Nadira Ilana

The 20th Mini Film Festival was a blast! It was an honour to be there for the longest running short film festival in Malaysia, the only one that is run entirely by film students and their lecturers at UNIMAS. Present were Southeast Asian filmmakers but it was also the first time many of us from around Borneo island (Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei) got to meet. We discovered so many new films and new things about ourselves, new ways of seeing and regarding our regional filmmakers. Thank you again Mini Film Fest, Sarawak for being excellent hosts overall. Thank you as well to FINAS and to all the local sponsors for supporting film education. We hope to be back again soon. 🌺🗻🎥✨🌾 #borneofilmmakers #bulihwood #malaysianfilmmakers #SEAfilmmakers #shortfilms

I screened my short film on a cruise ship?? 'Were the Sun and the Moon to Meet / Tadau om Vuhan Kopisoomo' played on international waters! 🚢✨ Thank you @ssff.official and @cunardline.jp @cunardline for this unbelievable experience! #bulihwood #borneofilmmakers #malaysianfilmmakers #telanbulanfilms

I was invited to @georgetownlitfest this year as a panelist and when I found out @borneobengkel was putting on an exhibition I signed myself up. I offered to break my bones and expand beyond the familiarity of film to recite a poem and for the first time in my life, perform an original song. I felt for myself that I had torn down my own blank canvas. For myself to be playing the sundatang on stage and reciting a folktale in partial Dusun, to sing a song that expressed the rage of ongoing colonialism, I felt I had graduated. I am no longer stumbling drunk through liminality I can confidently tell our stories now in fluent crooked creole. The Sem/bunyi exhibit reflected the discordance with our identities that being the 'other Malaysians' brought us. I don't know how Peninsular audiences took us Borneans taking up space. It wasn't a tourism song and dance, for sure. It was strange being the status quo at GTLF, telling stories of marginalisation while there were many strong Borneo voices at the festival this year. It didn't escape me there were no Orang Asli authors there which riddled me with guilt even if I wasn't responsible. Today it's registered that after years of political turmoil, the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia has been filled with one of two being from Sarawak to push for MA63. It's a historic moment and yet my stomach turns predicting that there won't be an apology. Malaysians generally don't like talking about our biggest issues. We will happily sweep our burned Borneo books, forced Islamisation, the attack on indigenous languages, beliefs and stories of Borneo oppression under the carpet without APOLOGY and call it reconciliation. Malaysia is nothing if not stoic. Or dismissive. For art to be successful here we are told to swallow our rage in bowlfuls. My face feels wet with dried up tears. A tribute to Malaysiana. Yet still, I went beyond my comfort zone. I was among friends who gave me a glimpse of what it might be like when Borneo-Malaysia begins to mainstream. When that happens, I wonder if I'd recognise myself and who I'll forget once I am fully visible. Sem/bunyi. Pounsikou for letting us take up space.

“Re-Imagining Malaysian Cinema” featured a sharing session with Nadira Ilana @feistgeist of Telan Bulan Films, who discussed how decolonial theory had informed her directing style and community-building practices as an Indigenous woman filmmaker and film programmer from Sabah. The session was part of the MIFFEST Campus Road Tour organized by JazzyGroup and SOMAC. Video credit: @ian.tang and @007271x

💕 Pounsikou agayo for all the birthday wishes! My big wish this year is for people to be more conscious of their use of AI. Please read the news on the AI industry before using it indiscriminately. If you are using AI to generate FALSE information on Indigenous culture and history, it is still false information. Always fact check before posting. Do not share your private information or intellectual property with AI, unless you are open to forfeiting your patent rights. Even posting normal pictures of yourself and your children is enough to create Deepfakes. Normalise being boring on social media. If you are using OpenAI - know that they have funded Trump MILLIONS. All it takes is a prompt to directly support wars, modern day slavery and waste water at an accelerated rate. There are wars in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Lebanon, Syria, Iran being fought with using AI technology. I stopped using Spotify ages because the CEO started investing in AI war technology. I see the irony in posting this on Facebook/IG, just please educate yourself on the people behind these digital tools. Use the system, don't let it use you.

🎬MIFFest Campus Road Tour rolls on! Next stop: Taylor’s University @taylorsuni Re-Imagining Malaysian Cinema - a sharing with Nadira Ilana (Telan Bulan Films) on how decoloniality theory has informed her directing style and community building processes from the perspective of an Indigenous woman filmmaker & film programmer from Sabah. Moderated by filmmaker and copywriter, Alee Isa. 📍 Lecture Theatre 1, Taylor’s University ⏰ 2:30PM – 4:00PM | 8 May 2026 Everyone is welcome, no registration required. #9MIFFest #CampusRoadTour #MalaysianCinema #TaylorsUniversity #telanbulanfilms

From silence to strategy to storytelling—explore how art survives, adapts, and speaks. Session 5 brings: 🗯️ Panel: Unpacking self-censorship & how artists navigate restriction 🛠️ Workshop: Tools to assess risk and create safely 🎬 Film Talk: Reclaiming silenced histories through powerful storytelling Date: 15 Apr 2026 Venue: AICB Centre of Excellence, Kuala Lumpur Choose the session that speaks to you most and join us: bit.ly/ICFS2026 or click the link in bio 🔗

