ABANG: Areel Abu Bakar’s ‘Geran’ Prequel Squares Up In The Official Teaser Trailer
More Malaysian action is on the way from the man behind SILAT WARRIORS: DEED OF DEATH and WALID!
areel abu bakar
ABANG: ‘Geran’ Director Well On The Way With Prequel To The 2020 Martial Arts Action Hit
If you enjoyed 2021’s “Silat Warriors: Deed Of Death,” then get ready for this next gem from the same director.
PENDEKAR AWANG: Fattah Amin Returns To The Warfront Against The British In The Official Trailer
Folks who’ve been keen on more developments overseas in Malaysia might be interested in what’s ahead with the upcoming release of period action drama, Pendekar Awang. The film is billed as a spin-off follow-up to Syamsul Yusof’s hit flick, Mat Kilau, based one the true story of a rebel warrior’s quest to tame British colonial rule in Pahang the late 19th century. That film, starring Adi Putra in the title role who led the scrimmages against the British, co-starred Fattah Amin in the role of Awang, a rebel cohort who often clashed with the leader in strategy and hierarchy, before ultimately putting aside their differences. The new movie now sees the supporting character take the mantle with Amin reprising his role before a new cast in Pendekar Awang, with none other than NYAFF Daniel A. Craft award-winning director Areel Abu Bakar (Silat Warriors, Walid) in the director’s chair. Transparently speaking, […]
Martial Arts-Fueled Action Drama WALID Lands An Official Trailer For Its Malaysian Release
Silat Warriors helmer Areel Abu Bakar’s newest action drama, Walid, is finally setting the stage with an official trailer to mark its Indonesian release in cinemas. The film features Megat Sharizal in the title role for the pic heralded for its nationalistic messaging as much as its lean against the very real and rampant issues pertinent to child trafficking. Bakar directs Walid from a script he wrote with co-writer Hafiz Derani, which sees Sharizal in the role of a teacher whose tenure volunteering in a rural village finds him mentoring a young immigrant girl eager to satiate her need for learning. Her brazen kidnapping by members of a local underground child trafficking ring, Walid partakes in a sprawling act of courage that offsets an explosive final showdown in the enemy stronghold to save the girl’s life and those of her fellow captives. Sharizal leads a cast that includes Feiyna Tajuddin, […]
WALID Review: Silat Action Is The Weapon Of Choice To Protect Children In Areel Abu Bakar’s Latest
Malaysian cinema has been around for close to a century. Its industry has certainly evolved through the times, and with that growth came the last fifteen years in which martial arts films in the region have become just a little more prolific. Director Areel Abu Bakar has since begun staking his claim as of several years ago, scoring a major win at the New York Asian Film Festival with Geran – a.k.a. Silat Warriors: Deed Of Death – and now returns a few films later with another offering in the form of Walid, starring Megat Sharizal. At its forefront, Walid, as a conceptual play on the definition of the word itself, hams it up as a nationalistic call to arms, using child trafficking and endangerment as part of its subject matter. Par for the course is the inclusion of migrants from other countries and families whose children don’t have the […]
WALID: Megat Sharizal Leads Malaysia’s War On Child Trafficking In The Official U.S. Trailer For Areel Abu Bakar’s New Martial Arts Thriller
The official trailer is live for Walid, the new Malaysian action thriller from award-winning director Areel Abu Bakar. Outsider Pictures is running weeklong screenings in New York at Cinema Village from July 28, and in Los Angeles at Laemmle Glendale from August 11 with Bakar in attendance with lead actor Megat Sharizal. Bakar directs from a script he wrote with Hafiz Derani, which stars Sharizal in a story that draws into the plight of child trafficking and xenophobia against other migrants living in Southeast Asia. Walid (Sharizal) lives a simple small town life, donating his time to teaching under-privileged children, as well as repairing electrical items for the villagers. One day he notices a young girl, Aisha, hanging around his class and invites her to join. A bond builds between teacher and student until it is shattered by a local crime syndicate that snatches Aisha and the other children. When […]
WALID: ‘Silat Warriors’ Director’s Latest Gets NY & LA Screening Dates Ahead Of Fall Malay Release
If you’re at all keen on the festival scene in the last several years, then you may have gotten wind of Malaysian action thriller Geran (a.k.a. Silat Warriors: Deed Of Death). The movie premiered at the 19th New York Asian Film Festival where it earned its debutant director Areel Abu Bakar the Daniel A. Craft Award For Excellence In Action Cinema, before Well Go USA swooped in for its commercial release of the pic, and Bakar himself has gone on to direct a few more titles since then. For this, we turn to Walid (meaning “father” in Arabic), a new action adventure with Bakar back in full bloom with his Silat action team for a story that permeates the harrowing subject of child trafficking. Actor Megat Sharizal, billed as Malaysia’s own Sammo Hung, leads the cast for the story of a kind and dedicated teacher who takes matters into his […]
SILAT WARRIORS: DEED OF DEATH Trailer Signals Malaysian Martial Arts Action And Thrills This Friday On Hi-YAH!
Out of all of last year’s choice festival selections, Areel Abu Bakar’s Geran has to be one of the proudest for those able to screen films. Highly celebrated by NYAFF, the award-winning action thriller now gets a fair shake with an official trailer for its stateside release as Silat Warriors: Deed Of Death. release this Friday on Hi-YAH!, before hitting Digital, Blu-ray and DVD from July 6 through Well Go USA. When a reckless young gambler’s wild lifestyle of illegal betting, drag racing, and brutal street fights pits him against a ruthless criminal enterprise, his luck finally runs out. The gang shows up at his father’s home to collect on the debt, forcing his family to fight in order to save their land—and his life. In addition to actors Namron (One Two Jaga, Dukun, Redha) and Fad Anuar (Dollah Superstar, TV’s “KL Gangster: Underworld”), first-time film director Areel Abu Bakar […]
SILAT WARRIORS: DEED OF DEATH Panel Interview, Release Announced By Well Go USA
The success of Geran, a 2019 Malaysian martial arts movie, should be an opening for action films from Southeast Asia, says film director Areel Abu Bakar. The award-winning, albeit first-time director was interviewed Friday, April 9 via Zoom from Malaysia along with one of the film’s actors, Megat Sharizal. The late-evening discussion was sponsored by Columbia University’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month organization and co-moderated by students from the university, which is based in New York City. Malaysia is 12 hours ahead of NYC — so it was already Saturday morning for the director, actor, translator, and what seemed to be a live audience there. Called Silat Warriors: Deed of Death for the international film market, the movie premiered virtually for American audiences in 2020 at the 19th New York Asian Film Festival, where it won the Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema. Director Abu Bakar, who […]
NYAFF XIX Review: GERAN Punches Down With Spiritual Vigor On Gangster Drama And Silat Action Thrills
After spending a great deal behind the camera for a number of projects in the past decade, action movie audiences might have another prospect on their hands with Areel Abu Bakar, having since emerged last October in Malaysia and Brunei directing his feature debut, Geran. Close to a year later thanks to the efforts of Samuel Jamier and his team, the film now gets its day in the West for its premiere at the 19th virtual New York Asian Film Festival this weekend. Pak Nayon (Namron) is the patriarch of his devout family of silat Gayong practitioners who live a spiritual lifestyle in their rural home. Sadly, the family bond that once kept it all together has long dissolved for at least one sibling, Mat Arip (Fad Anuar), a gambling-addicted illegal street racer whose surmounting debts have cornered him into stealing his family’s land inheritance, and turning it over to, […]
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