The BMW Shorties awarded ‘Fish’, a short film by Gan Yu Long as its ninth winner at the BMW Shorties 2015 Awards Night. In addition to the coveted title of the BMW Shorties 2015 Grand Prize Winner, Gan Yu Long will also receive RM 75,000 in production grant from BMW Group Malaysia as well as guidance and mentorship from the panel of judges to make his next professional short film.
With the short film ‘Fish’, film maker Gan Yu Long introduces his interpretation of a conservative Malaysian Chinese family’s lifestyle and philosophy on hard work and conformity through a story about a young boy whose passion and creativity is stifled by his family’s traditional view of diligence and achievement. The short film speaks about the loss of passion and creativity due to the traditional belief of conformity and uniformity where the lead character is seen to give up his creative ambition, passion and demeanour in place of mundane conventionality and thoughtless actions; which ultimately made his short film the top pick among this year’s judges.
‘Fish’ managed to capture a lasting impression in the judge’s deliberation room this year due to Gan Yu Long’s clever use of crisp visual narration on Chinese conservatism. In part, ‘Fish’ was awarded the Grand Prize this year for its ability to communicate an impressionistic, phenomenological, but reflective account of Chinese culture to his audience.
Fellow BMW Shorties 2015 judge, Ismail Kamarul, concurred and said that ‘Fish’ has a depth that shows an extraordinary ability by the director in exploring psychological investigation between a strict father and his son. Meanwhile, Rajay Singh, also a BMW Shorties 2015 judge said that he was impressed with the director’s well-executed creative direction.
Overall, ‘Fish’ also took home the award for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Design and Best Production Design; and was nominated for the awards of Best Screenplay and Best Editing. Harris added that with this year’s theme being ‘Change’, the judges have discovered that Malaysians have an abundance of creativity, passion, ideas and the ability to not only create good short films and great pieces of art but to also share conversations on social commentary and voice concerns through their art.
This year, Red Films, the production company led by judge Lina Tan have also awarded Winner of the Best Screenplay Award, Audrie Yeo and Fatimah Ruzaimi of the short film ‘Gigi’ a grant to produce a short film, which will later air on Feefo.TV. The BMW Shorties Grand Prize Winner and Finalists short films can be viewed on the BMW Shorties website (www.bmwshorties.com.my). For more information, visit the BMW Shorties Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/BMWShorties.
