Malaysian Malay-language body horror Tiger Stripes by Amanda Nell Eu is QCinema International Film Festival’s big winner for 2023.
The film scooped the grand prize, the Asian Next Wave Best Picture, and the Best Director Award for Amanda Nell Eu.
The film was hailed for leading a distinctive cinematic trend that merges horror with profound social commentary, particularly addressing the issues women continue to face nowadays, and for its standout production values and powerful performances.
Director Amanda expresses her gratitude for the award. “Thank you so much to QCinema and the jury. It is so meaningful to share the film with a South East Asian audience and we are truly honored to receive these awards. Thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of our hearts!”
Asian Next Wave is the main competition section of QCinema.
This year, eight feature film directorial debuts from the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and Thailand competed for the Pylon Award.
Mimang by Kim Tae-yang brought home the NETPAC Jury Prize. Philippine entry Gitling by Jopy Arnaldo won Best Screenplay.
The Best Artistic Achievement award went to Dinh Duy Hung for his visually rich and evocative cinematography of Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell.
Kang Ren Wu, who played a hearing-impaired illegal immigrant in Abang Adik won the Best Lead Performance, QCinema’s sole acting award.
Aside from Asian Next Wave, QCinema also awarded several short films that competed under QCShorts and QCSEA.
QCShorts’ Best Picture is Aedrian Araojo’s Animal Lovers. It won for illustrating how short films can push the edge of taste while continuing to fascinate and entertain.
The QCShorts Special Jury Prize went to the multi-media short Tumatawa, Umiiyak by Che Tagyamon, while the gender sensitivity award went to A Catholic School Girl by Myra Angeline Soriaso.
In QCSEA, QCinema’s new competition section for Southeast Asian Shorts, Hito by Stephen Lopez won Best Picture. The Shorts Jury Prize went to filmmaker Joon Goh for MOP.
QCinema’s first batch of emerging critics who participated in the QCinema’s Critics Lab were also awarded the Critics Prize. It went to I Look into the Mirror and Repeat to Myself by Giselle Lin.
Aside from these film awards, QCinema Critics Lab has also bestowed the Alexis Tioseco and Nika Bohinc Award for Film Criticism to Lé Baltar. It also honored the life and work of QCinema Foundation Member Teddy Co.