A Malaysian director cum cinematographer features as one of the juries in Zee Tamil's first-ever Short Film - ZEE REEL, which kicked off on Oct 28.

Vimala Perumal, of the Vedigundu Pasangge fame, will judge eight aspiring filmmakers from Malaysia and Singapore, who will vie for an international platform to showcase their talents and be recognized.

The other judges in the international panel include critically acclaimed Kollywood director AL Vijay, as well as Tamil Dasan, who is the programming head of Zee Tamil & Deputy Business head of Zee Thirai, and Rajagopal K and Yahssir M, who are a Singapore-based director and writer cum director, respectively.

For the uninitiated, Vedigundu Pasangge was the first Malaysian Tamil movie to surpass RM1 million in collection and won the Best Film Award in the Norway Tamil Film Festival. Besides, the movie also bagged 41 other awards, including nine international awards and 32 local awards. Vedigundu Pasangge was also nominated in six major categories and won the Special Jury Award in the nation’s most prestigious award event, the 30th Malaysian Film Festival 2019.

The eight shortlisted candidates will get to attend an exlusive workshop conducted by international filmmakers and panel of jury, and their entries will be showcased on the ZEE Tamil APAC channel, giving them a chance to showcase their work on a global television platform.

The top three winners of the competition will also be given an opportunity to international directors on their next project, subject to terms and conditions.

Registration for the ZEE REEL competition started on Oct 28, 2020, and will end on Dec 20, 2020. Winners will be announced on Jan 23, 2021, and the short films will be aired on ZEE Tamil APAC in Feb 2021.

The National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) functions as a supporting partner for the competition, among others.

For more information on the competition, please visit https://www.zeetamilapac.com/zeereel/.