Yesterday, we caught the premiere screening of Khairil M. Bahar’s “Relationship Status”, a film that centers around a group of interconnected KL-ites from all walks of life whose stories represent the different relationship statuses available on social networking giants, namely, Facebook.
The film features a stellar cast of talented Malaysian actors and actresses, from established theatre performers such as Gavin Yap and Davina Goh, to known stage and screen actors such as Tony Eusoff, Daphne Iking, and Susan Lankester.
Newcomers such as Ruzana Ibrahim and Amanda Ang were also seen gracing the screen with their respective roles.
Written and directed by Khairil M. Bahar and produced by Bahir Yeusuff, “Relationship Status” is an independent production of their respective companies, Checkered Past and Perantauan Pictures.
However, as opposed to going the traditional route of simply making the movie in the hopes of selling it to a major studio, the duo decided to try and figure out how to get the movies onto the screens themselves.
When asked, Khairil said, “We decided very early on that we’d experiment with a different way of releasing an independent film, which was very scary for us as it wasn’t something we’ve ever done before. Usually we’d either shop the script around to studios or possible investors but I really wanted to try and see if we could pull it off ourselves. I knew I could shoot the movie with the resources that I had, but releasing the movie ourselves was something we’d never attempted before”.
It’s hard to comment without sounding like we’re pimping the movie too much. The storyline was extremely well written, covering relationships from all angles and how social networking can change, make, or break a relationship.
In fact, some of the stories in “Relationship Status” are based on true stories. So before you can even begin to think that it’s cheesy, remember that there are people out there who have experienced exactly what the characters had gone through:
We must say though, that the multi-ethnic and multilingual “Relationship Status” has definitely set the bar or rather changed the game altogether for independent Malaysian films. Definitely something the average Malaysian shouldn’t be missing.
“Relationship Status” opens at selected TGV Cinemas today! Go here for ticketing information and showtimes.
To stalk the movie across social media channels, hit here for their official Tumblr, or here for their Facebook page (ironically), or here for the YouTube channel, or here for their Twitter.
