Malaysia Film Festival

Malaysia Film Festival / Festival Filem Malaysia (FFM)
Awarded for	Excellence in film achievements
Presented by	FINAS, GAFIM
Country	Malaysia
First awarded	April 13, 1980
Official website	Official Website

Malaysia Film Festival, also known as the FFM (Festival Filem Malaysia) is an accolade bestowed by the Malaysian Entertainment Journalists Association of Malaysia (EJA) for the appreciation and honouring the products of film arts and artises.^[1] The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is one of the most prominent award ceremonies and the highlights for the film industry in Malaysia and is televised live in local Malaysia television network channel, annually.

Long before widely known as FFM, the events was being hosted by the Persatuan-Persatuan Kebudayaan mainly in Singapore to recognized excellence of the film industry especially Malay films. Upon the establishment of the EJA, FFM was appropriately being schemed and outlined in a way to help and see the progress of Malaysian's Malay films, which produced and directed by the Malaysian people itself would possibly competing with those of foreign films brought into the nation.^[2]

The first Malaysia Film Festival (FFM1) ceremony was held on April 11 until 13, 1980, at the Nirwana Ballroom, Hilton Hotels in Kuala Lumpur to honor outstanding film achievements during the period. The most recent ceremony, honoring films in 2009, was held at Shah Alam Convention Centre (SACC) on October 24, 2010.

History

The first awards were presented on April 13, 1980, at the Nirwana Ballroom, Hilton Hotels as a closing ceremony for the first festival ever in which the opening ceremony on April 11, was being opened officially by then Minister of Information, (Allahyarham Tan Sri) Datuk Mohammad Rahmat at the Federal Cinema of Kuala Lumpur. During this first awards and festival ceremony, only sixteen films were competing and awards were divided into three categories which is Heavy Drama (HD), Light Drama (LD) and Comedy (K).^[3]

At the time of the hosting of the third ceremony, FFM was no longer being organize by EJA, but instead taken over by Malaysia National Film Development (FINAS) after the second organization of the awards ceremony.^[4] FINAS standing alone in organizing the next three of FFM ceremony notably starting from FFM3 (1982) up to FFM (1984). In the beginning of the FFM6, the ceremony once again being taken over by different organizer, this time by the Federation of Film Artistes’ Association of Malaysia (GAFIM) after its establishment with the collaboration of FINAS.^[5]

The first Best Actor awarded was Jins Shamsudin, for his performance in Tiada Esok Bagimu; this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. As for the first Best Actress, Azean Irdawaty took home the trophy for her performance in Esok Masih Ada.^[6]

Trophy statuette

Design

The FFM main trophy's physical design is the merger of the four main pillars that open the lock together at the top of the circle globe. Part of the site is labelled with each category winner in the form of scratch. The concept is further explained as it is divided into three parts which is lower, middle and top of the trophy. As for the middle part of the trophy, the four main pillars are made of gold pewter coated designed to ensemble film rolls, reflects the rapid growing of the local film industry. These four pillars also representing certain film processes step such pre-production, production, post-production and promotion.

The artificial materials of this trophy were of black acrylic, gold plated pewter and white acrylic. It stands at 13 inch of tall and 4 inch of width measurement.

Award Contested

Among the contested awards in the festival:

Prime Awards

There are 13 contested awards:

• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Film
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Director
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Actor
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Actress
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Screenplay
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Original Story
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Cinematography
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Editing
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Original Music Score
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Documentary
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Short Film
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Digital Film
• Malaysia Film Festival for Best Animated Feature Film

Creative Award

There are 12 contested awards:

• Best Supporting Actress Actor
• Best Supporting Actress
• Best Art Direction
• Best Sound Direction
• Best Child Actor
• Best New Actor
• Best New Actress
• Best Original Theme Song
• Best Costume Designer
• Best Poster
• Best Comedy Film
• Best Digital Film
• Best Animated Feature Film

Reference

1. ^ "About FFM". Perbadanan Kemajuan Filem Nasional Malaysia (FINAS). http://www.sinemamalaysia.com.my/ffm.php?mod=history. Retrieved August 12, 2011. 
2. ^ "Festival Filem Malaysia Kini Membanggakan". PERBADANAN KEMAJUAN FILEM NASIONAL MALAYSIA (FINAS), KEMENTERIAN PENERANGAN, KOMUNIKASI DAN KEBUDAYAAN, I-INSAN MULTIMEDIA SDN BHD. http://www.sinemamalaysia.com.my/main/article/Festival_Filem_Malaysia_Kini_Membanggakan_4623. Retrieved January 19, 2011. 
3. ^ "Festival Filem Malaysia Kini Membanggakan". PERBADANAN KEMAJUAN FILEM NASIONAL MALAYSIA (FINAS), KEMENTERIAN PENERANGAN, KOMUNIKASI DAN KEBUDAYAAN, I-INSAN MULTIMEDIA SDN BHD. http://www.sinemamalaysia.com.my/main/article/Festival_Filem_Malaysia_Kini_Membanggakan_4623. Retrieved January 19, 2011. 
4. ^ "FINAS: About Us". http://www.finas.gov.my/index.php?mod=finas&sub=pengenalan. Retrieved January 17, 2011. 
5. ^ "Festival Filem Malaysia Kini Membanggakan". PERBADANAN KEMAJUAN FILEM NASIONAL MALAYSIA (FINAS), KEMENTERIAN PENERANGAN, KOMUNIKASI DAN KEBUDAYAAN, I-INSAN MULTIMEDIA SDN BHD. http://www.sinemamalaysia.com.my/main/article/Festival_Filem_Malaysia_Kini_Membanggakan_4623. Retrieved January 19, 2011. 
6. ^ "1st Malaysian Film Festival (1980)". PERBADANAN KEMAJUAN FILEM NASIONAL MALAYSIA (FINAS). http://www.sinemamalaysia.com.my/ffm.php?mod=archive&p=info&id=22. Retrieved January 19, 2011.