Press Release

Press Release: Herstory Films Project

The Herstory Films Project was recently launched by a collective of feminist writers, educators, and filmmakers who are keen on creating spaces for Malaysian women to come together and learn how to share their stories with others using broadcast media. The group seeks to collect stories about love, sex, and desire from Malaysian women, with an emphasis on diversity and personal experiences of falling in—and out—of love in a distinctly Malaysian context.

The group initiated this project in response to several observations: first, the recent global trend of collecting oral histories on a variety of subjects; second, the juxtaposition between the preponderance of statistics and news reports on Malaysians' sex lives and sexual preferences and the sheer lack of personal narratives on the subject in the public domain; and third, the even greater lack of women telling their own stories of desire. According to group spokesperson and filmmaker Mien Lor, “When you pay attention to the media, you notice it is so often men talking about and giving purportedly expert advice on the subject of women's sexuality. Why aren't our voices—as women-identified Malaysians—being heard? Telling a story is a great way to reclaim these voices, these spaces, these larger narratives. Besides, it's an interesting subject, isn't it?”

Twenty of all received submissions will be selected to be made into short films that will then be screened in mini-film festivals around the country.

More details may be obtained at the Herstory Films Project website at http://herstoryfilmsproject.blogspot.com/. Malaysian women who would like to ask further questions or submit their stories may do so by emailing herstory@kryss.org or call 012-6969455. Deadline for submissions of stories is 31 January 2010.