2019 MALAYSIAN DIGITAL FILM AWARDS (MDfA) WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Tan Ce Ding wins the Best Young Filmmaker award

Ten films nominated from Borneo, winning six categories

Shadowplay takes home Best Digital Feature Film and Best Digital Cinematography gongs

Other first-time winners include Sinn Chun Hou (Legend of Ancient Borneo) and Erik Moh (Sungai Endau)

Kuala Lumpur, Saturday 14th December 2019: Tan Ce Ding won the Best Young Filmmaker award at the 4th Malaysian Digital Film Awards (MDfA). Other big winners include Tony Pietra Arjuna and Bebbra Charles Mailin, whose films took home two trophies each.

Ce Ding’s success was driven by The Masseuse, which also won in the categories of Best Direction, CGI & VFX Innovation and Best Digital Sound Design. “We are really happy and proud for the awards we won,” said the director, “as we were up against many well-known filmmakers and great films.”

One category it was nominated for is Best Digital Short Film, won by Ninavau. Bebbra’s film also won the Best Narrative Content award. Along with fellow winner Rumah Ndak Bertanah by Putri Purnama Sugua, Ninavau was produced through a Pesta Filem KITA grant.

“This is an important victory, because both these films are from Sabah, produced by female filmmakers from the state,” said Muzzamer Rahman, the executive producer of the two films. “Also, what makes it extra special is that today is also Bebbra’s birthday!”

Speaking of Borneo, the island is well represented, with 10 entries competing in various categories. One of the films, Why Limit Yourself, came out on top in the Best Video Produced for the Internet category, a segment featuring four out of five nominees from either Sabah or Sarawak.

“Winning this award means our hard work is worthwhile and recognised, so it means a lot, not just to me, but to our team from the industry,” said the director, Charisa Pung, who won the same award in 2017. “I feel happy and absolutely blessed in light of the strong competition.”

Another major winner of MDfA 2019 is Shadowplay, with Tony Pietra Arjuna’s film winning the Best Digital Feature Film and Best Digital Cinematography categories. The neo-noir thriller was also acknowledged with nominations in the editing, production design and sound design categories.

Other first-time winners include Sinn Chun Hou (Legend of Ancient Borneo), JiN Chen (Anonymous), Mohd Rizal Jaapar and Sukmamurni Abdul Manaf (Tunggu Sekejap) and Erik Moh (Sungai Endau). Additionally, Indonesia featured strongly, with four films nominated for various categories such as CGI & VFX Innovation, Best Production Design and Best Digital Documentary.

All this highlights the strength of MDfA in providing greater encouragement to young filmmakers in the country. “In terms of my career, I think I still have room to improve, even after winning the award,” said Charisa. “However, I thank MDfA for giving us this platform to showcase our work.”

Her words were echoed by Ce Ding himself. “I am so glad that MDfA has provided a platform for young filmmakers to showcase their works.”

The following is the list of films and filmmakers nominated (italics – denotes winner):

Best Young Filmmaker
Tan Ce Ding

Best Digital Feature Film
Shadowplay (Isazaly Isa, Ken Petrie, Radhi Khalid and Tony Pietra Arjuna)
Dia dan Ia (Abel Felix dan Elvyana Elsa)
Motif (Farah Al-Amin and Muhammad Bahir)

Best Digital Short Film
Ninavau (Muzzamer Rahman and Nadira Ilana)
Kampung Tapir (Ooi Wei Seng)
The Masseuse (Edward Lim and Tan Ce Ding)
The Dying Artist (Mary Grace Liew)
Weeping Birds (Lindsay Tan)

Best Digital Documentary
Aku Mau Skola (Nathan Tharmalingam)
A village life fulfilled, a man made complete (Beh Chun Chee)
Dark Drawings Unpacked (Mastura binti Abdul Rahman)
Story Behind the Wall (Tay Sheik Er)
Wave of Saviour (Lambaian Penyelamat) (Desti Kurnia P.)

Best Digital Animation Film
Legend of Ancient Borneo (Sinn Chun Hou)
Batik Girl (Irwan Junaidy)
Cikgu Hana (D-Ni)

Best Digital Music Video
Anonymous by JiN Chen (JiN Chen)
Crazy by Heerraa (Rammyasheiny and Thiviya Balakrishnan)
Melangkah by Jocelyn Lee (Kong Chee Khong)
Mother’s Love by JiN Chen (JiN Chen)
Mystery Girl by Shadow Puppet Theatre (Dzulfadli bin Hj. Ibrahim)

Best Video Produced for the Internet
Why Limit Yourself (Charisa Pung)
Bau, Gold Town of Sarawak (Carmen Toh Su Hua)
Borneo Avatar (Carmen Toh Su Hua)
En Qing | Grateful to You (CK Kong)
This is my home, Sibu (Carmen Toh Su Hua)

Best Public Service Announcement
Tunggu Sekejap (Mohd Rizal Jaapar and Sukmamurni Abdul Manaf)
Maya (Akhmal bin Khalil)
Nantilah (Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit)
Projek Raya Azim dan Adik (Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit)
Semua Tentang Syawal (Agensi Kaunseling dan Pengurusan Kredit)

CGI & VFX Innovation
The Masseuse (Tan Ce Jian)
2070 (Dennis Vissa a/l Eh Run)
Lampau (Lance Tan)
SMART? (Nino Sagitaro)
Voices of Azure (Emily Elizabeth Pearce)

Best Direction
The Masseuse (Tan Ce Ding)
Birthday (Vikster Chew Chin Wai)
Ninavau (Bebbra Mailin)
Rumah Ndak Bertanah (Putri Purnama Sugua)
Weeping Birds (Chan Teik Quan)

Best Narrative Content
Ninavau (Bebbra Mailin)
Kampung Tapir (Aw See Wee)
OSOM: Jangan Kena Tangkap Sudah (Adam Zainal)
Rumah Ndak Bertanah (Putri Purnama Sugua)
The Dying Artist (Kavivarmen Vigneswaran)

Best Digital Cinematography
Shadowplay (Praveen Kumar)
Dreamers Never Learn / Sognare (Jordan Chiam)
Rumah Ndak Bertanah (Aidil Razali)
The Masseuse (Tan Teck Zee)
Weeping Birds (Eunice Alexander)

Best Digital Editing
Sungai Endau (Erik Moh)
Meeting Eleanor and Rigby (Ng Jing Jer)
Ninavau (Irwan Ahmad)
Shadowplay (Beh Jing Qiang)
Sibu, A Town Like No Other (Emily Yii En Li)

Best Production Design
Rumah Ndak Bertanah (Alhaizam Adnan)
Dreamers Never Learn / Sognare (Kokwei Lai)
Katresnan Gumantung (Hendra Des Prabowo)
Shadowplay (Paul Hasham)
The Masseuse (Leysha Al-Yahya)

Best Digital Sound Design
The Masseuse (Mohd Azrin)
Forget Me Not (Pierce Polak)
Kampung Tapir (Sean Yap Shao Chi)
Meeting Eleanor and Rigby (Thomas Lee)
Shadowplay (Dustin Shah)

Jury Merit Award
SMK Tok Janggut (for spirit and vigour in storytelling)

Press Coverage
MDFA di FINAS hari ini (Bernama)
Shadowplay ungguli MDFA 2019 (Bernama)
MDFA di FINAS Sabtu ini (Bernama)
Tiga filem cereka digital berentap di FINAS (Malaysiakini)

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