{
  "id": 13007181,
  "title": "#SHOWBIZ: 'Miselia': Director Ekien Zainal's eerie Covid isolation telefilm premieres Oct 10 on TV1",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/09/showbiz-miselia-director-ekien-zainals-eerie-covid-isolation-telefilm-13007181",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-09T02:00:22.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/groove/2026/10/1551061/showbiz-miselia-director-ekien-zainals-eerie-covid-isolation"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "During the Covid-19 pandemic, director Ekien Zainal turned her attention to the psychological struggles of families confined at home, drawing inspiration for her telefilm Miselia. The movie delves into themes of trauma, identity disorders, and the frailty of human nature in extreme isolation. Ekien emphasizes that her focus was not solely on job losses, but rather on the overwhelming pressure faced by families during lockdown. The project underwent several title changes before settling on Miselia, a word she created to represent the concept of mycelium, the network of threads in fungi. The main character in the film cultivates mushrooms to support her household, using the plants as a symbol for the blurring of reality and illusion in the narrative. Director Ekien filmed the telefilm in Fraser's Hill, creating a fictional location called Valmont Hill to contrast with real-world settings. The ensemble cast, featuring Ellie Suriaty, Azhar Sulaiman, Niezam Zaidi, Adam Shahz, and Shiqin Kamal, delivered exceptional performances, with Ekien praising them highly. Miselia is set to premiere on October 10 on TV1 and will be available for streaming on RTMKlik.",
  "summary": "During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, as global attention focused heavily on the economic fallout and job losses, director Ekien Zainal found herself drawn to a quieter, darker tragedy unfolding behind closed doors: the intense psychological strain on locked-down families.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "New Straits Times",
        "title": "#SHOWBIZ: 'Miselia': Director Ekien Zainal's eerie Covid isolation telefilm premieres Oct 10 on TV1",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/09/showbiz-miselia-director-ekien-zainals-eerie-covid-isolation-telefilm",
        "published": "2026-10-09T02:00:22.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}