TAN HONG MING AND UMI QAZRINA, 9
BY TONY SAVARIMUTHU

It was one of the most talked-about films at the Cannes International Advertising Festival this year. Not least because by the time it reached the festival it had already received many awards, including at some very significant shows like the One Show and D & AD, two highly respected institutions that recognise world-class craft and integrity in communication.

The multi-national and multi-lingual audiences at Cannes have something known as the applause-o-meter. Its spectrum ranges from wild applause—even standing ovations—to wolf-whistles of derision, which are not unknown to greet some (dubious) decisions made by the jury.

Tan Hong Ming in Love was fiercely applauded.

Gold Lion duly given, one wonders what moved the jury and the audiences about what in essence was a simple story about the innocence of young children. There was no plot, no storyline, no characters nor narration, but the young cast revealed a new reality in the marketplace by delivering naturally from their hearts a message of universal love. In a somewhat jaded world full of branded commercial cacophony and expectant Obama-mania, Tan Hong Ming and Umi—lovingly encouraged by film director Yasmin Ahmad—declared their feelings and it resonated with a jury hard-worn with cynicism, and an audience that recognised the power of advertising, through the film before them, to be a force for good.

Yasmin Ahmad’s much anticipated, and loved, Petronas films reflect her observances of Malaysian life. Through the unsavoury flavour of current politics, Tan Hong Ming and Umi provide a lens through which we can choose to view the real Malaysia. And truly towering Malaysians too.

Tony Savarimuthu is the chief executive officer of McCann Worldgroup in Malaysia.