9 Jan – At the 59th Asia Pacific Film Festival (APFF) held yesterday in Macau, a Malaysian film took home the Best Film award for the first time. The film was director Quek Shio Chuan's "Guang", starring Kyo Chen. The trophy and plaque were received by YB Mr Pansha, president of the Malaysian Film Producers Association, and YB Dato' Nancie Foo, who represented "Guang" at the festival. Another accolade it took home was Best Screenplay for Quek, as revealed in a post on FINAS' Facebook. APFF is held once every year in a different Asian city to celebrate the best of Asian cinema over the previous year. In 2018, the Malaysian movie "Interchange", directed by Dain Said, won the film festival's Best Visual Effects award. "Guang" is certainly no stranger to awards, having dominated last year's Malaysian Film Festival (FMM) by winning 4 out of the 9 categories it was nominated in, specifically Most Promising Director, Most Promising Actor, Bets Cinematography and Best Art Direction. Additionally, it nabbed Best New Director and Best New Actor at the 13th Chinese Youth Generation Film Forum, and has been shortlisted for the Asian New Talent Awards portion of the 21st Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) and the Fukuoka Audience Award at the 2018 Focus on Asia Fukuoka International Film Festival. "Guang" is the story of an autistic young man struggling to find a job, while honing his secret talent for music. The idea started off as a short film, which eventually developed into a full-length movie after a few years following its Grand Prize win at BMW Shorties 2011.