Emergency Festival!: sebuah darurat dua minggu will take place from 16 to 26 October at Central Market Annexe. For a detailed schedule of the events, please visit www.fiveartscentre.org or www.klue.com.my

Text Sarah Chan Photo Myra M