KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 — Malaysian filmmaker Quek Shio Chuan’s movie Guang won Best Film at the 59th Asia Pacific Film Festival (APFF) last night in Macau.

The film tells the story of a young man with autism who struggles in finding a job to support his family expenses — but unknown to anyone, possesses a gift for music.

The film last year won four trophies at the 30th Malaysian Film Festival for Best Art Direction, Most Promising Actor (Male) for Kyo Chen, Most Promising Director for Quek Shio Chuan and Best Cinematography.

Guang tells the story of a young man with autism and his struggle to find a job. — Picture from Twitter/RekomenByAsrul
Guang tells the story of a young man with autism and his struggle to find a job. — Picture from Twitter/RekomenByAsrul

The film was also nominated at the 21st Shanghai International Film Festival and Asia Fukuoka International Film 2018.

Guang is the latest Malaysian film to win at the APFF since 2018 after Dain Iskandar Said’s 2016 thriller Interchange won the Best Visual Effect award.

At last night’s festival, Mountain River’s Baba won three awards for Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Actor award.

The festival was organised by the Federation of Motion Pictures Producers in Asia Pacific (FPA) and was attended by luminaries of film from all over the world. It is the oldest film festival in Asia with the first edition held in 1954 in Tokyo, Japan.