LIFE – A Silent Malaysian Film That Found Its Voice Across the World

In an era dominated by spectacle, noise, and multimillion-dollar budgets, LIFE – Living In Fear Everyday emerged from the unlikeliest of places. Two guys, a story born from empathy, and a budget of less than RM1,000.

At its core, LIFE is a rebellion. A reminder that cinema is not defined by equipment, funding, or big studios, but by the courage to tell a story that matters.

A Film Born from Heart, Humanity, and a Chance Encounter

The journey began with a simple lunch outing with his wife and daughter that unexpectedly shifted director Justin Franz’s worldview. A quiet, painful, human moment, one he cannot reveal yet, opened a wound that became the seed of LIFE. It was an incident that changed not only him, but his young daughter, who grew a new depth of compassion from what she witnessed.

Justin realised then that silence could speak louder than dialogue. That cinema, stripped to its purest form, could heal, confront and awaken. With this spark, he turned to Suran Hassan, a colleague turned creative ally whose visual instinct matched Justin’s emotional vision. One night over teh tarik, Justin said the words that started everything:

“This is the time, bro. Time to make our film.”

And LIFE began.

Two Guys, Two iPhones, One Vision

With no investors and no backing, they crafted a 40-minute silent film on personal equipment, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, a drone, an old DSLR and free editing tools. Every frame, every cut, every beat of the story was shaped by just two people:

Justin Franz (Writer, Director, Producer)
Suran Hassan (Director of Photography)

Casting was equally unconventional, with a multi-cultural team of actors. The leads included people with zero acting experience, a French expatriate (Max Gauduchon), a sportscaster (Elli Famira), a radio DJ (Rika Adrina), and first-time local talents (Ken Thayalan and Aairenee Zarina) who poured raw honesty into their performances.

A Production Fueled Not by Money, but by Emotion

Weekends turned into shoot days. Nights turned into editing marathons. A drone got stuck in a tree for two hours. A python quietly sat nearby as they tried retrieving it. They carried their own equipment, ran on little sleep, and juggled day jobs. Yet the bond that formed, among cast, crew, and creators, became the soul of LIFE. But getting the film funded? Almost impossible.

Emails ignored. Rejections everywhere. People said:
“Silent film? Impossible.”
“Lower your ambition.”
“Change the story.”

But Justin and Suran held their ground. They wanted to prove that storytelling, not budget, is the heartbeat of cinema.

With encouragement from former FINAS Chairman, Dato’ Kamil Othman, a champion of fearless, boundary-breaking cinema, they pressed forward. And then something unexpected happened.

A Silent Malaysian Film Starts Speaking to the World

When they submitted to a few international festivals, they expected nothing. Instead, the world embraced LIFE.

Its silence became its strength.
Its empathy became universal.
Its humanity became borderless.

Selections came from the UK, US, Thailand, Canada, India, with more still pending. At the Golden Lion International Film Festival, Kolkata, Justin won Best Debut Filmmaker for a film made on less than RM1,000! A win now endorsed by FINAS and IMDb-accredited. Media coverage exploded across Malaysia with a lot of mainstream media covering the story about LIFE. An army of local celebrities started sharing, supporting and acknowledging the film, which included Winner of The Best Actor in FFM 2025, Qi Razali, Redza Minhat, legendary director Erma Fatimah, Sasi The Don, star of the recent Malaysian Neo Noir hit ‘Macai’ Karnan Kanapathy, Johan, Ozlynn, Ainul Aishah, Adeline Tsen, Che Puan Sarimah Ibrahim, Iedil Putra, Haniff Hamzah from FlyFM, Basil Joseph from MixFM among others. Even the Minister of Communications YB Fahmi Fadzil and current Chairman of FINAS Dato’ Hans Isaac personally shared LIFE on their Instagram stories.

Inspired by Cinema’s Boldest Visionaries

Though LIFE emerged entirely from real experience, Ipoh, Perak born Justin Franz’s filmmaking spirit has long been shaped by legendary storytellers who broke rules and redefined cinema:

Filmmakers Who Inspired LIFE

• Martin Scorsese– emotional depth and human storytelling
• Quentin Tarantino– boldness, rhythm and unconventional narrative choices
• Kamal Haasan, particularly Pushpak(1987) – a pioneering Indian silent film that proved dialogue isn’t necessary for impact
• Denis Villeneuve(Blade Runner 2049) – visual storytelling, atmosphere, and silence as emotion

Films That Influenced LIFE’s DNA

• Drive (2011)– minimalist dialogue, atmospheric tension and color storytelling
• La La Land (2016)– emotional language through color, light and music
• 21 Grams (2003)– nonlinear structure, raw human complexity
• Pushpak (1987)– proof that silence can be cinema’s most powerful voice
• Aku, Kau & Dia (2012) – unconventional love story with an unexpected twist
• Jagat (2015) – gritty coming-of-age drama. One of Malaysian cinema’s most striking examples of ultra-realism in acting

These works inspired Justin to believe that a Malaysian film, even one made on RM1,000 could rely on visuals and emotion instead of dialogue and spectacle.

A Film That Reminds Us What It Means to Feel

LIFE speaks for “the voiceless”, reminding audiences that empathy is universal. The decision to remove dialogue wasn’t a stylistic gimmick, it was a deliberate artistic choice to let emotion, light and silence carry the weight of the story. At its heart, LIFE is a call for empathy, a story that speaks without words, urging audiences to look closer, feel deeper, and remember the humanity we often overlook.

It is proof that:

When passion leads, limitations fall away.
When emotion guides, language becomes irrelevant.
When stories are honest, they travel.

What’s Next?

Today, LIFE continues to travel across Asia, Europe, and North America, including submissions to Oscar-linked festivals. Justin and Suran are exploring possibilities of expanding LIFE into a feature film or a silent mini-series.

LIFE proves that independent Malaysian cinema has the power to break barriers. It shows that you don’t need million-ringgit budgets, big studios or lavish equipment, only purpose, courage and heart.

LIFE is a spark for a new wave of Malaysian independent filmmaking. An anthem for what independent Malaysian cinema can be.

For Justin, this is only the beginning:
“I want to tell stories that move people, stories that challenge, ones that linger beyond the big screen and remind us that humanity still matters.”

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By – Bags of Flavour Films / Directed by Justin Franz

— 10/12/2025