Pendatang (film)

Pendatang is a 2023 Malaysian dystopian drama thriller film directed by Ng Ken Kin and written by Lim Boon Siang. Produced by Kuman Pictures in association with Tapir Films, Pendatang follows a Cantonese–speaking Chinese family forced to relocate to a rural kampong home, shortly after Malaysia implemented the fictional Segregation Act, where racial segregation between the ethnic groups of the country became strictly enforced.

Pendatang is a fully crowdfunded movie. Ng Ken Kin, the director, stated that he did not feel the movie would have been approved for local cinematic release by the Film Censorship Board. Hence, the film is available on YouTube for free. The film does not make any advertising revenue and is non-profit driven. The film premiered on YouTube on December 21, 2023.

Development
Pendatang is a fully crowdfunded movie. In 2022, Kuman Pictures raised a total of RM335,981 through the crowdfunding campaign on the platform, Indiegogo. The production team chose to be fully crowd funded to ensure the film would be faithful to the script without limitations that traditional government and commercially-led productions and funding options may have imposed.

Release
Pendatang premiered for free on YouTube on the 21st of December 2023.

Critical reception
The film received generally positive reviews from The Rakyat Post and the South China Morning Post.