KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — The 29th Malaysia Film Festival (FFM 29) will see several changes made in order to ensure the prestigious awards show will be more honest, fair and free of controversy.
Among the changes that will be made are the main awards ceremony will now only be held on the closing night, there will no longer be any pre-awards ceremony done before the night as how it has been done the previous years.
Moreover, this year several categories will no longer be competing in FFM.
As for the judging system, Datuk Fauzi Ayob, director-general of the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas), said that this year’s system will also go through alterations so that it will not be questioned anymore.
“For the FFM judging system this time around, our side will work on improving the categories and several other criteria.
“We do not want a repeat of last year when it caused a controversy after several new categories were introduced. We do not want national films to be overlooked,” said Fauzi during the ‘Sinergi Industri & Kerjasama FINAS dan Media’ event at D’Saji, Titiwangsa Kuala Lumpur recently.
He added that Finas and the Film Director’s Association of Malaysia (FDAM) will collaborate and be involved in the judging.
A meeting has also been held where FINAS welcomed the nation’s various arts associations to discuss and give their thoughts and suggestions on how to improve this year’s FFM judging system.
The awards night for FFM 29 is scheduled to take place on September 23 at Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) in Kuala Lumpur. — CinemaOnline
