This Wednesday, The Virgin of Borneo (Cinta Gadis Rimba) will be screening at the Asian Civilisations Museum. And the director, Dato’ L. Krishnan will be here to talk about it. AND I get to meet him. It’s very exciting …

Yet … in the midst of everything, I also feel somewhat out of my element.

This is not the cinema I grew up with. Yes, as a child I had stared transfixed at the TV screen as my father laughed away at the legendary P. Ramlee. I wasn’t entirely sure what he’d been laughing about. The people were speaking in a language I didn’t understand. Still with Dad laughing away like he did, it must have been something good right?

That’s my exposure to the cinema of the 50s, Dad, our old dial TV and a black and white man called P Ramlee.

Then, a few months ago, I found out I was going to meet a living legend who played a huge part in this world I thought I’d forgotten. A director named Dato’ L. Krishnan. I was going to put together an event that will showcase a film of his, that was lost for almost half a century. So not only was I going to meet this director, I had a chance to see his work on the big screen, not on a small dial TV. (As it turns out, this director was the one who made the black and white man of my childhood a household name.)

I am psyched about meeting this great man, but I’m not sure if I can fully appreciate the meaning this must have, especially for all those people out there, who were around to watch his films when they were screened for the first time. And as corny as this sounds, I can’t help but wish that I was there so I can have a memory more befitting of this great event that would come. That way, if I have the chance to speak to the Dato’, I have a memory to share with him, and he’ll know that his films have made it to another generation.

Two more days. I wonder what it’d be like. I wonder if there’d be all these people in the audience who’ve come to relive the first time they saw this film. I hope so. I hope this brings back good memories for the Dato’. And yes, I am asking Dad along.