Early life

He was born in Pulau Pinang on 22 January 1965. Razak obtained his Master of Art in Film and Television Fiction from Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom in the year 1997. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in Journalism, Razak started as a script writer before moving on to directing. He debuted as a director with the film Gemerlapan in the same year. He became a lecturer in Universiti Teknologi MARA since 1991, eventually serving as the Dean of Faculty of Film, Theatre & Animation there. He is also one of the lecturers involved in the setting up of its Faculty of Performing Arts in 1998. In October 2016, he obtained his PhD in Management from the University Utara Malaysia.

He is married to Datin Nazeera Ahmed Bazari and has two children, Batrisyia Abdul Razak and Aniq Aqil Abdul Razak.

Honours

He won a Special Jury Award for Portraying Social Community Culture and was the Producer of one of the Best Short Films at the 2007 RTM Short Film Awards. In 2011, he has been awarded National Academic Award (Creative) and received Malaysia Book of Records for directing most number of film by an academician.

Impact

Though there exists a divide between people who love Razak's movies and those who hate them, Razak's impact on the film industry is overlooked in his role as an academician and dean of the Faculty of Film, Theatre and Animation in UITM. Unfortunately, this is not known by many in the industry. If the nation did, perhaps some of his fans would be less critical of him and his films. Through his leadership of the UITM faculty, Razak is a conductor at its core – producing and mentoring thousands of future Malay film makers, producers, actors, editors and other specialists in the TV and Film industry.

For example, Farid Kamil was groomed by Razak and given the platform to ascend into stardom. Farid was his student whom Razak mentored. Farid Kamil is just one of the many individuals and specialists trained by Razak. Azhari Zain has directed many films which include Notti|Jin Notti and Mantra. Azhari Zain was trained by Razak on set where he played the role of Assistant Director, assisting Razak in making his films.

What Razak has created from more than a decade ago is an eco-system in UITM as both academician and practitioner. While students in many other universities only get theoretical knowledge of the film industry, Razak makes it possible for his students to experience the real thing. Naturally, this experiential process helps Razak's students, colleagues and mentees in getting ahead in the real world of the TV and film industry. Not many academicians can claim to have succeeded as Razak has in this area. Yet it is unfortunate that although Razak created the Faculty from scratch and was made an associate professor long before he had a PhD, his impact in the Malaysian world of TV and film making are virtually unknown. Perhaps an academic paper should be written about his impact in this light.

Filmography

References

External links

• Abdul Razak at Sinema Malaysia