Wayang Pacak celebrates the power of cinema to inspire, provoke, and connect through a thoughtfully curated programme of independent films, documentaries, animated works, and feature presentations from Malaysia and across Asia. Bringing together emerging voices alongside acclaimed filmmakers, the programme explores themes of family, identity, memory, community, belonging, and social change through stories that are both deeply personal and universally resonant.
From intimate character-driven narratives and award-winning short films to compelling documentaries and animated features, each screening offers audiences a window into diverse cultures, perspectives, and lived experiences. Selected sessions are accompanied by post-screening Q&A discussions with filmmakers and invited guests, offering audiences the opportunity to gain deeper insights into the creative process and the ideas behind the works.
Whether discovering a new filmmaker or revisiting celebrated classics, Wayang Pacak invites audiences to experience cinema as a shared space for reflection, conversation, and connection.
Ayahku, Dr. G
3 August 2026 | 9.00 PM | Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi | 18 min
Synopsis
In a country where possession of cannabis is punishable with death, Siti finds herself pulled into the unfamiliar world of lengthy legal proceedings and prison visits when her 60 year old father is arrested for allegedly using medical cannabis to treat his chronic illnesses. In her journey to save her father from the death penalty, Siti finds herself succumbing to fear and anxiety as she navigates through her own personal challenges – all the while fearing that she might never see her father again. All in all, ‘Ayahku, Dr. G’ is a story about a daughter’s quest for her father’s justice from a law that puts punishment before public health.
Director: Loh Jo Yee, Hidayah Hisham, Dominique Teoh
Country: Malaysia
Year: 2020
Genre: Documentary
Language: Bahasa Malaysia, English
Subtitle: English
*There will be a 30-minute Q&A session after the screening of Menunggu Masa (Waiting For Time).
Menunggu Masa (Waiting For Time)
3 August 2026 | 18 minutes after Ayahku, Dr. G | Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi | 21 min
Synopsis
Agila was just 3 years old when she was last held by her father. Her father Mainthan has spent the last 14 years on death row after being convicted of murder. A murder, her father claims he did not commit. This film follows Agila, her mother and her siblings as they wait for him to come home, while Mainthan waits to meet his fate.
Director: Sherrie Razak Dali & Seira Sacha Abu Bakar
Country: Malaysia
Year: 2018
Genre: Documentary
Language: Bahasa Malaysia, English, Tamil
Subtitle: English
*The screening will be followed by a 30-minute Q&A session.
Five Tigers
4 August 2026 | 9.00 PM | Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi | 30 min
Synopsis
This is a personal story of three former women members of the Malayan Labour Party in the 1960s in Penang, Malaysia. At that time, 1950s-1960s, there was a worldwide opposition against colonial exploitation after WW2. The locals were demanding Independence and also better labour wages and working conditions. For that, these women and their male colleagues regularly took part in street demonstrations and strikes. The ruling government at that time used brutal police forces against them. Their early example of showing courage and determination to fight for basic political and social justice is still relevant today.
Director: Victor Chin and Dr. Por Heong Hong
Country: Malaysia
Year: 2018
Genre: Documentary
Language: Mandarin, Hokkien, English
Subtitle: English, Chinese
*The screening will be followed by a 30-minute Q&A session.
The Substation at 35: Moving Images Retrospective
5 August 2026 | 9.00 PM | Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi | 65 min
Synopsis
Established in 1997, The Substation’s Moving Images programme was Singapore’s first year-round platform dedicated exclusively to independent and short films. Coinciding with the rise of digital video in the early 2000s, Moving Images became a crucial site where young filmmakers tested ideas, embraced risk, and learned through dialogue with peers and audiences. The programme championed short films as a serious artistic form—one capable of intimacy, experimentation, and reflection.
This retrospective brings together filmmakers who passed through that ecosystem—voices that were raw, playful, searching, and communal at the time of making. Many would later emerge as significant figures in Singapore and regional cinema. Seen together today, these works document a period when boundaries between amateur and professional, fiction and documentary and personal were deliberately porous.
The Substation at 35: Moving Images Retrospective is a curated programme of Singapore short films that traces how independent cinema emerges not from scale or spectacle, but from persistence, community, and experimentation.
