Malaysian team behind 'Interchange' proud of Best Visual Effect award

Mira Digital visual effects team that worked on the Interchange film. (from left) Ridhwan Razak, Azim Hulaimi, Firdaus Hashim and Sharil Harees.

PETALING JAYA: It was a proud achievement for visual studio Mira Digital when local movie Interchange won the Best Visual Effect award at the 58th Asia-Pacific Film Festival (APFF 58) recently.

Its co-founder Azim Hulaimi was taken aback when he heard that the 2016 fantasy-noir movie was nominated at this year's APFF.

"I feel very happy. This is an achievement for the company," he said.

Azim, who has experience in visual effects for Hollywood movies such as Life of Pi, Django Unchained, and Alvin and the Chipmunks 3, said it was challenging as it was the first project the company had embarked on since its formation in 2013.

Shaheizy Sam plays an inspector looking to solve a series of gruesome murders. Photo: Apparat.

"We had to create everything from scratch, which includes creating 3-D bird feathers, as required in the movie.

"It took a total of two years to achieve the final product," he told The Star Online in an interview on Sunday (Sept 2).

The APFF 58 was held in Taipei, Taiwan from Aug 31 to Sept 1, with winners announced on Sept 1.

Datuk Nancie Foo received the award on behalf of the film. The movie, directed by Dain Said, was also nominated for Best Sound Effect.

The 2016 fantasy-noir thriller starring Shaheizy Sam as a police detective looking into a gruesome murder with a supernatural element. The RM3.5mil film shot in the Klang Valley also stars Indonesian actor Nicholas Saputra and actress Nadiya Nisaa.

Datuk Nancie Foo collecting on behalf of Interchange as Head of Delegate for Malaysia. Photo: Nancie Foo.

Part of the film, which was also shot at the library of Star Media Group's headquarters, features actor Iedil Putra's character Adam, a forensic photographer, searching through the archive for a photograph.

Interchange won four awards at the 29th Malaysia Film Festival in 2017, including for Best Director and Best Cinematography.

Azim said that since Interchange, he and the other three co-founders of Mira Digital had been working on several projects, including Teong Hin Saw's 2017 Hokkien film You Mean The World To Me and made-for-television movie Destruction: Los Angeles.

Azim said that Mira Digital is currently involved with visual effects for a movie which features both local and Hollywood actors, but was tight-lipped about other details of the movie.

"There are a lot of shots taken in Malaysia, and it involves a lot of visual effects.

"We want to produce Hollywood-level visual effects," he said, citing examples like the destruction scenes in Marvel movies such as The Avengers.