KUALA LUMPUR: Local horror movie Sumpahan Jerunei which debuted in cinemas nationwide last July, has collected 15 international film awards and entered five international film festivals, with seven more to go.
Its co-producer Datin Wendy Wong said that the horror movie set in Sarawak was most recently selected to participate in the Paris Art And Film Awards' International Feature Film category, and last September it won Best Feature Film in the Toronto Independent Film Festival of Canada.
"Last May, we won five awards at the Florence Film Awards in Tuscany, Italy and one more at the Paris Film Awards in March," said Wong.
The trophies won at the Florence Film Awards were for Best Feature Film, Best Director (Jason Chong), Best Cinematography (Haris Hue Abdullah), Best Original Music Score (Sharon Paul) and Best Producer (Wong and Datuk Nancie Foo).
Sumpahan Jerunei also won Best Feature Film at the Paris Film Awards, besides being screened at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival in the United States in May and at the Busan Film Festival in South Korea in October.
At the Eighth European Cinematography Awards in October, the movie won Best Actress (Uqasha Senrose), Best Supporting Actress (Daiyan Trisha), Best Lighting and Best Costume Design.
"We also took home Best Cinematography, Best Actress for Uqasha and Best Supporting Actor for Tony Eusoff at the New York Cinematography Awards in October," said Wong.
Wong said that premiering Sumpahan Jerunei in Malaysian cinemas on July 27 was their "biggest risk" because it had to compete with highly-anticipated Hollywood movies such as Barbie, Oppenheimer, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning and The Haunted Mansion.
"Sumpahan Jerunei was the only local Malay language movie that premiered that week, and while we raked in a commendable RM1 million in the first four days, this amount only increased by RM500,000 and screening lasted a month, thanks to the Hollywood heavyweights," said Wong, adding that 70 per cent of collections came from cinemas in Sarawak.
Wong added that with the film premiering at the 2023 Asean International Film Festival Awards in Kuching, Sarawak on July 23, it meant that they had no choice but to go along with the local release date of July 27.
The film was screened for international buyers at the recent American Film Market and US distributor House Of Films acquired worldwide rights (except Asia) for it.
"I am so glad that House Of Films has got hold of Sumpahan Jerunei. It is a reputable film distributor. And most recently a company from Vietnam has expressed interest in buying it," said Wong.
Sumpahan Jerunei, which Wong described as a story "six years in the making" is produced by Produksi Seni 2020 Sdn Bhd and directed by Jason Chong.
It took two years of extensive research on the Melanau tribe with the support of Sarawak's Council for Native Customs and Traditions and Sarawak's Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts for the film to happen.
Sumpahan Jerunei revolves around the burial rituals of the Melanau tribes' elites and follows the story of Dr. Sani (Bront Palarae) who goes for an expedition in Sarawak to look for his wife (Sabrina Hassan) who disappeared while studying a Jerunei totem.
Dr. Sani and his expedition crew then begin experiencing hallucinations and nightmares.
The film's star-studded cast includes Bront, Uqasha, Daiyan, Tony, Amerul Affendi, Syafie Naswip, Sabrina, Yuyun Hikmah and Ruminah Sidek.
"It has been our intention to bring Sumpahan Jerunei, which features the unique culture and customs of the Melanau people in Sarawak, to the global stage and we want to thank everyone who supported us for making it happen," said Wong.