KUALA LUMPUR: The PROFIMA (Professional Film Workers' Association of Malaysia) International Film Festival and Awards 2017 (PIFFA 2017) will be held at the Matrade Exhibition and Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur, from Nov 4 to 6.
It will be divided into two events namely the 12th Malam Anugerah PROFIMA 2017 on Nov 4 and the Asia Pacific Supreme Awards 2017 on Nov 5.
Malam Anugerah Profima is for local filmmakers while the Supreme Awards involves filmmakers from around East Asia.
MAP 2017 has 71 awards in nine categories including Best Producer, Director, Makeup, Stuntman, Art Director, and Photographer.
A total of 63 awards are contested, and the other eight are special awards, namely the Special Jury Awards (5), and Lifetime Achievement Awards (3). The contested awards are for films screened between 2014 and 2016.
PROFIMA president and Festival chairman Kapt Khir Mohd Noor said: "The awards honours film workers and the "unsung heroes" behind the scenes of films."
He added that workshops, exhibitions and stunt demonstrations will also be held in conjunction with the awards.
Khir said: "The festival will see participation from Malaysia, South Korea, China, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong, among others. It is our first time going international; we aim to network with filmmakers and industry professionals of East Asia to improve our local filmmaking industry."
The awards is jointly organised by PROFIMA and Panda Event Entertainment Sdn Bhd with the support of the Communication and Multimedia and Tourism and Culture Ministries as well as the National Film Development Corporation (Finas).
Producer Datuk Yusof Haslam is its ambassador while veteran Hong Kong stunt woman Sharon Yang is its international advisor.
Yusof said he will conduct workshops for aspiring directors during the festival, and will rope in his director sons Syamsul and Syafiq to assist him.
"It's my mission to help train young directors because the success of films is dependent on good directing and scriptwriting," he said at the launch of the festival at Finas in Jalan Hulu Klang on Thursday.
The festival was launched by Finas chairman Datuk Mohd Khusairi Talib.