The Malaysia International Film Festival (Miffest) and Malaysia Golden Global Awards (MGGA) announced its list of nominees and participating films in a press conference last week.
Malaysian fantasy thriller Interchange will be competing against 17 other films from various countries for honours in seven major categories: best film, best actor, best actress, best director, best new director, best screenplay, and best cinematography.
The top five most nominated films are German comedy Toni Erdmann, South Korean horror film The Wailing, Filipino family drama Ma’ Rosa, Chinese romantic film One Night Only, and Taiwanese romantic film The Road To Mandalay with five nominations apiece.
Shaheizy Sam as Detective Man in Interchange.
The other films in the competition are Apprentice (Singapore); Happiness (Hong Kong); Hema Hema: Sing Me A Song While I Wait Bhutan/Hong Kong); I Am Not Madame Bovary (China); I, Daniel Blake (United Kingdom); Interchange (Malaysia); MMad World (Hong Kong); Perfect Strangers (Italy); Singing In Graveyards (Malaysia/Philippines), Soul Mate (Hong Kong); The Salesman (Iran/France); The Summer Is Gone (China); and White Ant (Taiwan).
All 18 films are in the running for best film, best screenplay and best cinematography.
The opening film of the festival will be German coming-of-age film Timm Thaler and the closing film will be Japanese family drama Harmonium.
Three films have been selected for Special Screening (out of competition): After This Our Exile (Hong Kong, 2006), Blind Way (China, 2016), and Redha (Malaysia, 2016).
Yet to be announced are the recipients of two Special Awards: the Lifetime Achievement In Films Award and the Friends Of Malaysia In Film Award.
There will also be an additional category called The Audience Choice Awards, to allow moviegoers to participate in the voting process. Just keep your ticket stubs and drop them in the voting box after watching your favourite movies in participating cinemas.
Critically acclaimed British film I, Daniel Blake is one of the 18 films that will be in competition at MIFFEST. Photo: MIFFEST
Miffest will be held at NU Sentral from Feb 28 to Mar 4. Cinema enthusiasts will be able to catch 23 films from 13 countries with the screenings conducted at mmCineplex and TGV cinemas. The MGGA awards ceremony will be conducted at the Arena Of Stars, Resorts World Genting on March 5.
For the complete list of nominees, visit www.mgga.com.my.
