KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — Malaysian director Jin Ong’s award-winning Abang Adik received an impressive seven nominations at Taiwan’s upcoming 60th Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards.

The prestigious awards, dubbed the Chinese Academy Awards, will take place from November 9 to 26 at the Sun-Yat sen Memorial Hall in Taipei.

Ong, 48, was nominated for Best New Director while actors Wu Kang Ren for and Jack Tan were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.

Other nominations include Tan Kim Wang for Best New Performer, Kartik Vijay for Best Cinematography, A Walk to Remember by Ryota Katayama for Best Original Film Song and Elaine Ng for Best Makeup & Costume Design.

"I was expecting three nominations at most but seven was a big surprise,” said Ong in an interview with Malay Mail. "I’m thankful for the recognition given by the jury.”

"Seven nominations is very encouraging for our team, it’s proof we made a good film,” said Ong, adding that all of the nominees will be in Taipei for the awards.

It’s the second time this year that he’s been nominated for the best new director award, having been nominated and won at the Far East Film Festival in Italy.

"It’s a pleasure to be nominated for best new director again. I’m very grateful and new directors need the recognition because it’s a huge milestone.”

Ong was also pleased to announce that Abang Adik is scheduled for release in Malaysia on December 14 with its premiere in Taiwan on December 1 and Hong Kong on December 7, respectively.

Earlier this year, Abang Adik won the Best Performance award at China’s FIRST Film Festival in July, followed by audience and jury awards at Switzerland’s Fribourg International Film Festival in March and a record-breaking three awards at Italy’s Far East Film Festival in March.

In August, Abang Adik became the first Malaysian film to win Best Feature Film at the New York Asian Film Festival.

Ong, a Taiping-born veteran of the Malaysian Chinese entertainment industry, has been producing films since 2014 including Shuttle Life, The Gathering, In My Heart, Miss Andy and The Paradise.