🌺 After an impromptu decision to host a CineBah short film screening in Keningau last week, we were only looking for a projector at first when @anelsahfihie introduced us to @thedoters.space which could not have been more perfect. 🐂Films shown at CineBah x SAFVA Keningau: 1. Legend of Ancient Borneo (2018) All For One Productions 2. Tontolu | Egg (2018) dir. Carolina Peni 3. Rama-Rama | Kolibambang | Butterfly (2021) dir. @ekinkeecharles 4. Were the Sun and the Moon to Meet (2021) dir. Nadira Ilana 5. Hembus | Breath (2019) dir. @anelsahfihie ⛰️Every CineBah programme is tailored to the audience and since this was organised with SAFVA Zon Keningau, I wanted to share some outstanding short films from Sabahan filmmakers from rural towns - Tawau, Tenom, Kota Marudu, Tambunan and since I've got roots in Keningau, close enough. 📽️This was also the first time the award-winning 'Hembus' has been screened in Sabah, so near to Anel's hometown, Tenom where he's still based so we were both very excited to introduce people there to his film which had already screened in KL and Sarawak a few times. It might not be kosher to programme your own short but this is its first public screening back home. If I don't screen my own work in Sabah, well. 😂 🎤Proud to say that despite the short notice, approximately 54 people turned up, some even drove all the way from KK just for the screening. We had a lively Q&A and brief presentation on each film and filmmaker's journey after. It's never been enough to just make films, these screenings shift who gets to be seen, how we see ourselves. To grow community, film literacy and theatre going audiences, we're not meant to just watch films in silos. I grew up not seeing Sabahans on the big screen up until recently, so I really wanted our people to witness first hand, what unbridled voices of Sabah's young filmmakers look like. Some of these shorts haven't even been shown in KK before but I hope to do more screenings soon. ⛰️🌾🫶🏼 Pounsikou agayo to the participating filmmakers, SAFVA + Zon Keningau, The Doters Space, @kopisaigon_keningau , Olumis Cafe, para penghadir. Semoga kita dapat hos kan tayangan lagi. Onsooii #Bulihwood !

Thoughts under a pink full moon. Tell me Huminodun got some rest. 🌕💗🌾🍚 #sabah #momolian #ecofeminism #borneo

To anyone starting out in film, I can't promise that there will be a career or a stable creative industry for you but what I can guarantee is that by loving films, you'll have friends wherever you go. I asked my Sabah Film and Visual Association (SAFVA) tompinais whether they would introduce me to our Zon Keningau who then immediately responded with a warm invitation to have a little BBQ by Bunsit river the next day. Pounsikou Vella, Reano om tambalut wagu ku ngawi. 💚 My own large Keningau family used to go Bunsit for picnics when we were kids. Under the half moon, that dip in the river, making new friends was so healing for my inner child. That's how our impromptu Sabah short film screening in Keningau this week came to be. The longer I do this the more I feel like I don't really need to 'teach' people film production so much as we need to watch more brilliant films together. In places like Keningau, in rural anywhere that is rich with stories albeit distant from urban film infrastructure, it's really important for people to believe in their own voices, to learn and unlearn what we assume the film form is so that we're not masking for someone else's fiction, especially not for anyone who doesn't want to 'see' us. To be a filmmaker, artist, creative sentient being is to be like a river - in flow with our voice, energy, nature and ancestors. If there's soft colonisation, there too can be soft decolonisation. Communal affirmation is care hence, watching Sabah short films together. Progress should never have to look like losing yourself, only finding new ways to be the best you that you want to be. Even better with community. #bulihwood #decoloniality #CineBah #SAFVA

🎬✨ KENINGAU, READY AH? Malam santai tapi penuh cerita 🎥 Jom turun CineBah Short Film Screening bersama Sabah Film & Visual Association (SAFVA)! 📍 The Doters Space (atas Kopi Saigon) 🗓 1 April (Rabu) ⏰ 7.30 PM Apa yang best? 🌟 Tayangan filem pendek khas 🌟 Sesi perkongsian dari pembikin filem 🌟 Cerita sampai ke festival antarabangsa 🌟 Borak-borak santai dengan orang industri ☕ BONUS: 10 peserta pertama dapat Kopi Saigon FREE 👀 Datang lepak, support karya anak Sabah, and siapa tahu… maybe next filmmaker tu kamu🎬🎞️ See you there, jangan malu-malu untuk datang🤍 #thedotersspace #cinebah #keningau #sabah #shortfilmscreening

English Version: I take no pleasure in having to produce a statement but I need to defend my work so that this doesn't happen to or with anyone else. Segments from my documentary, 'The Silent Riot' were used without my permission for the @isobahtos music video, 'Nasaug' which was produced by @huntwostudios and funded by @gerakananaksabah . Please read the entire post in its entirety or the BM post on my IG feed. This film belongs to @pusatkomas / Freedom Film Network and I, Nadira Ilana. Respect the IP of artists. Value the efforts of women in Sabah's creative industry. #copyright #SabahFilmmakers