SULUH Sweeps Nine Awards at CUT!’s First Screaming Night

On 30 October, a cinema hall at GSC, Mid Valley Megamall became a horror film festival for the night. SCREAMING NIGHT closed the first season of CUT!, a short horror film competition organised by communications consultancy Ampersand Advisory, which bills it as Malaysia’s premier of its kind. The challenge was simple but hard: tell a scary story in under five minutes.

SULUH took the night. The film won nine awards, including Best Horror Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Screenplay, along with Best Scare. For Best Horror Film, it received RM10,000 and Canon imaging equipment. NIZHAL came second with RM7,500, and its cast won Best Actress in a Leading Role (Thurgga Sharon) and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Kuhan Vijayakumar). FREKUENSI placed third with RM5,000. MIMICRY and SANNIDHI were named finalists with RM1,500 each, and MIMICRY also won Best Use of Music. Liishvaar of RESULT won Best Actor in a Leading Role, and KKTM Rembau’s SANDARAN MANZIL took both Best Student Film and Best Film Shot Entirely on Phone.

The competition received 40 submissions, and 24 films made the shortlist for a big-screen screening. The judges were Nini Yusof of Media Prima Television Networks, Raja Jastina Raja Arshad of Astro Shaw, Datuk Ahmad Izham Omar of Komet, Canon’s Anif Shah and Ampersand CEO Sandeep Joseph. Sandeep said the entries proved what he believed when CUT! launched: that Malaysia has plenty of filmmaking talent waiting for the right opportunity.

The idea grew out of Sup Daging, a psychological horror short Ampersand’s own team made for International Women’s Day in March. It has passed 750,000 views as of October.

CUT! 2 is next. Submissions open soon and close on 27 April 2027, again online, with details to come at ampersand-advisory.com/cut.