48-year-old Malaysian filmmaker Jin Ong has been making waves internationally with his debut feature film Abang Adik, a drama about two undocumented and orphaned men who may or not be real brothers, but who lift each other up.
Just recently in May, the film won 3 top prizes at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, which marks the first time in the festival’s history that a Malaysian film, or a Southeast Asian film for that matter, to do so.
These include the Golden Mulberry Audience Award, the Black Dragon Critics’ Prize and the White Mulberry Award for the best first feature.
Now, Abang Adik is further making a positive impression on the international audience, this time at the 22nd New York Asian Film Festival which ran from 14 to 30 July 2023.
The film snatched the top prize for the festival, the Uncaged Award for best feature film, beating 8 other titles from across Asia.
Jin Ong, the director of Abang Adik
As reported by ScreenDaily, Ong was in New York to present the North American premiere of Abang Adik at the festival and was on stage to accept the award.
In his acceptance speech, the Malaysian filmmaker asserted,
“I should cry. It’s been an amazing journey to here and I didn’t expect this. I won, I won.”
Taiping-born Ong, whose full name is Ong Lay Jin is no stranger to the film industry, having produced several films since 2014, including Shuttle Life, The Gathering, In My Heart, The Paradise and Miss Andy. One of the films he produced, Shuttle Life, was the first Malaysian project to win the grand prize at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Project Promotion.
Based in Taiwan and Malaysia, Ong is the founder of More Entertainment Co., Ltd. and has over 20 years of experience in the record industry and artist management.
However, Abang Adik is his directorial debut and besides the aforementioned awards, the film also bagged him the audience prize and the Ecumenical Jury Award at Switzerland’s 37th Fribourg International Film Festival.
Abang Adik is set in present-day Malaysia and stars Malaysian actor Jack Tan and Taiwanese actor Wu Kang-ren.
Awesome! So, what do you guys think of the film’s success internationally? Share your thoughts and congratulatory messages for Ong in the comments!
