PETALING JAYA, July 16 — Malaysia’s number one feature film at the box-office last year Ejen Ali The Movie is set to make its festival debut at the 24th Cartoons on the Bay-Pulcinella Awards in Italy.

Ejen Ali has been nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the festival that is scheduled to take place from December 3 to December 5 in the coastal city of Pescara in Italy’s Abruzzo region.

The homegrown animation flick by Primeworks Studios and Wau Animation is one of 16 films in the running for the award.

More than 350 works are in competition from 20 countries at the festival which was initially established in 1996 to celebrate Italian animation.

The Pulcinella Awards have since evolved to include foreign animation works, making it an important event on the international children's media industry calendar.

Ejen Ali will also be representing Malaysia at the Asean Film Week 2020 after it was named Official Selection.

The event is set to take place in three cities in Vietnam — Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

Held in celebration of Vietnam’s chairmanship of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) this year, the festival aims to honour the core values of Asean nations through creative content.

Through each country’s respective national film councils, 10 Asean member nations were invited to nominate their films in line with this year’s theme "Asean Cohesion and Proactive Adaptation.”

"It’s an honour to kick off the second half of the year with Ejen Ali The Movie travelling on the international film festival circuit,” Primeworks Studios chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Izham Omar said in a press release.

"The opportunity to be featured among the best animation content from all over the world is a milestone achievement and I would like to offer congratulations to our partners Wau Animation for creating the rich universe and the warm story with heart seen in the film.”

‘Ejen Ali The Movie’ will be featured in a series of free public screenings in Vietnam. — Picture courtesy of Primeworks Studios

Ejen Ali will be screened in a series of free public screenings at the National Cinema Centre in Ha Noi (July 20), Le Do Cinema in Da Nang (July 23) and Cinestar Hai Bà Trưng in Ho Chi Minh City (July 24).

"While the world is moving into Covid-19 recovery, the news about our film’s festival participation is very much welcomed as we strive to keep telling great stories in the animation medium,” Wau Animation CEO and Ejen Ali director Usamah Zaid Yasin said.

"We are honoured to represent Malaysia and look forward to the audience reaction in Italy and Vietnam.”

Based on the 2016 animated television series, the spy action film which was released on November 28, 2019 collected over RM30.8 million at the box-office in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia.

The plot follows a 12-year-old boy who after being accidentally recruited as a spy has now grown to embrace his role in secret agency Meta Advance Tactical Agency (MATA), to protect the futuristic city of Cyberaya from outside threats.