Penang Watch

Malaysian filmmaker won two top awards
by Angela Sargunan(Sun)
PETALING JAYA (Oct 16, 2007): Malaysian independent filmmaker Liew Seng Tat has won two top awards at the 12th Pusan International Film Festival (PITT) held in Korea for his film Flower in the Pocket.

The 98-minute fictional film about two boys growing up without parental attention, last Friday won the New Currents Award for Asia’s best new film by an Asian director, and the KNN Audience Award at a ceremony for the nine-day film festival.

He beat other contenders to be nominated as the Malaysian entry in the New Currents Award, including Malaysian notables Yasmin Ahmad (for Mukhsin), Amir Muhammad (Apa Khabar Orang Kampung), James Lee (Waiting for Love), Deepak Menon (Dancing Bells), Ho Yuhang (As I Lay Dying), Tan Chui Mui (Nobody's Girlfriend) and Woo Ming Jin (Blue Roof), and Kabir Bhatia’s Cinta.

Liew, 28, is the second Malaysian to win the New Currents Award. Last year, Tan won the award for her film Love Conquers All.

Liew received US$30,000 for the New Currents Award and US$20,000 for the KNN Audience Award from the KNN Cultural Foundation.

Liew said Tan had used her prize money to fund Flower in the Pocket, and he has pledged to now do the same for her next film.

“I feel honoured and blessed to have won the main award in the festival. It’s especially more meaningful for Malaysian filmmakers to win the award for two consecutive years,” he told theSun.
“Receiving an award is encouraging and it has always been a driving factor to produce more films. Even since I received my first award in 2003, I’ve never stopped,” he said.

In 2003, Liew won the top award for short film drama and the silver for best Asian short film in the 8th Malaysia Video Awards for  Bread Skin with Strawberry Jam.

Flower in the Pocket, produced by Da Huang Pictures, will be released on Dec 20 in Malaysia at GSC cinemas.

As for future plans, Liew hopes to produce a film a year, and is currently working on a comedy-horror script.

Liew advises other emerging film directors to go after their dream. “If you are inspired to film, it’s very simple. Just get a camera and shoot,” he said.