NOVEMBER 8 ― The 26th edition of Festival Filem Malaysia was held last weekend and it totally lived up to its theme this year, “Transformasi Sinema Malaysia” (which roughly translates as “Transformation of Malaysian Cinema”), much to everyone’s surprise.

When the nominees were announced back in August, the big news was Penanggal leading the way with 15 nominations, followed closely by Sembunyi: Amukan Azazil with 12 nominations.

Another big piece of news was the fact that all five nominees for Best Film and Best Director were for films produced or co-produced by Primeworks Studios (also sometimes known as Grand Brilliance).

Making a much smaller wave was the fact that KIL landed 11 nominations, due to the fact that it was very much a low-profile indie film, even though it was acquired and distributed by the big guns at Grand Brilliance.

In the interest of full disclosure, let me first make it clear that I’m personally a little bit involved with the making of KIL. It was written and directed by a friend of mine, another friend edited the movie, and more friends were involved in producing it. Heck, I even have a (speaking) cameo role in it!

In short, it was made by a bunch of friends who just wanted to make a movie. It was a small passion project. Even the production budget (which I’m not really sure I can actually disclose here) before the film was sold to Grand Brilliance was probably around one tenth of the normal budget of a film made in Malaysia, which more or less amounts to almost the same amount of money it costs to make a TV movie here.

It wasn’t much of a box-office hit, which surely contributes to the fact that not many Malaysians have actually heard of the film, let alone seen it, but to those in the know and the people involved in the Malaysian film industry, it’s quite common knowledge that KIL was a breath of fresh air and something quite special, especially considering the slick visuals despite its low budget.

Last year saw KIL win four major awards at the Anugerah Skrin 2013 with awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. But that’s nothing compared to its shock victory at FFM26 over much more fancied and bigger budgeted rivals like the aforementioned Penanggal, Sembunyi: Amukan Azazil, Rock Oo and KL Gangster 2.

That fateful night saw KIL win four major awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Pelakon Harapan Wanita, with another award collected for Best Poster.

To put things in perspective, imagine a low budget indie like Clerks winning the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director etc and you’ll probably see what a huge thing this win was, as it is definitely something wholly unprecedented in the history of Malaysian film.

You can’t even compare Bunohan’s win at FFM25 with this as not only was Bunohan a normal-budget film, but it was also the sort of film that one would expect to win awards at film festivals.

KIL, on the other hand, and no matter how much of a breath of fresh air it was to the Malaysian film industry, was an audience-friendly film that would fit in nicely with the current crop of Sundance-friendly and audience-friendly US indies.

It’s the sort of film that might win the Audience Award at festivals like Sundance, but it’s definitely not the sort that people would bet to win the Grand Jury Prize there.

Imagine what a wonderful surprise to see KIL win as big as it did at FFM26. It’s always been the belief of me and my KIL film-making gang that to try and effect some change in the Malaysian film industry, one just needs to get back to the very basics and do them well.

Come up with a strong story, write a good and logical enough script out of it, and just make sure that everything at least looks and sounds professional. In short, just make sure that the level of craft involved is up to a good enough standard that won’t embarrass anyone involved with the making of the film.

In other words, get your craft right first and then proceed from there. Whatever you may think about the story or acting in KIL, I think it’s safe to say that it’s one professional looking and sounding movie.

It knows it’s a small story and film, but it makes damn sure that it makes the best out of what it’s got, because it’s made with love. Unfortunately, that’s more than I can say for the majority of Malaysian films being made today, most of which look like nothing more than cynical rush jobs and cash grabs that are made just to get bums onto cinema seats, without even much care for the craft of it.

KIL’s surprise big win at FFM26 is a huge affirmation that it pays to get your craft right, no matter how small or slight your film is. Let’s not forget Roger Ebert’s famous quote that “It’s not what a movie is about, it’s about how it is about it.”

Will this win transform Malaysian cinema? Let’s hope it does.

*This is the personal opinion of the columnist.