Nearly eight months into a global pandemic that still has many parts of the world in its clutches, it’s important to take in consideration, the complex impact being had on industries the world around. The film and television fields are in the midst of a drastic reshapening as cities around the globe work to adapt to a new working environment, with new safety guidelines that now remove many of the previous liberties people on film and television sets used to have.
Some parts of the world haven’t been so lucky, to date. Earlier this year, places in Singapore, Indonesia and the U.K. were no different in bearing the brunt of economic fallout over the rise in cases of Covid-19. These are the respective locations of actors Sunny Pang, Oka Antara and stunt performer/fight choreographer Nick Blade Khan, subjects of director Ranjeet S. Marwa’s new independent documentary, Covid-19: The Impact Of Asian Cinema.
Filmed and edited through a series of Zoom video chats from Marwa’s laptop during lockdown at home in the U.K., discussions range in part from how the pandemic has affected their work and that of their peers, to the social impact the virus has had on the body politic of their countries, and the controversy and racial stigma that’s taken center stage in the year thusfar.
Pang, Antara and Khan each give candid responses in their perspectives about the subject matter, and more to the point, while all three are currently on track to work on a project with Marwa at some point between now and next year, this documentary is certainly a chance to get to know figures like Pang, who has reveled in the fandom with hits like Headshot and The Night Comes For Us, and Antara who starred in The Raid 2 and in the new sci-fi thriller, Foxtrot Six.
At roughly an hour and four minutes, Covid-19: The Impact On Asian Cinema is a bare bones independent documentarial work, but it’s certainly an informative and conversant one. Khan, whose is currently tapped to direct the action for Marwa’s next to projects, Traced and the 2021 production of Blood Rush, is certainly colorful, and just as reminiscent and passionate in rooting for a return to work like his fellow colleagues, including Pang who, like many of us, would love it if our world’s leaders and experts would better galvanize their resources to provide an advantageous solution to the pandemic instead of playing politics.
Covid-19: The Impact On Asian Cinema will release on Ranjeet S. Marwa’s YouTube channel on July 31.