Lensa Skrin: An Acting Workshop With A Personal Approach By Local Celebrities

by Ainani Joe

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A basic acting workshop and film appreciation was held by FINAS (National Film Development Corporation Malaysia) and Persatuan Seniman Malaysia in conjunction with the 30th Malaysian Film Festival, with collaborations involving Malaysia’s top artistes to share their experiences and educate the audience about the art of acting and filmmaking. The celebrities involved were Pekin Ibrahim and Bront Palarae, with Amyza Adnan as the host. The three of them are well-known actors throughout the nation. This event was held in GSC Alamanda, Putrajaya, on 30th March 2019 from 12.00 pm to 3.00 pm. Transport and food were also provided for the participants of the workshop.

First up is Pekin Ibrahim, 37 (born Mohd Iznan Bin Ibrahim), a Kelantanese actor and director, who started his session with a backstory on how he got involved in the entertainment industry. “With only RM20 in hand, [Danny] and I went to Kuala Lumpur all the way from Kelantan and looked for a job”, he stated, chuckling, referring to fellow local celebrity Danny from the local band X-Factor. He then got his first job waiting tables at A & W, which went on for quite some time until he saw an advertisement looking for young actors, and after some encouragement from Danny, they both went for the audition – mainly out of desperation.

Pekin Ibrahim (right) with a fan (left) after his session.

His initial reason for joining the entertainment industry was one thing: money. As someone who was struggling to make ends meet at the capital city of Malaysia, this seemed a good enough opportunity to put food on the table. “The passion came afterwards after I got involved for quite some time”, Pekin, who is now studying Filmmaking in University Utara Malaysia, said to the audience. His latest movie that he directed, “KL Wangan”, turned out to be a box office flop despite its initial expectations. When asked on why he thought that happened, Pekin answered that it was due to marketing issues: how they promoted the film too late and how they didn’t analyse the demographic target of the film first before it was promoted.

It was different for Bront Palarae, 40, whose real name is Nasrul Suhaimin Bin Saifuddin. A film school graduate who originated from the northern part of Malaysia, Kedah, he had always been passionate about film-making and everything related to it. He was rarely a hero in any movies that he acted in, as he usually becomes the second hero or background character, yet the popularity and fame that he achieved resembled those of the leading roles.

Bront said that he was never a picky actor. He does not mind playing any kind of roles, lead or not, as long as the script is good. “As an artiste, I can’t be choosy because I got bills to pay, to make ends meet”, answered Bront when asked about how he managed to act in many movies and played different and versatile characters.

A job offer from HBO was certainly a stepping stone for the actor, who won Best Actor awards 4 times in films where he didn’t play the lead roles. A refined yet humble and media-shy actor, Bront said that working for HBO is just the same as working for Malaysian productions. The only differences are their fast-paced work and the budgets are definitely bigger. The rest are pretty much the same. There wasn’t any pressure or stress when he worked with HBO as those two things came later on when fans were comparing actors from their respective countries.

“I feel like I’m in an Olympic for actors”, the actor joked. He was also asked about how did he get to where he is now by one of the audiences. While most artistes would answer something close to “hard work” or “passion”, the down-to-earth actor simply stated “luck”, with a chuckle. “I’d be nowhere without luck. All that has happened to me only happened because of sheer luck”, he said with a smile.

This event is not just your normal, everyday workshop where you get to test your acting ability and all other typical things in a workshop. This workshop is more towards a one-to-one approach by the actors on how they got involved and how they managed to stay within the industry throughout the years.

It’s more of a personal guidance session but instead of counsellors, we do it with local celebrities – which is pretty cool. Those who have the passion, or are really interested in joining the acting industry, would benefit a lot from the knowledge shared by these experienced actors, as they have been in the industry for such a long time. Both of them gave tips on how to behave, especially if you are a newbie in the industry.

The most important thing that they kept stressing on over and over again is respect. Always respect your fellow actors, no matter how old or young they are because that shows your credibility as a person. You are going to work with each other for a long time, so respect is the key to make your life easier as you go through the ups and downs of the showbiz industry.

(From left to right) Amyza Adnan, Zed Zaidi, Pekin Ibrahim, and Bront Palarae, during the appreciation session.

The session ended with the appearance of the president of Seniman, Zed Zaidi, a fellow actor who was famous for playing the role of Zack in the remake of Sembilu and Sembilu Kasih (famous soap operas in Malaysia during the 90s and early 00s), as he presented a token of appreciation to the two actors as they were willing to spend their time by joining this event, despite having the prestigious Malaysia Film Festival to attend to on the same evening.

Photographs were taken of the three artistes together on the stage. After that, a photography session entailed with the artistes, the crew of FINAS, and the participants of the workshop. There’s also a meet and greet session with some of the artistes (Zed Zaidi, Pekin Ibrahim, and Amyza Adnan as Bront Palarae had to leave early) so the participants can spend some of their time talking to the artistes and taking photographs with them to keep as memories.

Photography session with the rest of the FINAS crew in charge

This kind of a personal approach towards acting workshops should be increased in the future because the knowledge that were passed on by the actors were priceless, especially to those who are really into the art of acting and film or theatre making, because it came from their own experience.