KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 ― The Buku Fixi-sponsored Best Film Poster Award, set up unofficially following the backlash over the Malaysia Film Festival’s (FFM) language segregation police, has announced its 10 nominees.
The film posters in the running for the RM5,000 prize are Bangunan, BoBoiBoy the Movie, Girlfriend Kontrak, Jagat, Jengka, Love Endures, Nota, Ola Bola, Polis Evo, and Redha.
The posters were picked from the 104 Malaysian films that were screened in local cinemas between January 1, 2015 until June 30, 2016, with the winner to be announced on August 30.
Films Jagat, Nota, Ola Bola, and Polis Evo are currently nominated in the FFM in the updated Best Film category, though only Nota and Polis Evo from this list qualify for the Best National Film category for being more than 70 per cent in Bahasa Malaysia.
A controversy broke out among the public and the film industry when critically acclaimed films Ola Bola and Jagat were initially disqualified from contesting the main Best Picture award for not containing scripts that were 70 per cent in Bahasa Malaysia.
In response to the protests and feedback, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry on Wednesday decided to open up the FFM’s Best Picture category — previously restricted to films with 70 per cent Bahasa Malaysia content — to all films. It also created the Best Film in National Language category.
National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) announced today that the Best National Film award will be its main honour at the awards.
Organisers of the Best Film Poster Award, when previously announcing their competition, said that it “will not discriminate on the type of typeface, font size or colour used in those posters. As long as a film is a Malaysian film, its poster qualifies.”
The Best Film Poster category in FFM was discontinued after the 2014 awards, with the last one awarded to the film KIL.
