disciples

Jess Kohl and Bec Evans embarked on a journey to make a documentary about the skinhead scene in Malaysia, the different factions within it and how they come into interaction with one another. The different factions of the community include self-defined ‘nazis’ as well as passivists. Dealing with these complicated and conflicting identities Disciples is a beautiful observational documentary. It offers a lens through which to think about identity and to think about the nuance in the narrative behind opposing ideologies. In a world where we are too quick to label people as immediately inherently bad or inherently good; Disciples: Malaysian Skinheads allows you to see how people are a sum of myriad parts, how the ideologies they hold most dear often don’t hold up under scrutiny and how those a person most fiercely sees themselves in opposition to, often has more in common with them, than they would like to think. It is in this commonality that the conversations need to be had to dismantle extreme and harmful ideologies. This film was a true labour of love for both Jess and Bec and everyone involved. It ended up being nominated for a Grierson Award in the short documentary category.