27 films from 18 nations to be screened July 22-29
Kota Kinabalu: Movie buffs and cinema goers here can expect to enjoy quality, inspiring and fascinating international movies including from Malaysia when 27 films from 18 different countries will be screened at a MBO cinema at Imago Mall from July 22 until 29.
Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival (KKIFF) 2017 is organising the movie screenings for the ninth time for city dwellers to watch all the movies for just RM10 per show except one Malaysian movie entitled Redha which will be screened on the opening night on July 22.
Festival Director Jude Day said KKIFF is providing an even better selection of films including short films for the people here from throughout South-East Asia, Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, Argentina, and the rest of the world to enjoy and gain educational experiences.
She said the movie screenings of the 27 films are divided under two programmes namely Cinebalu (Cinema & Kota Kinabalu) movies that features 18 films where most are short films from nine Southeast Asian countries and world movie programmes featuring nine films from nine countries.
“For this 9th KKIFF 2017, we have Malaysian films opening and closing our festival and these are both ‘must-see’ movies.
“The first movie we are screening on the opening night is Redha which is about a Malay family with an autistic son where they struggle to confront the harsh realities of raising a child disabled by a condition they hardly know about.
The father’s inability to accept the truth causes friction in the family while the wife’s perseverance and maternal instinct help her wade through the difficult time.
“The best thing is that the film director Tunku Mona Riza will be here on the opening (July 22) and she wants to give a talk about the movie as well as to enhance awareness on autism at 4pm at Zara Boutique Hotel on the same day prior to a reception at 6pm at MBO cinema and screening of the movie at 7pm,” she said.
Jude said after the Malay movie, they will be screening a documentary film called ‘The Promise’ at 9pm which is a German-made film based on a true story in the United States where a young woman and her lover were accused of killing the woman’s parents.
She said both had been sentenced to jail for over 30 years and movie spectators get to see the actual film from the courtroom because this was the first court case in the United States that was allowed to be filmed.
On the closing night, Jude said KKIFF will host the world premiere of a new, sophisticated and witty Malaysian comedy called Mencari Rahmat with its director Jafree Yusop who is currently working as a mentor with the Sabah Film Academy that is also part of the KKIFF.
She said his film is based on a play by Oscar Wilde called The Importance of Being Earnest and Jafree spoke of the challenge in transforming Wilde’s witty dialogue from English to Bahasa Melayu.
Jude said all the movies have English subtitles and that complimentary tickets will be given if the movie goers bring a newspaper article about the KKIFF film screenings.
“With just RM10 per ticket, the movie buffs get to enjoy three to six short films screened at 7pm like on July 24 and July 28 while some days will entail feature length films of over 90 minutes.
“To find out about the rest of the movies at the KKIFF 2017, they can go to the KKIFF website (kkiff.com) and our Facebook page to see daily updates,” she said.
To a question, Jude said they purposely chose the two Malaysian movies for the opening and closing nights as both are really good Malaysian movies especially Redha that was chosen by Malaysia to be nominated for an Oscar as best foreign language movie and it depicts an important social issue where people should be aware about and understand about autism.
According to her, KKIFF 2017 will also see the BUZZIO Filmmakers’ Competition and the Sabah Film Academy (SFA) taking place again.
She said the winning shots and the SFA short films will be screened on Awards Night which is free and open to everyone at 7pm on July 16.
Also present were Sabah Tourism Board (STB) General Manager Gordon Yapp, Redha’s editor Isazaly Isa, The Promise director of photography Georg Zengerling, scriptwriter cum director of Mencari Rahmat Jafree Yusop and other senior officials. – Hayati Dzulkifli
Source: Daily Express
