KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 — A film adapted from a novel by the best-selling thriller writer in the country, Ramlee Awang Murshid entitled, Tombiruo: Penunggu Rimba has created history when it was listed as a Best Asian Film finalist by The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) 2018.
According to the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) database on achievement of Malaysian films at international level in 2018, the movie produced by Astro Shaw will be competing with eight other top movies from Asia namely 1987 When The Day Comes (South Korea), The Bold, The Corrupt and The Beautiful (Taiwan), Dying to Survive (China), Gali Guleiyan (India), Newton (India), Sanju (India), Shoplifters (Japan) and Youth (China).
The winner of the award will be announced in Sydney at a ceremony on Decemebr 5.
Earlier, the film starring Zul Ariffin, Farid Kamil, Nabila Huda, Hasnul Rahmat, Datuk M. Nasir, Datin Marlia Musa, Faizal Hussein, and many others was selected as ‘Official Selection’ under the ‘World Fantastic Blue’ with 36 other films from all over the world at the 22nd Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) which was held from July 12 -22 in Bucheon, South Korea.
Apart from that, the database also revealed that another local film based on a supernatural theme, Interchange also received international acclaims when it won the Special Visual Effect award at the 58th Asia Pacific Film Festival (APFF58) in Taipei, Taiwan in September.
The film directed by Dain Said was also nominated for the Best Sound Arrangement in the same festival.
APFF58 also saw three other local movies namely Adiwiraku, Hanyut and Abang Long Fadil 2 competing but failed to win any award.
Also listed as a successful film is Óne Two Jaga directed by Nam Ron, a Pixel Play Entertainment production and Jazzy Pictures which was the opening film which caught the attention of the audience as well as international delegates at the prestigious film festival, 20th Udine Far East Film Festival (FEFF), Italy held on April 20.
Meanwhile, the film ‘Redha’ which took the theme of children autism again won the “Cultural Exchange Prize for a Feature Film” award at the 6th Seoul Guro International Kids Film Festival, South Korea (Gukiff) in May.
Redha had earlier won several wards at the 29th Malaysian Film Festival and three awards at the Kazan International Film Festival of Muslim Cinema in Kazan, Russia, in 2016.
Also listed is the controversial film Dukun which was banned for 12 years in Malaysia, but successfully competed in the Audience Award category at the 17th New York Film Festival in July.
Meanwhile, the yet to be screened film titled Guang won two awards at the 13th Chinese Youth Generation Film Forum in Wuhan, China, on Sept 16.
The film won the 'Best New Director' award through Quek Shio Chuan and the 'Best New Actor' award through acting, Kyo Chen.
The movie on teenager autism was also selected to compete in the Fukuoka International Film Festival 2018 and will be played in the cinemas on November 29.
A local Cantonese film, A House of Happiness won the Best Cantonese Film at the 6th Vancouver Chinese Film Festival in Canada in July.
While in the short film category, some movies make the country proud when they bag awards at the international level.
This includes the Tamil film Parvai which won the ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Actress’ awards at the Hong Kong Film Art International Film Festival 2018.
The film also won the ‘Special Mention’ award at the Asia South East–Short Film Festival 2018 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Another short film The Selfish One won the ‘Best Family Drama’ award at the Manhattan Film Festival in New York.
While a short film, The Special Ones also won the Best Film (student) award at the International Short Film & Arts Festival which took place in New Delhi, India. — Bernama
