SNOW IN MIDSUMMER

Director CHONG Keat-aun spent 14 years collecting the oral history of the May 13 Incident and turned them into a film, retrospectively exploring the almost-forgotten elegy in Malaysian history.

On May 13, 1969, Su-mei and her daughter Ah-eng watched Cantonese opera at the Chinese Temple in Kuala Lumpur, while her husband Ah-kooi and son Ah-yeow were at Majestic Theater. Unexpectedly, a violent riot broke out, and Su-mei’s husband and son were killed as they tried to escape the theater. In a panic, Su-mei and her daughter sought shelter behind the opera stage for the whole night. The Prime Minister declared a state of emergency and imposed martial law. Su-mei’s husband and son’s bodies disappeared after the riot.

Forty-nine years later, in 2018, Ah-eng discovered a news article about a nearly demolished cemetery called “513.” Ah-eng sought to track down her father and brother’s burial location to fulfill her mother’s last wish.