HerStory Artists
The HerStory Films Project is happy to announce the five Malaysian women artists who will be bringing our selected stories to life on the big screen. They are the multi-talented Bernice Chauly, award-winning filmmaker Crystal Woo, HerStory co-founder and filmmaker Mien.ly, thespian Mislina Mustaffa, and, making her directorial debut, film and TV star Sharifah Amani.
Bernice Chauly is a writer, poet, and photographer and graduated with a B.Ed in English Literature and TESL from the University of Winnipeg, Canada. Her work with refugees, sex workers, AIDS, indigenous peoples, and masters of folk traditions has been documented in award-winning works that span photography, plays, monologues, documentaries, and short films. A seasoned performer for the stage and screen, she is also a key organiser of literary/storytelling events in KL. She has worked as a journalist, editor, and travel/food writer and has authored two coffee-table books and an international travel guide to KL. She has also published two collections of poetry and a collection of short stories. She is currently writing a memoir on her Chinese-Punjabi family, as part of her PhD in Creative Writing and English Literature at University Malaya. She is passionate about telling stories and is concerned with issues of marginalisation, human rights, and identity. She currently lectures in literature at a leading private university’s School of Business. Her work can be seen here.
Crystal Woo began by making a short film (with Sidney Tan), which won a Gold Prize in MVA’s experimental category. She then directed gigs such as GHOST Season 1’s Opening Montage and The Firm, etc. Passionate about art, she doubles up as a Production Designer for TV & Films (most recently in Apa Dosaku, the Sybil Kathigasu story). She also writes and translates (English, Mandarin, and Malay) for a living. Crystal is currently enthralled by The Universe, Quantum Theory, Philosophy, and Mythology.
Through films, Mien.ly searches for love, for justice, for equality, for diversity, for humanity, for herself. She is a filmmaker and trainer by profession. She is currently making Rakyat Service Announcement videos for Perlembagaanku.com. She has run trainings in human rights, gender and sexuality rights, non-racism and video making. She is a volunteer with the Women’s Candidacy Initiative, KOMAS, and KRYSS. She is also one of the founders of HerStory Malaysia and the HerStory Films Project.
Mislina Mustaffa has been shedding tears, sweat, and blood representing all sorts of women characters with different histories and socio-economic backgrounds in her 16 years of performing on stages and screens. She has appeared in, among others: (films) Karaoke, Talentime, Mukhsin, Anak Halal, Bernafas Dalam Lumpur, Kurus, Bukak Api; (theatres) Look Back in Anger, Till Death Do Us Part, Off Centre, and Waiting For Godot. Her roles have showed her that the body alone is not enough to define her as a woman. A woman is not a completed reality, but rather a becoming, and it is in this becoming that her possibilities should be defined. In raising the question of her capabilities, she should not be reduced to what she has been or to what she is today. This nature of transcendent action means that no one is able to close the book till the time comes for it to close by itself.
Sharifah Amani is an award-winning actress best known for playing the title role in Yasmin Ahmad’s Orked trilogy (Sepet, Gubra, and Mukhsin). Other film credits include Muallaf, Cinta, Gol & Gincu, Puaka Tebing Biru, Selamat Pagi Cinta, Sayang You Can Dance, CicakMan 2, Magika, and Papadom. Apart from playing Ophelia on stage, in a local Malay-language production of Hamlet, she has also appeared in TV shows Gol & Gincu, Sindarela, Emil Emilda, Antara Garisan, and Rona Roni Makaroni. Sharifah also has backstage credits to her name, both as 3rd Assistant Director (Talentime) and as Assistant Stunt Director (Merong Mahawangsa). Going forward, she harbours hopes of directing her own films, doing stand-up, and launching a clothing line.