Self-Censorship

Short Documentary | 21’36"

As a filmmaker keen on telling Queer stories, censorship, whether self imposed or otherwise, is something Ineza is always thinking about in the process of creating. How much do you push censorship? How much safety do you risk? Isn’t it all arbitrary anyway? This piece is an experiment of this process. Ineza interviewed some Queer folks about censorship and “taboo” topics in Malaysia. Ineza then asked them to self-censor their transcript, if they wanted to (the ‘redacted’ portions), she then filtered the content based on the Film Censorship Boards’ (LPF) content guide for films, and censored it further. For this second layer of censorship, Ineza used AI generated imagery of scenarios that would be ‘impossible’ in Malaysia according to the status quo. What she hopes of the final piece is to show how much of an impact censorship has on Queer people/ Malaysians, while at the same time being a completely pointless endeavour. Can you hear their stories?"

Artist

Ineza Roussille

Malaysia

Ineza Roussille is a filmmaker based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and a co-founder of Srikandi Seni, a creative outfit that focuses on uplifting marginalized communities through the arts, events and media. A majority of Ineza’s work has been documentaries focusing on highlighting social issues including on LGBTQ, Women and Children’s rights. This has involved working with groups like UNICEF, the Joint Action Group on Gender Equality (JAG) and SEED Malaysia. She believes marginalized communities in Malaysia deserve to be heard and aims to enhance their voices in whatever way she can.

Ineza is also the co-founder of Songsang Studios, a participatory filmmaking program for the LGBTQ community in Malaysia to build capacity for the community to create content that positively reflects their lives.

In 2019, Ineza co-Produced and Directed M for Malaysia, her first feature documentary that went on to screen at film festivals all over the world including CAAMfest in the US, DocEdge in New Zealand, and Busan International Film Festival, South Korea. M for Malaysia also had a theatrical release in Malaysia and was Malaysia’s official entry for the 2020 Academy Awards for Best International Film.

Since M for Malaysia, Ineza has broadened her scope of work to include directing and producing a number of short films, music videos and video art. She is currently producing her first feature film entitled Karpet.