Adibah Noor's last film 'Eraser' now on Amazon Prime

On June 18, 2022, late actress Adibah Noor Mohamed Omar passed away after battling with ovarian cancer, just three months after shooting for her last film - “Eraser” - was completed.

Visual artist and filmmaker Mark Lee, who helms the production for Eraser, said he received the news of Adibah’s passing when the film was in post-production. Her passing hit Mark hard.

“I think she is watching us up there and wanted this project to go on. The hardest part is that what we had written about her character in the script was in fact what she was undergoing in real life.

“I created this character who only has a few months left to live, and then she has cervical cancer. That’s exactly what happened to Adibah,” he said.

Mark said Adibah had kept her health issues private and occasionally complained about stomach cramps.

He did not think that it was anything serious, as she would go about her daily routine and remained her cheerful self.

After her passing, a tribute to Adibah has been added to the end of “Eraser”, which had its Southeast Asian premiere on Amazon Prime yesterday (June 1).

“Eraser”, starring Namron, Adibah, Angela Chan, Dhiya Ariffin, Alyssa Lee, and Danish Adam, is a story about a mother and daughter’s escape from their abusive urban home.

They ended up in a village, where they were taken in by a couple played by Namron and Adibah.

Over time, the girl and one of the couple’s sons start developing feelings for each other.

“It’s an interracial love, a puppy love kind of story,” said Mark.

The movie is based on a three-minute-long short film Mark produced years ago for a contest held in conjunction with the 57th Merdeka Day celebrations, in which it won the grand prize of RM57,000.

After years of development into a 94-minute feature film, shooting for “Eraser” began right after the Lunar New Year in 2022. The script itself took six months to get ready.

Besides Adibah’s untimely passing, Mark also suffered a major setback when his office in Selangor was flooded in December 2021, which also destroyed his entire collection of paintings that was slated for an exhibition in the third quarter of 2022.

Nevertheless, he pressed ahead with the film, which featured newcomers as well as established actors.

Mark said he wanted to introduce new talents (Dhiya, Alyssa and Danish) to the local film industry instead of hiring those who have large social media followings.

He believes that hiring social media stars is unfair to talented and hardworking actors.

The presence of veterans like Namron helped, he said.

“We do a lot of rehearsals before going on to set. Namron did help me coach the young juniors a bit,” said Mark.

When asked what he hoped people would take away with them after watching “Eraser”, Mark said he wants people to see that love is universal regardless of who you are and where you come from.

“I think love is the most important thing in communication. So, yeah, just spread love and respect towards each other,” Mark said, adding that there is too much unnecessary friction between the races currently.

As a filmmaker, Mark is known for thought-provoking films such as “At Rainbow’s End”, which touches on the lives of those living with HIV, and “At Rainbow’s End II”, which focuses on stateless youths struggling with HIV and AIDS.

He also directed documentaries such as “Mr Garbage”, which features a man who is determined to clean up all the garbage thrown into the waters of Pulau Ketam.

Mark is currently working on a psychological thriller called “Lubok”, scheduled to be released next year.

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