Nurul Ezzati Aisya Mohd Zaki: Understanding the Coalition Model in Malaysian Social Change Documentaries

<p dir="ltr">This project employed the Production Studies approach to understand independent social issues documentary filmmaking in Malaysia. Keeping count of the viewership a documentary gains is a common precursor to measuring 'impact' in documentary scholarship. The effectiveness of a social issue documentary depends upon the film's successful integration within the existing advocacy network that can mobilise the public and engage policymakers. Freedom Film Network (FFN) is a Malaysian social film collective that has supported and funded human rights-focused social films since 2003. This project, drawing on in-depth interviews with 15 FFN filmmakers, provides a unique insight into their personal experiences in producing and distributing social issue documentaries in Malaysia. The researcher's fieldwork as a volunteer at the 20th FreedomFilmFest (FFF) further enriched the understanding of these experiences. The data were analysed using Brinkman and Kvale's seven stages of interview inquiry. The project is framed through the lenses of Production Studies and the Coalition Model.</p>