There were a total of 10 awards presented last night following the official opening of the FFM28, at the Finas Sound Stage Studio in Kuala Lumpur.
Ola Bola, directed by Chiu Keng Guan, won for Best Original Theme Song, Best Original Music Score and Best Costume Design.
The Best Original Theme Song went to Arena Cahaya, composed by Rendra Zawawi and Zee Avi. The infectious tune had received much airplay on Astro well before the movie’s release and during its run on local cinemas.
The Best Original Music Score was won by Onn San and Alex San while Elaine Ng and Weng Shum took the Best Costume Design award for all the retro fashion on display from the 1979-1980 period when the film was set.
Chiu is in the running for the Best Director award, while the movie is up for the grand prize of Best Malaysian Film.
Ola Bola also stands a chance of winning the Best Original Story, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best New Actress (Marianne Tan) and Best New Actor (Saran Kumar), and Box-Office Film awards.
However, Ola Bola lost out to Cicakman for the Best Visual Effects, which was another award presented last night.
There were a total of 10 awards presented on this opening night of the FFM28 – the other six being for Best Art Direction (Huat the Fish), Best Sound (Munafik), Best Short Film (RM10), Best Short Animation (Ejen Ali), Best Documentary (Boat People) and a special lifetime achievement award for behind-the-scene contribution to Mohd Noor Tagaya, a 76-year-old veteran film crew member.
Last night’s event was hosted by Sharifah Shahora and Wan Syarul, and was attended by the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) Chairman Mohd Khusairi Abdul Talib and Director-General Kamil Othman.