9 Dec – Two months ago, Malaysian fans were informed of the exciting news about the local action thriller “Bunohan” becoming Malaysia’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards. Now, Dain Said’s directorial feature has another thing to cheer about as it had just won the Golden Hanoman Award at the 7th Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) in Indonesia, according to Merdeka.com.

JAFF is the only international film festival in Indonesia that has been serving as a platform which appreciates and focuses on the development of Asian big screen productions, helped along by the media.

Every year, JAFF works closely with NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema), a worldwide organization with 30 member countries to present the best films in Asia with Golden Hanoman Award, which was won by “Bunohan” this year, Silver Hanoman Award, NETPAC Award, Blencong Award and Gaber Award.

Said’s “Bunohan” stood out among the Asian features that were considered, which were “Bachelor Mountain” (China), “Demi Ucok” (Indonesia), “August Drizzle” (Sri Lanka), “Nono” (Philippines), to name a few.

“Bunohan” was released in Malaysia on 8 March 2012. The film starred Faizal Hussein, Zahiril Adzim, Pekin Ibrahim and Bront Palarae, and follows the complicated story of violence and murder among three estranged brothers.

2012 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS

*CANADIAN FILMS*

BEST FEATURE FILM

LAURENCE ANYWAYS

Country : Canada | France
Director : Xavier Dolan
Year : 2012
Genre : Drama | Romance
Main Cast : Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clément and Nathalie Baye
Synopsis : Tells the story of impossible love between a man and a woman after the man decided to have a sex change.

 

 

 

BEST FIRST FEATURE FILM (TIE)

ANTIVIRAL

Country : Canada | USA
Director : Brandon Cronenberg
Year : 2012
Genre : Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Main Cast : Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon and Malcolm McDowell
Synopsis : After becoming infected with the virus that killed superstar Hannah Geist, Syd March must unravel the mystery surrounding her death to save his own life.

 

BLACKBIRD

Country : Canada
Director : Jason Buxton
Year : 2012
Genre : Drama
Main Cast : Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon and Malcolm McDowell
Synopsis : An alienated teenager’s posturing online threat ignites a firestorm of fear in a small community.

 

 

BEST SHORT FILM

KEEP A MODEST HEAD

Country : Canada
Director : Deco Dawson
Year : 2012
Genre : Drama
Synopsis : Jean Benoît, the last official member of the French Surrealist group, receives Deco Dawson’s signature visual treatment in this biographical documentary that fantastically illustrates the artist’s formative (and highly sexual) childhood memories.

 

 

*PEOPLE’S CHOICE FILMS*

BEST FEATURE FILM – WINNER

SILVER LINING PLAYBOOK

Country : USA
Director : David O. Russell
Year : 2012
Genre : Comedy | Drama
Main Cast : Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro
Synopsis : After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.

 

BEST FEATURE FILM – RUNNERS-UP

ARGO

Country : USA
Director : Ben Affleck
Year : 2012
Genre : Drama | Thriller
Main Cast : Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston and John Goodman
Synopsis : As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA ‘exfiltration’ specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.

 

 

 

ZAYTOUN

Country : USA
Director : Eran Riklis
Year : 2012
Genre : Drama
Main Cast : Stephen Dorff, Alice Taglioni and Ashraf Barhom
Synopsis : Beirut, 1982: a young Palestinian refugee and an Israeli fighter pilot form a tentative bond in their attempt to make their way across war-torn Lebanon back to their home.

 

 

 

 

*PEOPLE’S CHOICE FILMS*

DOCUMENTARY – WINNER

ARTIFACT

Country : USA
Director : Bartholomew Cubbins
Year : 2012
Genre : Documentary
Main Cast : Shannon Leto, Tomo Milicevic and Jared Leto
Synopsis : Artifact delves into the harsh truths about today’s music business by covering the brutal lawsuit between singer/actor Jared Leto’s band, Third Seconds to Mars, and their record label. In between working in makeshift home studios, Leto and his bandmates meet with lawyers to negotiate for the band’s survival.

