What I think nobody saw coming, though, is that Malaysia has submitted Upin & Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal to be considered for a nomination in the Best Animated Feature category at the 2020 Oscars. Interestingly enough, the Best Animated Feature category reached a record high this year with a whopping 32 films submitted from all around the world. Among these 32 submissions, only five films will receive Oscar nominations. Hot favourites are Frozen II, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Toy Story 4, the critically acclaimed Chinese film, Ne Zha and Japanese film Weathering With You. The submitted features are listed below in alphabetical order (via Oscars.org): Several of the films, including Upin & Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal, have yet to fulfil the required Los Angeles seven-day qualifying run — films must be released in certain LA theatres for at least seven days before it can be considered for nomination. This has turned out to be a pretty big year for Malaysian cinema, as its the first time in history that we have submitted not one, but two films to be considered for the Oscars. Last week, we reported that Malaysia has also submitted M For Malaysia to be considered for a nomination in the Best International Film category. This marks only the sixth film Malaysia has ever submitted to the Oscars for nomination consideration.
