Anugerah Skrin 2018 Under The Spell of ‘Dukun’

The controversial (and unexpected considering the 13 year delay of its release date) film, Dukun was crowned for most of the awards at 2018’s Anugerah Skrin inside the halls of Putra World Trade Centre last Friday.

Combining the creators, casts and talents of TV and films, Anugerah Skrin analyses the year’s best local productions from drama series, feature films and reality TV to honour the ones who made, entertained and told stories. Leading the night for the feature film category was the horror-thriller, Dukun which took inspirations from the disreputable case of Mona Fandey and Juraimi Hassan, winning Best Director (Dain Said), Best Actress (Umie Aida), Best Screenplay (Huzir Sulaiman) and Best Supporting Actor (Namron). With the film being widely-acclaimed by critics and audiences alike (achieving RM 1.5 million on its premiere date alone), Dukun is not only aesthetically stylish with the cinematography but also ahead of its time when it won against films made in the past year especially when it was filmed over a decade ago.

The leading actors of drama series, Nur; Syafiq Kyle and Amyra Rosli were each armed with awards for their performances in the series (which went on to also win Best Drama Series) about challenging the perceptions of stereotyping Muslims who are deemed “sinners” and those labelled as “pious”. The series’ finale caused a stir on social media as viewers updated their thoughts about the relationship between main characters, Nur and Hamadi and portrayed a premise that encourages debates on the barricade of negative perspectives upon the difference of social and class status.

Shaheizy Sam took home the award for Best Actor (Film) for the romance, Pinjamkan Hatiku directed by Osman Ali while his supporting cast, Normah Damanhuri was awarded Best Supporting Actress for her role. The highlight of the evening is the introduction of new categories like Best Chinese Drama Series in which Green Wall won (under the production of The Rock Productions) and categories for performances in the Chinese language.

The decision of including these new categories and the expulsion of having an official host for the ceremony makes it apparent that Anugerah Skrin is trying something new to not only recognise as much work produced by the industry but to also retain the prestige of the event by accentuating wholly on the arts. However, the “arts” that were contemplated as nominees may raise some eyebrows with actors like Syafiq Kyle being nominated for both Best Actor (Drama Series) and Best Supporting Actor (Telemovie) and films such as the action-comedy, Abang Long Fadil 2 is nominated for Best Screenplay (Syafiq Yusof whose script for KL Special Force was also nominated) considering the many local films (even those that are beyond the use of Bahasa Malaysia) deserve to be on the list as well.

This goes to show that even with added categories debuting at the ceremony, the circle of talents are still limited in terms of language, race and genre. It should at least be alarming that the same people are being celebrated for their work and there should be a notion that some seats must be filled with new industry players and this can only be done when award ceremonies and production studios open their doors for opportunities to be seized.

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Full List of Winners for Anugerah Skrin 2018 Categories

Best Director (Film) : Dain Said

Best Director (Telemovie/Drama): Rashid Sibir

Best Actor (Film): Shaheizy Sam

Best Actress (Film): Umie Aida

Best Supporting Actor (Film): Namron

Best Supporting Actress (Film): Normah Damanhuri

Best Screenplay (Film): Dukun

Best Feature Film: Dukun

Best Telemovie/Drama: Pendosa Ingin ke Syurga

Best Telemovie/Drama Comedy: Mat Rukun

Best Drama Series: Nur

Best Drama Series (Chinese): Green Wall

Best Actor (TV Series): Syafiq Kyle

Best Actress (TV Series): Amyra Rosli

Best Actor (Telemovie/Drama): Jay Iswazir

Best Actress (Telemovie/Drama): Nad Zainal

Best Reality Show: Let’s Cycle

Best Award Show: Anugerah Skrin 2017

Best Magazine Show: 999

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Featured Image source: XTRA