When you give our Malaysian creatives the platform to show what they’re capable of, they can achieve amazing things. This has already been proven by singer-songwriter Yuna, Asian Award-winning actor Henry Golding and Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh.
Local filmmaker Jared Lee has proven that our local filmmakers can also make it big on an international level when his movie “Horologist” got nominated and won the Best Animation award at San Diego Comic-Con Film Festival!
Earlier in May this year, it was announced that the Malaysian animated movie “Horologist” was slated to debut at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2023 as part of the SDCC Film Festival, sharing the big screen with other participating international movies from Canada, China, Egypt, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, UK, and the US.
Since then, the manga-based short has been making waves and yesterday, Jared Lee, the filmmaker himself shared the wonderful news that his passion project won the Best Animation award at the film festival, making this the first Malaysian animated movie to win the award! “I have no words other than a big thank you to everyone who said yes to this project, and everyone who’s supported the manga,” the director wrote on Instagram.
After sharing the news, many of his fellow Malaysian creators congratulated him on the huge milestone. Celebrities like JinnyBoy, Joseph Germany, Dr. Jason Leong, and Maggy Wang all shared their excitement on their IG stories. Even one of the movie’s voice actors Su Ling Chan (also widely known for her role as Bailu in “Honkai: Star Rail”) sent her congratulations on Twitter and thanked Jared for giving her the opportunity to be part of the project.
Apart from the SDCC Film Festival, “Horologist” was also selected to be screened at the Cannes’ Short Film Corner. The animated movie also won Best Animation at the USA Film Festival as well as being a finalist for Poland’s Film Festival called Animator where it was nominated for Best Animation and Audience Choice Award. We’re very much looking forward to seeing the movie at our local cinemas when the time comes.
“Horologist” is based on a manga with the same name, which was also created by Jared during the Covid-19 lockdown. The movie was submitted to local and international film festivals late last year. Congratulations to Jared Lee and his team on all these amazing achievements!
