KUALA LUMPUR: Local drama film Prebet Sapu has been selected by the National Film Development Corporation (Finas) to represent Malaysia at the 94th Academy Awards (Oscars) next year.
The film, which is also known by its English title Hail, Driver! will be vying to be nominated in the Best International Feature Film category that will be competing for an Oscar during the awards ceremony set to be held in Los Angeles, USA on March 27.
Finas said that the Muzzamer Rahman-directed film which was produced by Le Mediator Studio, Kristal Azmir Sdn Bhd and Konda Kondi Studio had met the various criteria set by the organisers of the Oscars.
The independent movie was given the green light via a film selection committee under Finas made up of experienced professionals from the filmmaking industry.
"Prebet Sapu was evaluated based on stringent filming criteria such as direction, storytelling, cinematography, screenplay, acting, sound editing, music score, art direction and film editing, as well as fulfilling the conditions of the competition," said Finas in a recent statement.
The film, which has yet to be screened in Malaysia, stars an ensemble cast made up of Amerul Affendi, Mei Fen Lim, Bront Palarae, Sharifah Amani, Nam Ron, Nadiya Nisaa, Chew Kin Wah, Jay Iswazir, Anas Ridzuan and Roslan Madun.
Shot in black-and-white, Prebet Sapu has previously represented Malaysia at several international film festivals including the Udine Far East Film Festival in Italy, the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival in Indonesia, the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival in Canada, the Asian Film Festival Barcelona in Spain and the Innovative International Film Festival in India.
Meanwhile, Muzzamer was grateful that his film had been chosen to represent the country at the upcoming Oscars.
"Thank you for choosing our film. This is a very proud moment for us.
"I was very excited since this film had been completed in 2017. It's been a long journey of delays right up to this stage," he said in a recent news report.
The director who hails from Segamat, Johor said that the initial cost to kick off this independent project was only RM500,000.
"I am very lucky to have been able to populate this film with great and 'top' actors. Aside from the two main artistes, we have the likes of Bront, Nam Ron, Nadiya Nisaa, Sharifah Amani, Jay and Roslan making appearances.
"They all agreed to be in this film even though they only got 'token' payments," he said.
Muzzamer, who is a graduate of Universiti Teknologi Mara's (UiTM) Faculty of Film, Theatre and Animation (FiTA), added that Prebet Sapu would be screened in local cinemas on Dec 16.
The film tells the story of a young man trying to make a living as an e-hailing driver.
Muzzamer said that the film was shot in black-and-white because its lead character Aman, played by Amirul, is colour blind.