The Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest) will be an online-only event for its fourth edition, which will take place later this month.
The Festival originally intended to be an in-person event and even announced its selection for the event, which was initially scheduled to take place in December, 2020. However, COVID regulations in Malaysia were made stricter in November, which caused cinemas countrywide to close down and made the event impossible. With the regulations showing no signs of easing yet, organisers have been forced to move the event into the digital space and make it an online-only event.
The festival is now scheduled to be held from January 15th-21st on the streaming platform MUBI. The audiences in Malaysia can stream the selection free of cost by taking advantage of MUBI's extended 30-days free trial subscription. Joanne Goh, the festival chairperson, together with actor Bront Palarae made the announcement at the 4th MIFFest Gala Night.
“Due to the extension of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Malaysia which affected the operation of local theatres, the 4th Miffest will be going virtual instead of on-site. It will take place on the festival's official OTT platform – Mubi. The most important factor that caused this action is to avoid audiences and the festival team from being exposed to the risk of the pandemic,” said Goh.
The online edition will open with the previously announced “Victim(s)” by Layla Zhuqing and include a four-title spotlight section on Malaysian filmmakers.
The world cinema section includes: Korean director Shin Su-won's “Light for The Youth”; Mattie Do's “The Long Walk”; “Many Chickens, Lots of Luck,” from Indonesia's Onar Onarsson and Riboet Akbar; “Cleaners” by The Philippines' Glenn Barit; “John Denver Trending” by The Philippines' Arden Rod Condez; and “Summer Knight,” by China's Xing You. The section also finds room for four films from Iran: “The Slaughterhouse,” by Abbas Amini; “Just 6.5,” by Saeed Roustaie; “A Man Without Shadow,” by Alireza Raissian; and “The Oath,” by Mohsen Tanabandeh.
MIFFest is organized by Jazzy Universe and presented by Sunstrong Entertainment. Festival partners include: FINAS Malaysia, the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia, Expresso Infusion FX, and JPIN and Presto Pictures.
