KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — Cinematographer Mohd Noor Kassim is a man of action it seems.
Barely 24 hours after announcing his withdrawal from this year’s 28th Malaysia Film Festival (FFM28) for its alleged racism, the two-time Best Cinematographer winner pledged today to return his two trophies to the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) to signal his protest against its policy to segregate awards into Bahasa Malaysia and non-Bahasa Malaysia categories, including Best Picture.
“If Finas and PFM don’t take note about this before the festival and still persist with segregating films into Bahasa Malaysia and non-Bahasa Malaysia, I will return the two awards I won at FFM previously.
“I will return them on Monday in a programme with Finas. I will return both of them,” he told Malay broadcast channel Astro Awani in an interview.
PFM stands for the Malaysian Film Producers Association and together with Finas, has said the separation of award categories in the FFM was meant to uphold the national language in local films.
FFM28 is to be held from September 1 to 3 and will culminate in a glitzy awards ceremony on the last day at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
Mohd Noor had been nominated seven times previously and won two FFM awards for Best Cinematography for 2011’s Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa and 2009’s Setem.
In his broadcast interview, he said he was acting in the interests of the national arts industry, and reiterated his views to Malay Mail Online yesterday that he did not see a reason to segregate films based on languages.
“To me, if we want to move towards 1 Malaysia and from there to the global level, why should we segregate?” he said to Astro Awani.
Mohd Noor said he was unaware if any other past winners would be taking a similar stand and returning their trophies.
“I only hope, those who consider themselves artistes and consider this matter is not for individual [interest], but for the country, I hope they will follow me,” he said in the broadcast interview.
But he also emphasised that he was not forcing anyone to follow in his footsteps.
Mohd Noor was nominated again for the Bravo 5 combat film in FFM28 but withdrew yesterday, citing racism over the segregation of categories based on language.
He told Malay Mail Online that the separation of Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay to Bahasa Malaysia and non-Bahasa Malaysia categories gave the impression that Malays were afraid of competing with non-Malays.
The cinematographer’s withdrawal from the FFM came after popular comedian and actor Afdlin Shauki said he would boycott the film awards ceremony and urged his industry peers to follow suit.
FFM’s organisers had created two new non-Bahasa Malaysia categories for Best Director and Best Screenplay this year, adding on to the non-Bahasa Malaysia category for Best Picture that was introduced in 2011.
The nominations of two critically acclaimed movies — Chiu Keng Guan’s Ola Bola and Shanjhey Kumar Perumal’s Jagat — for Best Picture (non-Bahasa Malaysia) at the 28th FFM this year, instead of the main Best Picture category, had sparked public outrage.
Director-general Datuk Kamil Othman told Malay Mail Online yesterday that Finas has made it a policy for locally-made films to emphasise at least “70 per cent” Bahasa Malaysia usage in their scripts, but admitted it would be ideal if the Best Picture category in FFM was open to all films regardless of language.
Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak who is currently in his Sabah home state told Malay Mail Online today he will look into the raging controversy over the film segregation policy when he returns to Kuala Lumpur Monday.
