RAMUAN RAHASIA

Hello and welcome to this page. This is an appeal to fund the still-incomplete feature film, "Ramuan Rahasia" [loosely translated, the elusive ingredient]. Shooting for 60% of the film has been achieved. I am now racing to complete it, which has stalled abruptly since late 2009 due to insufficient funds.

"Ramuan Rahasia" blends spicy food, classic folk songs of the Malay Archipelago (the Nusantara) and fragile human condition into a digestible contemporary platter. The film not only entertains, your monetary pledges supports the documentation of a cultural collage unique to Southeast Asia.

"Ramuan Rahasia" is inspired by food films such as Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman, Lars Halström’s Chocolat, Gabriel Axel’s Babette’s Feast and Alfonso Arau’s Like Water For Chocolate.

Thus in "Ramuan Rahasia", the dish used is Sambal Goreng, a signature Malay dish. To further anchor the work in the regional social context, evergreen Nusantara folk songs such as Si Jali-jali and Sayang di sayang, have been incorporated which will be sung by and give greater dimension to key characters in the film.

When completed, imagine "Ramuan Rahasia" as the meeting of Zhang Yimou's culturally-illuminating Raise The Red Lantern peppered with Mira Nair's exuberant Monsoon Wedding and a dash of Robert Benton's sensitive Kramer vs Kramer.

The cross-cultural components that make up "Ramuan Rahasia" tap on the ready Malay-speaking audience in the Nusantara, a collective region in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia where the majority of 370 million Malays reside. The film situates itself as speaking from the centre of the Nusantara. On top of that, the cross-cultural themes in the film are a magnet to the Malay diaspora and lovers of Malay culture around the world.

The film project needs up to US$240 000 more to complete. The money shall go into completing its outstanding scenes and subsequently, the costs for post-production. Your monetary contributions would also support to document a cultural collage unique to Southeast Asia.

Please watch the video preview. I hope it opens up your hearts to contribute generously to this project. Let's walk this journey together.

For more details, kindly visit ramuanrahasia.com