Beyond The Ritual
2026・Malaysia・33 minutes
In Jementah, a Chinese community in Segamat, Johor, the seventh-month Pudu (Ghost Festival) ritual has long carried more than folk significance. Rooted in decades of tension between the Hokkien and Leong Kwong communities—dating back to the Anti-Japanese Movement, the Chinese Civil War, and later the Malayan Emergency's New Village resettlement—the festival once mirrored deep communal division, with each group holding separate rites.
By the 1980s, local leaders reimagined Pudu as a shared practice, turning a symbol of rivalry into one of unity—an act of "invented tradition." The film traces this transformation to explore both local community life and its place within Malaysian Chinese history.
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Cast & Crew
Director | Producer | Cinematographer | Editor
蔡子菘
Producer | Screenwriter | Director