WATCH: Viral M’sian Short ‘Kantoi’ Is Out On Youtube & It Tackles Teenage Angst & Teen Pregnancy

By Ameera Rosli  •  22 Dec 2020 in Features

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Upon reading the title, one might already recognise the film Kantoi due to its viral success on Twitter back in July 2018.

At the time, there was only a selected screening of the film, but it was so well-loved and received enough positive feedback for it to be nominated for Best Short Film at Freedom Film Fest 2018. It was also one of the top 3 short films at Malaysia International Film Festival 2019.

The film even received screenings at public schools due to its important underlying message.

If you missed the boat in 2018, in order to catch you up, Kantoi is a film revolving around teenage girls who find a pregnancy test at their school’s toilet. From there, they embark on a sleuthing mission to find out the owner of the discarded test.

In actuality, the test belongs to the protagonist, Alia, and throughout the film, she has to tackle the dilemma of owning up to her own pregnancy or keeping it a secret from harshly judgemental teenage girls.

Check out the trailer below:

The light-hearted comedy is incredibly reminiscent of nostalgic high-school films such as Mean Girls, Easy A and Clueless. The dynamics between characters as well as the dialogue and overall gedik comedy is what truly shines in Kantoi.

Directed by Adam Zainal, of BMW Shorties’ entry OSOM: Jangan Kena Tangkap Sudah fame, the film integrates a saturated, almost cotton-candy like colour-grading that matches the vibrancy of our adolescence. Adeptly shot with a vital message on teen pregnancy and the dangers of gossip culture, the Multimedia University-graduate cum director has proven through this debut film that he’s got a lot more up his sleeve.

Kantoi was purely funded through donations from friends as well as online crowdfunding, and now, it’s available for you to watch in its entirety.

To watch Kantoi, click here.