Mohammed Khairul Azri’s Pekak was the only multiple award winner at Russia’s International Motivational Film Festival (IMFF). Azri’s film took the awards for Best Script (Azri) and Best Actor (Zahiril Adzim).
The film is loosely Romeo and Juliet and drugs. Best Actor winner Adzim plays a dealer saving for impending cochlear implant surgery to restore his hearing, who meets Dara, a girl who longs to escape from her overbearing father. Pekak premiered last year at the Philippines’ World Premiere Film Festival, which is pretty much what it says on he box and screened in the Cannes Marché this May as part of government agency FINAS’ ‘Malaysia Goes to Cannes’ programme.
Two Australian shorts played in the IMFF programme: Hassan Bajwa’s Centrepiece and Nicholas Halls’ The Last Hunt.
The International Motivational Film Festival BRIDGE of ARTS ran in Rostov-on-Don, Russia 24 – 28 August. The award winners were:
Feature Awards
Grand Prix
The Prosecutor, the Defender, the Father and his Son, Iglika Triffonova
Best Director
Michele Placido, The Choice
Best Actor
Zahiril Adzim, Pekak
Best Actress
Yana Marinova, XIa
Best Script
Mohd Khairul Azri Bin Md Noor, Pekak
WWF Award
A Horse with Hope, Bai Khaibin
Short Film Awards
Grand Prix
The Forgotten, Alexandr Korolyov
Best Director
Kirill Pletnyov, Mother
Competitor Awards
Democracy in the Driver’s Seat, Gale Gilbert
Kathakaar, Abkhimanyu Kanoida
Your Steps, Maxim Kubrinskiy
Audience Award
The Backwoods
