We were invited by Zan Azlee, the director behind Jom Ke Laut, Suli Suli Bajau, for a screening held at Mid Valley Megamall. Close to 30 of us were there, joined by Zan Azlee himself and Amir Muhammad. It was already a special evening before the film even started.
Watch The Trailer :
The documentary follows three young people; Bilkuin, Shima, and Didi who live on Omadal Island off the coast of Sabah. What makes this film special is how it was made. After joining a filmmaking workshop and showing real promise, the three of them were selected as junior directors, mentored by a professional crew. So in many ways, this is their story told through their own eyes and their own hands.
And what they showed us was real, honest, and quietly heartbreaking.
What struck us most was how much we take for granted. Access to education. Healthcare. Something as fundamental as having a nationality. The Bajau Laut community in this film navigates a life where many of these things simply don’t exist. Born stateless, living on the margins not in some distant corner of the world, but right here, on our side of the world. This documentary doesn’t let you look away. It asks you to sit with it, feel it, and hopefully carry something out of that cinema with you.
Terima kasih, Zan Azlee, for the invitation and for making something this important. Stories like this need to be told, and told well.
