Award-winning #MeToo film, The Boys Club to compete at international documentary festival
The Boys Club won the NETPAC Award at the Busan International Short Film Festival in May 2022, a first for a Malaysian documentary
FRESH from a festival win during its world premiere, award-winning filmmaker and journalist Chen Yih Wen’s The Boys Club is set to compete at the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (DMZ Docs) in South Korea.
The Boys Club follows Chen’s journey in making her first feature documentary, and reveals her deeply personal and harrowing experience of enduring sexual harassment, bullying and misogyny.
Chen won the NETPAC Award at the Busan International Short Film Festival in May 2022, a first for a Malaysian documentary.
On the DMZ Docs selection, Chen says, “My team and I are delighted that our work is recognised on an international platform but I hope we can continue to engage in these conversations back home, too. The Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill has finally been passed, but we still need to address the issue of abusive behaviour in our own backyard. We need to create a culture where people can feel safe in calling out toxic behaviour.”
Chen and her executive producers hope to use the film for a greater cause – to provide the film as an educational toolkit for sexual harassment training and awareness.
In addition to this announcement, Chen issued a statement on the film itself and what it means to her as a filmmaker and as a woman.
“As a journalist, for many years I worked on sexual harassment and assault stories. I threw myself into helping these women share their experiences in the hopes that it would help them, and others, too. I eventually realised that in some way, these brave women were helping me come to terms with telling my own story.
“Sexual harassment and assault go beyond just that moment of contact. The effects are far-reaching, encompassing everything from work to daily life to the point of no separation, and no return.
“In late 2019, I began working on a documentary campaign with women’s groups to lobby for the Sexual Harassment Bill – a law that was by then 20 years in the making. When the Malaysian government collapsed and the pandemic halted everything, the project was placed on the back-burner. Despite this, I still had to deal with the events detailed in The Boys Club as I tried to continue my work with the women survivors.
“The men in positions of power made work difficult. I was told to hand over the project to my subordinates, despite my concerns and explicit requests that these women remain anonymous for their safety. They had placed their trust in me and I wanted to respect that. It is ironic that a publication known for championing women’s rights could be so callous in handling the confidentiality of the very subjects it was supposed to fight for. Other than the footage which belonged to the company, I refused to hand over anything else.
“My dissent was punished, one event after another over several years. The last straw came when I was told to report to a subordinate who had threatened me before, and I had to leave the company. It didn’t end there. One of the survivors told me that a male reporter, a former colleague, had contacted her directly without my knowledge – or her consent. I was appalled because I had made sure he was not at her interview filming so that she would not feel uncomfortable. I confronted my former colleagues and they dismissed my concerns. The woman was just making a big deal out of nothing, they said.
“The project was eventually canned after more survivors voiced their concerns over having their trauma passed around the office like it meant nothing, when they had never given consent to anyone other than me. Again, these men went on with their lives as if nothing happened. No remorse, no attempt to remedy the issue. I felt like it was my fault that I had broken the trust that was placed on me to tell these stories respectfully.
“The men around me seem entitled to censor my voice. I had given an interview, in my own capacity as a filmmaker, and my former editor contacted the publication to make “corrections.” Does he think he can just go around speaking for me and other women?
“I feel it is my duty to finish the work I started, with whatever skills and resources I have, and to continue to lobby for change. I owe it to these brave women who revisited their own trauma to tell their stories. This film is my own way of telling my side of things after enduring years of bullying and harassment. This is for all the women who chose to speak up and who gave me the courage to do the same.”
Locally, The Boys Club will be screening at the Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival on September 17 to 25 and SeaShorts Film Festival on September 21 to 25. Tickets are available on the festivals’ respective websites.
The Boys Club will make its European premiere at the 22nd Filmfest FrauenWelten in Berlin, Germany. The women rights festival will run from October 26 to November 2.
Held in Gyeonggi province, the 14th edition of DMZ Docs takes place on September 22 to 29, featuring 130 films from 40 countries. Since 2009, DMZ Docs has grown into one of the leading documentary film festivals in Asia. The festival focuses on introducing Asian documentaries and puts a spotlight on outstanding works from around the world.
source – The Vibes