00:09Okay, how long do you think it takes to fall in love?
00:13Wait a minute.
00:18How long did it take you to fall in love with me?
00:22Much less than that.
00:26Tak kenal, maka tak cinta.
00:28You cannot love what you do not know.
00:31It's a familiar saying in Malaysia,
00:33one that feels especially hard to ignore this year
00:36as Chinese New Year and Ramadan coincide.
00:38It is an idea many Malaysians will recognise from Sepet,
00:43Yasmin Ahmad's 2005 film about a teenage romance
00:47between Jason, a Chinese boy, and Orkut, a Malay girl.
00:51I think it was just that love that existed between two people
00:57that they really didn't see the race behind it.
01:02It was just, I love you, you love me.
01:04And I think at the core of it, that's how Malaysians are.
01:08Kalau tak kenal, maka tak cinta.
01:09If you don't know, it means you cannot love.
01:11So it was that, it was that, the young Jason and Orkut,
01:15they fell in love and they brought things together
01:18and they made everything better.
01:20The story starts simply.
01:22Orkut comes by Jason's DVD stall looking for films.
01:26Jason, who sells pirated DVDs and reads poetry,
01:29is drawn to her curiosity.
01:32Their connection takes place through conversations
01:34about movies and music while race, family, and class
01:38remain part of the world they move through.
01:41You like paper, yes?
01:43Yeah.
01:44You?
01:45No, not really.
01:47I know you like movies.
01:50I do.
01:50How do you know?
01:52Because you bought my video.
01:53Oh, yes, of course.
01:56Whether in her films or the advertisements she made
01:59as Executive Creative Director at Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur,
02:02Yasmin's work was defined by themes of everyday Malaysian life.
02:07How people speak, joke, misunderstand, and connect.
02:12What's important is that she widened our lenses in the movie.
02:18She gave us more space to form new ideas
02:22about different communities
02:25so that we can understand each other better
02:27and we can be more accepting of each other's differences.
02:31Yasmin passed away in 2009 at 51
02:35following a stroke and brain hemorrhage.
02:38One very important thing is that
02:40we should all embrace our differences.
02:44That's something that is very uniquely Malaysian
02:47and I think that's something that nobody can take away from.
02:50Nobody in the world.
02:53Sharifa said the intention behind the movie
02:55was to gently shift the way people feel.
02:58If you haven't watched it,
03:00I'm going to give big spoiler, okay?
03:03But it's 20 years of spoiler already
03:07so actually you cannot anger at me.
03:09So at the end,
03:12one of them died.
03:13Okay, one of them died.
03:15Either Jason or O'Kate.
03:17So Arwah's thinking was,
03:18she had to kill somebody.
03:20She had to kill somebody
03:21because if there was a racist in the panggung watching it,
03:26she wanted the racist to go,
03:27Allah, I wish they got together.
03:30For Azrai Azmi,
03:32who worked with Yasmin at Leo Burnett,
03:34Sepet was ultimately about two worlds
03:37trying to understand one another.
03:40But I think the overall thing
03:42that Malaysians should take from Sepet
03:45is beyond the relationship,
03:47beyond the beauty of the two worlds coming together,
03:49I think it's empathy.
03:51By understanding a bit more towards each other,
03:55I think we could be a little bit better
03:58as a human being, you know.
04:01And Sepet did that
04:03by aiming for the heart first.
04:06The way to a person's,
04:09or to change a person's mind
04:12or to open up their whole world
04:15is through the heart.
04:17So that's why she aimed for the heart first.
04:20As Malaysians gather with family and friends
04:23this festive season,
04:24Sepet is a reminder
04:25that connection often begins
04:27in small, ordinary moments
04:29with curiosity, patience,
04:31and a willingness to understand.
04:34Natasha Bust, FMT.
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