FEEL-GOOD news of the week: Amanda Nell Eu’s feature film debut “Tiger Stripes” on Wednesday won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes International Critics’ Week.

The win had better make the headlines in our mainstream press or I’ll throw a fit.

Awards and recognition of peers are an important part of any profession because with the accolades comes some career progression of sorts.

However, the wise words of gutter poet Charles Bukowski offer a cautionary note: “When a writer is swayed with his fame and his fortune, you can float him down the river with the turds.”

Of course, fortune may not necessarily follow awards but some degree of fame is certainly expected.

In filmmaking, awards and competitions are an integral part of not only the professional practice but also the artistic practice as filmmaking is an ensemble art that takes a village to plan and execute.

It’s not surprising then that most of my filmmaking peers aim for the stars because any sort of recognition illuminates the entire team, from director to the caterer.

Naturally, in filmmaking at least, international festivals such as Cannes is of greater value because of the diverse and global jury that picks the winners.

This is an important note because in the past several decades – in parallel with development of the internet (I am sure there is a correlation here) – awards and competitions have sprouted as quickly as they have disappeared.

Along with it are the winners of some of these competitions that have gone the way of the dodo.

In music making, however, awards and competition don’t really matter that much. This is my personal opinion based on my observations as both an artist and attentive observer.

Maybe it’s the ubiquity of music as a popular art form or maybe music is just too subjective and a minute form.

Ten years ago, I was awarded a sort of “lifetime achievement” award by an independent and purportedly “Asian” organisation.

I didn’t have to pitch nor be a member of that organisation to win so I accepted the award despite some warnings by peers that this so-called award organisation was just riding on the names and reputation of the artists they fete.

Heck, they could ride my name and reputation all they wanted because, well, there wasn’t much of me to exploit anyway as I am not a mainstream artist. Maybe that was it: they wanted some “edge” to their organisation.

Whatever it was, the trophy itself was pretty flimsy (it’s broken from the base) and there was no certificate of sorts.

I didn’t lose much because I did not put in any effort to win, plus I don’t have a team to whom I am accountable.

Take a look at the honour roll of artists who have won at major local music awards and competitions – it resembles a “where are they now?” list of has-beens.

There seems to be an inconsistency or disconnect between accolades and career opportunities in the music industry, notably for the artists themselves compared to their composers or producers.

If awards and competitions do not open up opportunities for upward mobility – be it career-wise or creatively – then the awards and competition have failed in this regard.

It is a conundrum that some other local arts award too sometimes feels more like a pat on the back amongst the converted that doesn’t reach beyond the same community, but at the same time the community itself needs encouragement and these awards tend to be that.

I have greater trust in our local film awards – yes, even our local ones, more so after Kamil Othman took as the chair of the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia – because as an industry and artistic practice, filmmaking is interdisciplinary by nature and a production covers across different industries and specialisations for it to happen.

Nevertheless, let’s hope that Eu’s win heralds a new chapter for Malaysian cinema, which has had a good year so far. – May 26, 2023.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.