Cinematographer returns trophies over film awards protest
THE STAR
Screengrab from the video showing finas director-general Datuk Kamil Othman (left) exchanging words with Mohd Noor as he receives the trophies soon after the end of the Tanya Finas 2.0 dialogue at the Pitching Centre in KL Sentral.
PETALING JAYA: Cinematographer Mohd Noor Kassim on Monday handed over two Malaysian Film Festival Awards trophies that he won to the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas).
Videos circulating on social media showed Mohd Noor approaching Finas director-general Datuk Kamil Othman at the end of a forum and handing over the trophies, which were wrapped in a black plastic bag, before exchanging a few words with him.
Mohd Noor, 43, won the trophies for 2011’s Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa and Setem in 2009.
According to mStar, The Star’s Malay portal, the situation at the forum was tense and Film Producers Association (PFM) president Datuk Yusof Haslam was upset over allegations of having been motivated by personal interest.
Mohd Noor has said he was returning the trophies over the segregation of two movies – OlaBola and Jagat – for Best Film under the non-Malay category at the upcoming Festival.
In a Facebook post, Mohd Noor said that while he supported the idea of upholding Bahasa Malaysia, he was also respectful of other languages in Malaysia, which he believed made Malaysia unique and fortunate compared to other monolingual and monocultural societies.
“To me, it is easy for FFM to impose the 70% Malay language condition on films in order to enter the arena. It is like inviting other races to your home but asking them to sit outside in order to separate them, isn’t that racist?” said Mohd Noor.
He also said that Malays should be brave to engage in healthy competition with other races because regardless of race, they were all human.
Mohd Noor has been nominated for Best Cinematographer for his work in the war movie Bravo 5 at this year's event.
