Snow in Midsummer
On May 13, 1969, deadly racial riots against Chinese people broke out across Kuala Lumpur. Caught in the midst are the young girl Ah Eng and her mother. They seek refuge with a Cantonese opera troupe, surviving the night but losing Ah Eng’s brother and father. 49 years later, a middle-aged Ah Eng visits a soon-to-be-demolished cemetery in search of answers and closure.
Snow in Midsummer narrates a violent episode of Malaysian history in a haunting visual language. Through the eyes of Ah Eng, whose story is compiled of the many real stories of people whose family and friends fell victim to the riots, the film confronts national trauma through an elliptical narrative that speaks of ongoing grief. This is a fragment of history that continues to define Malaysia’s present, artistically rendered and vitally important for a much-delayed social reckoning.
