KUALA LUMPUR: A local indie film, ‘Belaban Hidup: Infeksi Zombie’ has once again made the country proud by winning the Best Film and Best Horror Film at the International Symbolic Art Film Festival held in St Petersburg, Russia, yesterday.
Grateful for the victory, Sarawak-born producer and director Ray Lee, 45, expressed his joy and pride over the achievement which inadvertently helped Malaysia to shine on the global stage.
“This is a victory for all of us. Thank you for the recognition.
“We hope this success will be an inspiration to other young filmmakers not to give up on producing creative works to make the nation proud,” he told Bernama.
Earlier, Bernama reported that the movie, produced by Hornbill Films Sdn Bhd and Harry Aziz Entertainment Sdn Bhd, made history when it bagged the Horror and Science Fiction category in the feature film genre at the 2021 Singapore World Film Carnival (WFC) last March 18.
The victory caught the attention of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who congratulated and described the victory as proving that the country was not short of talents in producing international-quality artworks, besides continuing the success of locally-produced films and artworks globally.
“We thank the Prime Minister for his concern with the current developments in the local film industry. We are humbled and happy…this certainly motivates us to continue to produce good movies,” he added.
Ray said the film was also nominated for the Best Feature Film at the Los Angeles Marina Del Rey Film Festival (LAMDRFF).
“We are also anxiously waiting whether we can get through the nominations for several other international film festivals such as Paris Film Festival, Hollywood Blood Horror Festival and the Swedish Film Award,” he added.
The movie, which received funding from the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas), is about a group of orphans who are locked away by a mad scientist for an experiment.
It features a line-up of actors such as Pekin Ibrahim, Altimet, Pablo Amirul, Anna Melissa, Cassidy Panggau and Indonesian singer Tegar, as well as Slovakian-born actress Katrina Gray.
Distributed by Metrowealth Pictures Sdn Bhd, the film is expected to be screened by the end of this year. – Bernama
