Local director Chong Keat Aun is, once again, making waves on the international stage with his feature film.
This time, his new movie, Pavane For An Infant, is competing at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) under the Asian Future category.
Pavane For An Infant is the only Malaysian production in the running in the annual film festival.
The Asian Future category is TIFF's competition section for emerging Asian filmmakers.
Chong, who considers his movies to be art films, is pleased with the recognition from the film festival, as it provides an important outlet for his work.
"As a local filmmaker, especially one working in the non-commercial genre – often known as art film – there's this issue where there are no dedicated cinemas (in Malaysia) for such movies.
"So international film festivals have become essential platforms for promoting and showcasing my work," Chong, 46, told The Star at the opening of TIFF in the Ginza district in Tokyo on Monday (Oct 28).
Pavane For An Infant stars Malaysian-born actress Fish Liew as a social worker at a baby hatch who intervenes to support a pregnant underage girl who is contemplating abortion.
It co-stars Hong Kong actress Natalie Hsu and Malaysian theatre thespian Pearlly Chua.
Given the sensitivity of the subject matter, Chong said the best place for his movie to premiere is at foreign film festivals.
"Film festivals usually don’t involve ratings or censorship, so audiences get to experience a film in its purest, most complete form," he said, adding that the Film Censorship Board’s (LPF) new guidelines have made content creation more restrictive.
Earlier this year, LPF introduced new guidelines for local filmmakers which focussed on three pillars – safety and security; religion; and moral and sociocultural issues.
Pavane For An Infant will compete with nine other titles from the region.
For Chong, winning is secondary; the director just wants his work to have a larger reach.
"For me, it’s not about the awards but about reaching a global audience as film festivals are the best and, perhaps, the only place to watch independent works on a big screen," he added.
Chong rose to international fame when his first feature film, The Story Of Southern Islet, won him the Best New Director gong at Taiwan's Golden Horse Award in 2020.
He recently completed his fourth film, Mother Bhumi, which was shot in Kedah and stars Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.
This year's TIFF runs from Oct 28 to Nov 6 with Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu Wai serving as the president of the jury.
"It’s my honour to be on the jury team this year. I hope our judgements will make everyone happy.
"It’s not an easy job to do, but we will do our best," said Leung at the opening ceremony.
