AFTER travelling the world to promote his film Story Of Southern Islet, Malaysian director Chong Keat Aun is ready to return home to start filming his next work titled May Snow, Sin Chew Daily reported.

       The award-winning director, who is currently promoting Story Of Southern Islet at the Valladolid International Film Festival in Spain, has reportedly received funding of TW$3,000,000 (RM447,451) from the Taipei Film Commission for his next film.

       “The pandemic caused everything to be postponed. Moreover, we are working with film crew from overseas and would need to comply with pandemic standard operating procedures while filming.

       “Right now, the script (of May Snow) is in the final stage of editing and I hope filming will start in the second half of next year,” he told the daily.

       Story Of Southern Islet had earlier won Chong the Best Director in Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards as well as two other awards in China’s 12th Youth Film Manual Annual Ceremony.

       It had also helped Chong bag the International Federation of Film Critics Prize at the 45th Hong Kong International Film Festival.

       > A large tiger was spotted along Jalan Jemaluang in Mersing, Johor recently, alarming several road users, China Press reported.

       Mohd Shahrum Selleh, 36, and his wife, Nurhidayahlaily Su’alman, 32, spotted the animal and managed to capture a photo of it while driving towards Tenggaroh at 8am on Oct 27.

       “My blood froze looking at the large tiger trying to cross the road.

       “In the two minutes (that the tiger was in sight), we panicked. My wife managed to take a photo but I was still shaking from fear after it had gone out of our view,” Mohd Shahrum said.

       When contacted, Johor Department of Wildlife and National Parks director Aminudin Jamin said that he had received reports of the animal and they were currently investigating the matter.

       Peninsular Malaysia is home to the Malayan tiger – a critically endangered species – with fewer than 200 adults left in the wild.

       > A food delivery rider in China’s Zhuhai city was fired after he was found to have killed a cat by slamming it on the ground repeatedly, reports say.

       China Press reported that CCTV footage uploaded online showed the rider wearing a blue helmet stroking a cat on Oct 24.

       He then grabbed the cat by its tail and slammed it onto the ground four times.

       When the cat could not get up, he stomped on the cat several times before leaving the scene.

       The food delivery company he was working for told the media that he has since been fired.

       ● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.