KUALA LUMPUR: SHORT film Crime Confidential boasts a polished production that any viewer would be forgiven for thinking it was made by a Hollywood studio.
But make no mistake about it, its director is 29-year-old Malaysian Julian Lim, who is making a name for himself in the international film circuit.
His film has won awards in North America, namely the Los Angeles International Independent Film Awards Gold Winner 2016, Los Angeles World International Film Festival Award Winner 2016, Cinema Los Angeles Film Festival Innovation Overall Grand Jury Award 2016 and Toronto International Independent Film Festival Best Film award 2017.
Lim’s work has been recognised in Europe, where he won the Switzerland Eurocinema Film Festival’s Best International Film 2016, Italy Malta International Film Awards’s Best Experimental Short Film Award 2016, Cinematic London Film Festival’s Best Short Audience Award 2016, Moscow International Film Festival’s Best Short Film Award 2017 and German United Film Festival’s Best Film Awards 2017.
The Italy Eurovision Palermo Film Festival named him the Best Editor last year.
“It feels great winning all these awards, but the game has only just begun,” said Lim with a beaming smile.
As exciting as it is, Lim said his success did not come easily.
The movie’s synopsis was described by IMDB as: “A detective’s true decision-making is tested when the ones dear to him are victimised by a traitor of his own department.”
Written by Lim and Qihbad Muhammad (who also served as producers), the movie was filmed in Belgium and stars Davide Durbano, Rick van Elk and Valerie Elewaut.
“At first, I had trouble finding sponsorship. I faced a lot of rejection because people did not see me as a capable filmmaker.
“However, I managed to gain the trust of a few financiers with whom I collaborated with to produce this film,” he said, adding that he spent four years writing the film.
The Malacca-born lad said he had always loved the movies and always wanted to become a director.
“I graduated from Lim Kok Wing University with a diploma in music. I then went to Singapore to study sound engineering, but I dropped out.”
He said the experience prepared him for the path to film-making.
“I eventually got a job as a sound engineer at Mediacorp. There, I did run-of-the-mill tasks, such as holding the boom mic, doing camera work and lighting for documentaries and docu-dramas.”
Lim has initially wanted to make his debut film Crime Confidential in Malaysia, but he realised that he was not ready.
“I need to be equipped with more knowledge in the field. So, I saved up some money and went to Belgium to study film directing. From that moment, I knew my plan was in motion. I didn’t want to come home empty-handed.”
He said it was hard juggling between studies and work, but he persevered.
“Everything in Europe was expensive. Apart from some funding that I managed to raise, I had to fork out my own money. After nine months of filming, I submitted my work to 25 film festivals and I won 10 of them.”
Describing the movie, he said Crime Confidential was akin to the shorter version of action-drama films such as The Departed and John Wick.
“Making a short movie is like an experiment to understand the audience’s reaction. Hopefully, my full-length feature can build on this.”
The movie, he explained, had many layers, and at the heart of it was great characters.
“You will feel for the characters. You will feel like you know them in the end,” said Lim, who reads during his free time.
Lim said his future plans included setting up his own production company in Malaysia and working on his feature film.
“My plan is to do a movie about badminton in Malaysia and I have spent six years writing the script.”
When asked about his goal, he said: “I want to bring home the Academy Award.”