KUALA LUMPUR: This year, the first speaker session at ADFEST will be the most important Seminar of the year – a heartfelt tribute to the inspirational Yasmin Ahmad, presented by ADOI’s Harmandar Singh in collaboration with Michael Conrad (Berlin School of Creative Management) and Akira Kagami (Dentsu Inc).

The Tribute will take place at the Pattaya Exhibition and Conference Hall, Thailand on Thursday 18 March 2010 at 11:15am.

In the following edited except, Harmandar Singh shares his memories of Yasmin Ahmad – who was a critically-acclaimed film director, writer and scriptwriter from Malaysia and was also the Executive Creative Director at Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur – with ADFESTbuzz readers…

“I will always remember the evening when ADOI Indonesia organized a private screening of Yasmin’s film ‘Muallaf’ at a theatre in Pasaraya Grande in Blok M Jakarta.

Yasmin began (in her usual soft spoken manner) by quoting from the holy Quran ‘I am a drop in the ocean’ to an enraptured crowd who knew this was going to be a moveable feast beyond their imagination – a journey they’ll never forget. She questioned why we were presumptuous just because we created ads for the masses? Who was the real creator?

Which instantly reminded me of her stunning speech at the Cannes International Advertising Festival five years ago, titled ‘Who The Hell Do We Think We Are?’

On 24th June 2004, at the Cannes podium she examined what women looked for in ads and how marketers needed to treat women with greater respect than they had in the past, a contentious issue at the best of times.

She addressed how advertisers could be provided a way out: ‘winning women over’ without resorting to tricks and dishonest advertising. Taking the audience back to basics, she contended that this can be done through creative and effective strategies.

I was seated in the first few front rows when her regional boss Linda Locke tapped me on my shoulder from behind cautioning me to stop giggling away. I was thrilled Yasmin was having the time of her life deliberating on a subject so close to her heart!

A few years ago, Yasmin shot her first documentary commissioned by the ad agency she worked at, Leo Burnett. It was about the working class women of India: their dreams, their fears, what they thought of multi-national companies, how they created their own micro businesses to survive, what they hoped for their children...

The hour-long film titled ‘Voices at the Bottom of the Pyramid’ remains another masterpiece that illustrates her depth of understanding of India’s deep and chaotic social fabric.

She told The Sun paper once, “"I fear arrogance on my part. When people say you are so good and you win so many awards, it is easy to be arrogant.”

By her own confession, Ahmad was unashamedly sentimental, a trait she shared with her cinematic hero Charlie Chaplin, whom she admired for his juxtaposition of comedic and tragic elements. In her own work, she also strived to remind her audience what it was to be human.

"As I get older, I understand why one has to pray five times a day. Five times in a day you are reminded you are apart from God’s grace, you are nothing. That is very humbling."

Her movies, Rabun, Sepet, Gubra, Mukhsin, Muallaf and Talentime have won multiple awards internationally.

ADFESTbuzz will publish more of this touching story in an upcoming issue. Don’t miss ADOI Presents A Tribute to Yasmin Ahmad on Thursday 18 March 2010 at 11:15am.

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