 

 

DOCUMENTARY – RUNNERS-UP

STORM SURFERS 3D

Country : Australia
Director : Justin McMillan, Christopher Nelius
Year : 2012
Genre : Documentary | Adventure
Main Cast : Tom Carroll, Ross Clark-Jones and Ben Matson
Synopsis : A 3D adventure into the world of big wave surfing with Aussie tow-surfing legend Ross Clarke-Jones and two-time World Champion Tom Carroll

 

 

 

REVOLUTION

Country : Canada | USA | Mexico | Federated States of Micronesia | Japan | Australia | Brazil | Hong Kong | Madagascar | Papua New Guinea | South Africa
Director : Rob Stewart
Year : 2012
Genre : Documentary | Adventure | Family | News
Main Cast : Katharina Fabricius, Felix Finkbeiner and David Hannan
Synopsis : Revolution is a film about changing the world, going for it, taking a stand, and fighting for something. A true-life adventure following Director, Rob Stewart (SHARKWATER) over four years and 15 countries discovering there is a lot more than sharks at risk of becoming extinct. Climate change, environmental degradation, species loss, ocean acidification, pollution, and food/water scarcity are reducing the earth’s ability to house humans and we need to start doing something about it now!

 

*PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS*

MIDNIGHT MADNESS – WINNER

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS

Country : UK
Director : Martin McDonagh
Year : 2012
Genre : Comedy | Crime
Main Cast : Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell
Synopsis : A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster’s beloved Shih Tzu.

 

 

 

MIDNIGHT MADNESS – RUNNERS-UP

JOHN DIES AT THE END

Country : USA
Director : Don Coscarelli
Year : 2012
Genre : Comedy | Fantasy | Horror
Main Cast : Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes and Paul Giamatti
Synopsis :It’s a drug that promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. On the street they call it Soy Sauce, and users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly a silent otherworldly invasion is underway, and mankind needs a hero. What it gets instead is John and David, a pair of college dropouts who can barely hold down jobs. Can these two stop the oncoming horror in time to save humanity? No. No, they can’t.

 

THE BAY

Country : USA
Director : Barry Levinson
Year : 2012
Genre : Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Main Cast : Kristen Connolly, Jane McNeill and Christopher Denham
Synopsis : Chaos breaks out in a small Maryland town after an ecological disaster occurs.

 

 

 

*FIPRESCI AWARDS*

SPECIAL PRESENTATION SECTION

DANS LA MAISON

Country : France
Director : François Ozon
Year : 2012
Genre : Thriller
Main Cast : Fabrice Luchini, Ernst Umhauer and Kristin Scott Thomas
Synopsis : A sixteen-year-old boy insinuates himself into the house of a fellow student from his literature class and writes about it in essays for his French teacher. Faced with this gifted and unusual pupil, the teacher rediscovers his enthusiasm for his work, but the boy’s intrusion will unleash a series of uncontrollable events.

 

 

DISCOVERY SECTION

CALL GIRL

Country : Sweden
Director : Mikael Marcimain
Year : 2012
Genre : Drama | Thriller
Main Cast : Ruth Vega Fernandez, David Dencik and Pernilla August
Synopsis : Call Girl is set in the late 1970s – a time time of women’s liberation, sexual revolution, Swedish neutrality, nuclear power and social security. The film takes us on a trip from the very bottom of society, along dark back streets, through glitz and glamour, to the corridors of power which are a labyrinth of secrets. The story is inspired by a Swedish political scandal known as Bordellhärvan which linked underage prostitution with powerful customers believed to come from the highest levels of society.

 

 

*NETPAC AWARDS*

BEST FILM

KIBONO NI KUNI

Country : UK | Japan | Germany | Taiwan
Director : Shion Sono
Year : 2012
Genre : Drama | Thriller
Main Cast : Isao Natsuyagi, Naoko Ohtani and Jun Murakami
Synopsis : In a typical Japanese village, Yoichi Ono lives with his wife, Izumi, and his parents, Yasuhiko and Chieko. The Ono family are dairy farmers who live frugally but happily in the peaceful countryside. One day, and unbelievably huge earthquake occurs. They are forced to seek refuge away from home. However, Yoichi is attached to their lifetime family home, so he is hesitant to leave. Due to his wife’s pregnancy, Yoichi must take action to protect his wife, Izumi, as well as their unborn child. That action is supposed to lead them to the land of hope.

 

 

*GROLSCH FILM WORKS DISCOVERY AWARDS*

BEST FILM

DETROIT UNLEADED

Country : USA
Director : Rola Nashef
Year : 2012
Genre : Comedy | Drama
Main Cast : EJ Assi, Nada Shouhayib and Mike Batayeh
Synopsis : An ambitious Lebanese-American youth is forced to take over his family’s gas station after his father’s death.