Acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To has been named jury president of the 6th Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest), which will also honour Taiwanese actress Sylvia Chang with a lifetime achievement award.
To will chair the festival’s competition jury, which also includes Vietnamese actress Truong Ngoc Anh, Japanese filmmaker Ryuichi Hiroki, Malaysian star Zizan Razak and Singaporean director Eric Khoo. To is a leading director of films such as Breaking News, Election, Exiled, Mad Detective and Drug War, and sat on the Berlinale international competition jury earlier this year.
MIFFest is set to take place at LaLaport BBCC from July 23-29 with a programme that includes 42 films from 15 countries. An awards ceremony will be held on July 29.
The festival will open with the world premiere of Malaysian family drama Eraser, directed by Mark Lee See Teck and featuring the final on-screen performance of the late Adibah Noor. The closing film will be the international premiere of See You At The Rally by Taiwanese filmmaker Kanny Chang.
This year, MIFFest will bestow its lifetime achievement award on Sylvia Chang, in recognition of a career spanning several decades that recently included A Light Never Goes Out, for which she won the Golden Horse best actress award last November.
The festival has also partnered with the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) to present a selection of genre titles and stage seminars focusing on the genre film industry. The collaboration will include the international premiere of South Korea’s Iron Mask by Kim Sung Hwan, and the Asian premiere of Japan’s Single8 from Japan, directed by Konaka Kazuya.
Films playing in competition include opening feature Eraser, Our Home from India’s Romi Meitei Mayanglambam, Let the Dance Begin by Spain’s Marina Seresesky and Luxembourg, Luxembourg by Antonio Lukich from Ukraine. Further titles include Indonesia’s Autobiography by Makbul Mubarak, Japan’s Plan 75 by Chie Hayakawa, Hong Kong’s Sunny Side of the Street by Lau Kok Rui, Turkey’s Snow And The Bear by Selcen Ergun, Hong Kong’s A Light Never Goes Out by Anastasia Tsang, and Japan’s My Small Land by Emma Kawawada.
No comments yet