Introducing MIMPI KITA: CASTLE IN THE AIR
Genre: A sci-fi fantasy set in a retro-futuristic 1960s Malaya
Language: Nogori- Malay- Japanese
Runtime: 72 minutes
Story:A musician enters her dying grandmother’s dream to bring her back- and discovers she’s been dreaming her entire life.
Director's Statement
“Mimpi Kita: Castle In The Air is the film I needed to see as a Malaysian filmmaker —a story that imagines Malaysian narratives in bold, unfamiliar ways. Right now, Malaysian voices are almost invisible in sci-fi and fantasy. We’re making this film to change that. This is our moment to prove Malaysian cinema can deliver the imaginative storytelling audiences are hungry for.
Support this film, and you’re not just enabling one story—you’re opening doors for every unrepresented Malaysian filmmaker who wants to explore more imaginative worlds for the audience. Let’s make this happen together.”
— aaaaafin (Arifin Ajib), Director
About the Director -aaaaafin
Trained at the Met Film School, Ealing Studios (London), Arifin Ajib is a Malaysian filmmaker fascinated by how imagination lives in ordinary spaces—in family rooms, inherited objects, the stories grandmothers carry in their dreams.
His award-winning short film My Lor Bak has journeyed through Raindance, Busan, and Nevada, earning recognition for direction and cinematography. But what drives him isn’t accolades—it’s a quiet conviction that Malaysian stories deserve to be told with the imaginative seriousness of sci fi fantasy.
Mimpi Kita: Castle In The Air, his feature directorial debut, is an exploration of this belief. He made this film because he saw young Malaysian wanting to see their world transformed by imagination. That possibility—that hunger—felt worth dedicating years to understand.
LEADERSHIP
DR HANNAH NAZRI
CHAIRMAN
Dr Hannah Nazri is an obstetrics and gynaecology doctor and women’s health researcher recognised as one of Southeast Asia’s leading medical voices advocating for the end of female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C). Combining clinical expertise with culturally informed advocacy, she has played a significant role in shaping evidence based and rights affirming discourse on the practice in Malaysia and the wider region.
Nazri serves as Director of Malaysian Doctors for Women and Children, where she leads medical engagement on FGM/C and challenges the growing medicalisation of the practice. She is also a core member of the UNFPA Malaysia FGM/C Partnerships Committee and an advisory board member of the Asia Network to End FGM/C, contributing medical expertise to regional strategies addressing the issue. Her policy work includes collaboration with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia and the global legal advocacy organisation Equality Now, helping to strengthen rights based responses for women and girls.
Her essay, ‘Decolonising FGM/C Advocacy: Respecting Local Expertise’, has become an important reference point in reframing conversations on the practice by centring medical ethics, cultural understanding and community agency. She was invited to the King Charles III Garden Party 2024 in recognition of her contributions to women’s health advocacy. She was also named to the WeAreTheCity Rising Star Awards 2025 shortlist for her work in the public sector.
TAN CHUI MUI
PRODUCER
Tan Chui Mui is a foundational producer of the Malaysian New Wave, renowned for her ability to transform limited resources into globally recognised cinema. In 2004, she co-founded Da Huang Pictures, a collective that pioneered a sustainable independent production model in ASEAN. As producer, she was the driving force behind seminal Malaysian titles including Liew Seng Tat’s Flower in the Pocket (Rotterdam Tiger Award), Jiang Xiaoxuan’s To Kill a Mongolian Horse (Giornate degli Autori 2024), and ‘The Fox King’ (Toronto, 2025) by Woo Ming Jin.
Mui’s production philosophy emphasizes “Low Cost, High Quality,” a strategy she formalised through the Next New Wave initiative and the SeaShorts Film Festival. Her recent work, the meta-action feature Barbarian Invasion (2021), showcases her expertise in navigating international co-productions and grants. Mui’s blueprint has shown regional producers how to bridge local stories and global festivals via artistic rigor and collective regional support.
FILMOGRAPHY AS PRODUCER:
‘Flower in the Pocket’ (Rotterdam, 2007) by Liew Seng Tat
‘Letters from the South’ (2013), an omnibus short film b y Tsai Ming-liang, Aditya Assarat, Royston Tan, Midi Z, Sun Koh and Tan Chui Mui
‘Sometime, Sometime’ (Shanghai, 2020) by Jacky Yeap
‘The Wind Will Say’ (Busan, 2022) by Renai Wei Yongyao
‘This Woman’ (Visions du Réel, 2023) by Alan Zhang
‘To Kill a Mongolian Horse’ (Giornate degli Autori 2024 ) by Jiang Xiaoxuan
‘The Fox King’ (Toronto, 2025) by Woo Ming Jin