Presented in collaboration with George Town Festival, this programme reflects the Festival’s 2026 theme, “Beyond Boundaries,” by foregrounding a moment when filmmakers worked across—and often against—boundaries of form, funding, medium, and institutional support. These films were made before streaming platforms, before a robust regional festival circuit, and often with limited resources, yet they collectively shaped the foundations of Singapore’s contemporary film culture.
1.Zo Gang (Go Work) (2006, 9 min) – Jacen Tan
2.Mother (2001, 5:46 min) – Royston Tan
3.Marsala Mama (2010, 8 min) – Michael Kam
4.Autograph Book (2003, 11:14 min) – Wee Li Lin
5.Sink (2008, 10:42 min) – Kirsten Tan
6.Pifuskin (2014, 4:25 min) – Tan Wei Keong
7.Forgotten Merlion (2009, 3:30 min) – Ghazi Alqudcy & Ezzam Rahman
8.Sayang (2010, 8:02 min) – Daniel Hui
9.Nascent (2015, 4:20 min) – Jerrold Chong
Genre: Short Films
Language: English + Mandarin + Hokkien + Tamil
Subtitle: English
*The screening will be followed by a 25-minute Q&A session.
TRACE/US
6 August 2026 | 9.00 PM | Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi | 20 min
Synopsis
TRACE/US is a video essay project that hopes to document the journey of two artists as they embark on a journey to find avatars of people they have loved and lost. Aleysha searches for the man who would eventually become her grandfather while Theyvapaalan searches for the ghost of her father.
Director: Leysha Al-yahya and Theyvapaalan S. Jayaratnam
Country: Malaysia
Year: 2020
Genre: Documentary
Language: English, Bahasa Malaysia
Subtitle: English
*There will be a 30-minute Q&A session after the screening of The Weight of Silence.
The Weight of Silence
6 August 2026 | 20 mins after TRACE/US | Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi | 11 min
Synopsis
The Weight of Silence is a personal short documentary film about two sisters investigating and exploring the silence that haunts their family. Ezzah and Faridah experienced collective childhood trauma, unable to express themselves freely when they were younger, as it could trigger their mother’s schizophrenia manic episodes. An amalgamation of reflexive storytelling, nostalgic archive memorabilia and heartfelt deeper conversation. Can they finally break the vicious cycle of silence within their family? Will they be able to mend the decades-long heartache? Are they ready to open up and be truthful with their feelings?
Director: Ezzah Mahmud
Country: Malaysia
Year: 2023
Genre: Documentary
Language: Bahasa Malaysia
Subtitle: English
*The screening will be followed by a 30-minute Q&A session.
On Happiness Road
7 August 2026 | 9.00 PM | Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi | 1hr 50 min
Synopsis
Chi earned her American dream after persevering with her studies in Taiwan. Following her grandmother’s death Chi returns to her family on Happiness Road, where she begins to feel nostalgic about her childhood and starts to contemplate the meaning of “life” and “home”. What is happiness? Will Chi find her own happiness?
Director: Hsin Yin Sung
Country: Taiwan
Year: 2017
Genre: Animation
Language: English, Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien
Subtitle: English
Remembering Azmi
8 August 2026 | 9.00 PM | Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi | 25 min
Synopsis
Artist. Father. Friend. One year after his passing, Remembering Azmi celebrates the life and legacy of Azmi Hussin. Through the eyes of his loved ones and collaborators, this film explores the delicate balance between his distinctive creative vision and the affectionate spirit that continues to inspire those he left behind.
A George Town Festival production by LUMA & Livewire Media, Remembering Azmi will be premiering on 8th August 2026 at 9pm as part of the Wayang Pacak @ Cheah Kongsi programme.
Country: Malaysia
Year: 2026
Genre: Documentary
Language: English, Malay
Subtitle: English, Malay
*The screening will be followed by a 25-minute sharing session with the family and friends of Azmi.
Air Mata di Kuala Lumpur
9 August 2026 | 9.00 PM | Seh Tek Tong Cheah Kongsi | 95 min
Synopsis
Drawing from the last song written by P. Ramlee, Ridhwan Saidi’s elegiac ode to Kuala Lumpur weaves together the lives of two women touched by loss and longing.
Director: Ridhwan Saidi
Country: Malaysia
Year: 2025
Genre: Drama
Language: Malay, Cantonese, Mandarin, English
Subtitle: English
*The programme will begin with a 15-minute opening talk.
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