KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — Previously, we brought news of FINAS forming an Oscar Committee in order to pick the best local film to be submitted to the upcoming 88th Academy Awards.

One of the most promising films eligible for submission was filmmaker Liew Seng Tat’s “Lelaki Harapan Dunia” (“Men who Save the World”), as it did win this year’s FFM27’s Best Film and Best Director.

According to a recent post on the film’s Facebook page, “Lelaki Harapan Dunia” has indeed been picked as Malaysia’s hope in the running for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

This marks the third time for Malaysia to send in an entry, after “Puteri Gunung Ledang” (2004) and “Bunohan” (2012).

Prior to its 27 November release in Malaysia last year, “Lelaki Harapan Dunia” was screened in various film festivals, even winning several accolades, across the globe. Even though its local screening was marred with controversies at first, the public eventually came to accept it and it has gone on to become one of the highly acclaimed local films.

The film will be vying for a nomination along with other competitors such as Sotho Kulikar’s “The Last Reel” (Cambodia), Dante Lam’s “To The Fore” (Hong Kong), Hou Hsiao-hsien’s “The Assassin” (Taiwan), Lee Joon-ik’s “The Throne” (South Korea), Masaharu Take’s “100 Yen Love” (Japan) and Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Wolf Totem” (China).

Only five films will be chosen as the nominees, which will be announced on January 14, 2016. — CinemaOnline