KUALA LUMPUR: Last year’s epic stage production Ola Bola The Musical won six trophies at the 16th Boh Cameronian Arts Awards which was held at Pavilion Hotel last night.
Based on the inspiring and feel good football movie of the same name from 2016, the musical won the Best Performance By An Ensemble, Best Performer In A Leading Role, Best Set Design and Best Lighting Design awards in the Musical Theatre category.
It also won the Best Original Score award for music composed and written by Mia Palencia and Altimet, as well as the Best Direction award which went to Puan Sri Tiara Jacquelina.
The producer, actress and founder of Enfiniti Academy expressed her excitement on her Instagram account, where she posted an entry that read: “Huge thanks everyone who helped make this happen - from my awesome team @enfinitimy, the creative, technical, production, marketing, multimedia team, and the most talented ensemble of actors I could ever have hoped to work with on my first outing as director, how crazy is that?”
She added: “My heartfelt appreciation to @kakiseni & the #Cammies judges for this recognition, this really means so much to me. Big love to everyone who came to watch, you have no idea how much you're a part of this win tonight.”
Aside from Musical Theatre, over 20 awards were presented in various categories that included Music, Dance and Theatre in recognition of excellence in performance and technical production during the event, which featured the theme Mulanya Di Sini (Where It All Began).
Each award winner received a commemorative trophy and a RM1,000 cash prize. This year’s event also honoured Professor Dr Joseph Gonzalez, a pioneer in Malaysian dance, and international singer-songwriter Zee Avi as “Malaysian Gamechangers”.
Caroline Russell, deputy chairman and CEO of Boh Plantations, said: “It is particularly poignant as Boh celebrates our own beginnings with our anniversary - 90 Years of Ummph. Mulanya Di Sini also challenges us to think about how the arts can reach more young people in life-changing ways in the 21st century.”
Four of the best performing arts productions, American Tapestry, Dear Molly, Eight Twelve and OlaBola The Musical, were also honoured with the Best Of 2018 Awards.
The producers of these works will be entitled to exclusive support from Kakiseni, including access to Backers Auditions to pitch their shows to prospective sponsors, and to be fully-sponsored to attend the Australian Performing Arts Market in 2020.
Kakiseni president Low Ngai Yuen said: “Last year, we sent the recipients of the Best Of 2017 Awards to the Performing Arts Market in Seoul, where they gleaned a wealth of knowledge and connections, and Kakiseni pledges to continue creating more opportunities for Malaysian performing artists to better their craft and move the arts industry forward.”
Organised by Kakiseni, the Boh Cameronian Arts Awards event was also endorsed by the National Department for Culture and Arts (JKKN) under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia and supported by Boh Plantations, PwC Malaysia and Capri Communications.
Visit www.kakiseni.org/awards for the full list of winners.