The 8th Malaysia International Film Festival (Miffest) will open on July 19 with “Ninavau”, a Malaysian feature film exploring the cultural identity and emotional heritage of director Bebbra Mailin, and ends on July 27 with “Transamazonia”, an environmental epic covering France, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland and Taiwan of Pia Marag.
Serre-book titles underline the double mission of Miffest to defend the local narration while adopting international co-productions, while the festival based in Kuala Lumpur positions itself as a key player in the Southeast Asian circuit with a robust range of 62 films covering 48 countries.
The festival will honor the icon of the action of Hong Kong Ti Lung with a prize for life for life. The 78 -year -old star, whose career extends over the golden age of martial arts cinema, will receive the honor of the Golden Global prize ceremony in Malaysia on July 26 at Zepp KL.
The tribute includes the projections of John Woo’s “A Better Tomorrow” and “The Kid from the Big Apple” by Jess, with Ti Lung participating in questions and answers and hosting a master class. The programming is part of the “Master At Work” series of Miffest, which also celebrates this year the centenary of the Grand Raj Kapoor with the projections of “Awara” and “Bobby”.
Miffest also deploys the red carpet of Indonesian actor Reza Rahadian, who will receive the prize for excellent success in cinema. The star of “Habia & Ainun” will join the festival jury alongside the British documentary filmmaker Asif Kapadia (“Senna”, “Amy”), Malaysian actress Diana Danielle, Jennifer Yu of Hong Kong and Indian filmmaker Rima Das.
The festival’s competition slate presents nine titles, with the Palestinian-German drama “All that’s beft of you” by Cherien Dabis leading the world prices of Malaysia Golden with seven nominations. Dong Zijian’s Chinese “My Friend An deltie” follows with five headlongs, while “DJ Ahmet”, “Red Path” and “To a Land Unknown”, each marked four nominations.
Miffest also joined the 25th Film Festival of the European Union to present 15 European titles. The “Miffest X Euff” sidebar opens onto the Czech drama “Year of the Widow” and presents the Nordic Noir “The Girl with the Aiguille” and the Ukrainian entrance “Taste of Freedom”.
Collaboration represents Miffest’s strategy to position Malaysia as a cultural bridge between Eastern and Western cinema, the organizers of festivals looking at increased international co -production opportunities.
Capitalizing on the direction of Malaysia in rotation of the Anase, Miffest highlights the regional cinema with six titles of Southeast Asia, in particular the Vietnamese drama “Cu li ne Cris” and the thriller of Singapore “Stranger Eyes”. The programming is supported by the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) in Malaysia and includes an industry summit featuring the producer “Train To Busan” Lee Dong Ha.
The festival highlights female voices with “Lenses of Indian Women Filmmakers”, featuring four titles including “Village Rockstars 2” by Rima Das. The program reflects increasing attention from industry to gender parity in cinema across Asia.
With 38 first Malaysian among its 62 titles, Miffest bets that the multicultural population and the strategic location of Malaysia can help establish Kuala Lumpur as a festival destination to compete with Singapore and Bangkok in the regional circuit.
