The Fourth Malaysia International Film Festival Returns

The fourth Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest) will be returning this December. The festival is scheduled to run from 5 December until 10 December 2020, screening critically acclaimed films from around the world. Along with film screenings, masterclasses and symposiums will be held throughout the festival period.

The Fourth Malaysia International Film Festival Returns

The theme, Humanity, continues to drive the fourth edition of the film festival, celebrating the spirit of togetherness and unity. This year, the festival will focus on three categories: World Cinema Masterpieces, Highlights of Asian Cinema, and Spotlight on Malaysian Filmmakers. The festival will screen around 20 films in total from around the world.

The design of this year’s official poster is a combination of styles to represent Malaysia’s multi-cultural and multi-ethnic composition of the people. The clouds stand to represent filmmakers from around the world coming together as a big family of artists. The four film reels represent the four editions of the festival organized thus far.

Walking through the landscape of our city is a tapir, which serves to symbolize MIFFest as a homegrown festival. The graphic of this Malayan Tapir is exclusively designed by Malaysian director Mark Lee for this year’s festival: although its color is black and white, its red pupil symbolizes although simple but the burning desire and passion of the Tapir. Besides, the strips of its leg are contemporary ‘Ukiran’ patterns and the bony pattern symbolizes transparency of the film festival. This exclusively designed Tapir will also be developed into a collection of merchandise that will be made available during the festival.

Unlike the previous editions, MIFFest 2020 will focus only on film screenings and masterclasses as the committee has decided to exclude the competition events—the MIFFest Short Film Competition and the Malaysia Golden Global Awards (MGGA) - for the year. This is because these events will involve large-scale gatherings as well as huge invitations and travels of international filmmakers, guests and crews. The decision is made to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic safety and recovery measures.

'In light of the adversities that have affected and continue to impact all walks of life around the world, we, as an organization that promotes the arts and culture, are determined to use our platform to highlight stories about resilience in the face of hardship’, said by Joanne Goh, the founder, and chairperson of MIFFest. The fourth edition of MIFFest will be focusing on the works of students and young filmmakers. MIFFest plans to work with film institutions and film societies in Malaysia for a series of film events and workshops.

This is to encourage the greater participation of students and young filmmakers, as well as to increase the exposure of MIFFest to film and education industries. The festival will invite filmmakers to conduct film workshops that explore the art and craft of directing, editing, cinematography, screenwriting, acting, film production, film theories, and other film-related topics.

For more information and updates about The Fourth Malaysia International Film Festival, please stay tuned on MIFFest’s social media accounts and official website, www.miffest.com.my