Filming Visual Artist Biopic: Reflections on the Making of Short Documentary Dark Drawings Unpacked

Abstract

This article reflects on my experience in making the short documentary Dark Drawings Unpacked (2019). The documentary explores the life of a Malaysian artist, Tengku Sabri Tengku Ibrahim after a stroke attack. Essentially an artist biopic, the documentary traces the various implications of stroke pertaining to the artist’s life and work, including immobility and post-stroke depression. The documentary also unpacks the underlying themes of the artworks Dark Drawings as well as advances understanding on the artist’s struggles with stroke, sanity, and God. Finally, the documentary emphasizes the importance of art as an effective medium of expression for the chaotic and creative minds. This paper further attempts to reflect on the ways in which me as the director tackled challenges such as the artist’s personality representation, visualization of the artistic creation process, the relation between the style of the documentary and that of the artist portrayed, and the challenges of audio narration and editing. Finally, the article concludes that the documentary serves as a cinematic history of the artist, captures the universality of his experiences, and illustrates the many ways in which art was, and remains, a powerful medium for healing and expression.