Benjamin McKay

I am currently completing for submission my PhD dissertation on Malay language films of the Golden Era of filmmaking (the 1950s and 1960s). My research journey into the films of Malaysia’s cinematic past has seen me developing an active adjunct research interest in contemporary independent Malaysian cinema. It has also led to my now living and working in Malaysia and taking an active interest in the vibrant arts and cultural scene in Kuala Lumpur. My particular research areas are all informed by a desire to reveal representations of identities in the films that I assess – ethnic, national, religious, class and gender identities and the manner in which those identities have changed and developed in the Malaysian context over the last sixty or so years.

In 2008 I am embarking on a research project that traces the rise of independent filmmaking culture(s) in the Philippines. Like my other research projects I am again interested in exploring representations of identity – but on this occasion I am focusing my attention on exploring issues pertaining to masculine sexual representation in contemporary independent Philippines cinema and its relationship with broader national representations of what it might mean to be a Filipino male in the post-Marcos era.

I am developing two units of study that I hope to offer to students at Monash Sunway in 2009 – a unit on Malaysian Cinema and one on Independent Cinema in Southeast Asia. The latter of those two units seeks to bridge the nexus between theory and practice and will see students engaged in the art and craft of filmmaking itself.

My life in Kuala Lumpur is not solely devoted to the university. I am an active participant in public forums on films and filmmaking and keep close contacts with members of the local film community. I write regular film reviews for the on line weekly arts journal Kakiseni as well as for the Manila based journal Criticine. I also occasionally write for the newspaper, The Sun.I have been a festival judge at regional film festivals as well as a theatre judge for the Annual Boh Cameronian Arts Awards here in KL. I feel that my public and community engagement informs and enhances both my research and teaching practice.

Alongside my colleague Dr Yeoh Seng Guan I curate the twice monthly film series Nasi Bungkus Cinema on the Sunway campus and am actively involved in the extra curricular filmmaking activities undertaken by our Monash Sunway students.

While I am more than happy to be working in Bandar Sunway, I am proud that I have my home in beautiful downtown Brickfields.

Academic Publications

Edited Books

McKay, Benjamin and May Adadol Ingawanij (eds) (forthcoming 2008), Independent Cinemas in Contemporary Southeast Asia, SEAMEO - SPAFA, Bangkok

Book Chapters

McKay, Benjamin (forthcoming 2008) ‘Auteur-ing Malaysia: Yasmin Ahmad and Dreamed Communities’ in McKay and Ingawanij (eds) I ndependent Cinemas in Contemporary Southeast Asia, SEAMEO – SPAFA, Bangkok

McKay, B (forthcoming) ‘ Reclaiming History: the politics of memory in trauma in the films of Amir Muhammad’ in Yeoh Seng Guan (ed) Media, Culture and Society in Malaysia.

Journal Articles

McKay, B, ‘ Global City: Malay Motion Pictures, Mambang Moden and the Contested terrains of Singapore History’, Jurnal Skrin Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Vol 3, 2006.

McKay, B, (2006) ‘Modes of Malling in Kuala Lumpur: Reflecting a diversity of queer identities in contemporary Malaysia’, 5th International Malaysian Studies Conference, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 8-10 August 2006- published on CD-ROM

McKay, B, (2006) ‘Synthesising the Aesthetics of New Cinema Practices: Space and place in the short films of Azharr Rudin’, 5th International Malaysian Studies Conference, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 8-10 August 2006  - published on CD-ROM

McKay, B, (2006) ‘Transforming the Mainstream: Gol & Gincu’, Media and Identity in Asia Conference, Curtin University of Technology, Miri, Sarawak, 15-16 February 2006 – published on CD-ROM