Malaysia’s Heritage Landmarks on International Screens
By Chrishandra Sebatiampillai, Beh May Ting
December 2021 FEATURE
SECONDS INTO THE opening scene of Crazy Rich Asians (2018), eagle-eyed Penangites would have found the fictional Calthorpe Hotel in London to be suspiciously familiar. The dark wooden revolving door that welcomes visitors into an interior of sprawling marble floors, polished white-framed glass doors and colonial-style furniture is unmistakably the Eastern and Oriental (E&O) Hotel on Lebuh Farquhar, Penang. For the last two decades, Malaysia as location has attracted a string of international filmmakers, with its nature-scapes and characteristic melting...
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Chrishandra Sebatiampillai
Dr. Chrishandra Sebastiampillai is a lecturer in Film, Television and Screen Studies at Monash University Malaysia. Her research interests include stardom and celebrity, the romance genre and its film couples, and Southeast Asian cinema.
Beh May Ting
is an urban anthropologist and a senior analyst in Penang Institute. She draws professional and personal inspirations from the finer things in life.
