Ellie Suriati awarded Most Promising Director in FFM26 opening night

Director of the film 'Penanggal', Ellie Suriati, was awarded Most Promising Director on the opening night of the 26th Malaysian Film Festival organised by the Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (Finas) on Wednesday.

The festival themed 'Transformation of the Malaysian Cinema' was opened by Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Jailani Johari.

Also present were Finas chairman Datuk Md Afendi Hamdan and acting director-general of Finas, Dr Megat Al Imran Yasin.

A total of 11 awards were presented to behind-the-scenes industry players such as Best Poster Award to Primeworks Studios ( Grand Brilliance) through the film 'Kil', while the Best Lighting Award went to Nazrul Asraff in the film 'Penanggal'.

The Best Costume Award was won by Hasnan Yaccob and Fadzilah Abdullah in the film 'Tanda Putera', while Sharon Paul won the Best Original Music Score Award in the same film.

Meanwhile, the Best Sound Recording award was won by Syamsul Yusoff and Hisham Jupri ('KL Gangster 2'), Best Original Theme Song by Tomok and Rafidah Abdullah ('Istanbul Aku Datang'), 'Behind-the Scene Activist Award' to Ali Husin, Best Child Actor to Rykarl Iskandar ('Ajiboy'), and Best Short-Film Award to Reservoir Production Sdn Bhd ('Jahit').

There was no winner for the Best Animated Film award.

The finale of the FFM 26 will be held on Saturday at the Kompleks Penyiaran Tuanku Muhammad, Sungai Gadot, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.