Kumang at ASA 2026: What This Award Means to Our Team
On 24 October 2026, Kumang and the Ungrateful Python received the Special Jury Award at Anugerah Seri Angkasa 2026 in Putrajaya. We were proud to be there with a film made by our Muse Visual team in Kuching, Sarawak.
As the evening went on, we found ourselves thinking about the people who had been doing this work long before us. Watching senior recipients take the stage, some with a helping hand beside them, put our own achievement into perspective.
We came home grateful for the award, and thinking about how much work it takes to give the next person a chance.
Two Films in the Top Five
Both Kumang and Majau: The Harvest Tale were named among the Top Five nominees for Best Local TV Animation (Animasi Tempatan TV Terbaik). Both were produced by Muse Visual, a subsidiary of Motion Foundry.
Kumang's Special Jury Award was a separate recognition. We want to keep that distinction clear, while recognising the artists and collaborators whose work brought both films onto the shortlist.
The film had previously won Best Story at the 27th DigiCon6 Asia Malaysia Circuit Contest in 2025. Our earlier Kumang article looks at that award and the film's selection for the Malaysia Animation Film Festival. Each opportunity has introduced the work to another audience.
Why We Made Kumang
Kumang begins with an act of care. She rescues a young python and raises it. As it grows, its hunger turns towards the person who has looked after it, until her kindness places her in danger.
We were drawn to the discomfort in that relationship. Caring for someone does not always mean they will care for us in return. An audience can recognise that feeling even if this is their first encounter with an Iban folktale.
Working with our director, Siew Chung Lee (CL), we kept that emotional conflict at the centre of our approach. The film needed viewers to care about Kumang and understand what was at stake for her. Its cultural roots gave that story its place and character.
The tale existed before our studio. Bringing it into animation meant finding a way for more people, including viewers outside Sarawak, to spend time with it. We hope the film leaves them curious about the place and the stories it comes from.
The Support That Gave These Films an Audience
In our experience, animation has not always been an obvious career to pursue in Sarawak. Training gives a young artist a start. What comes afterwards matters too: a production to join, people to learn from, and a screen on which the finished work can be seen.
Schools and colleges help prepare those artists. Support from organisations such as the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak (MTCP) helps local productions become possible. Broadcasters such as TVS give the films a route to an audience.
We are grateful to MTCP for its support and to TVS for backing these films, putting them on air and submitting our work to ASA. Those are practical opportunities for a local team to make something, finish it and learn from the experience.
We also thank the Ministry of Communications, the ASA organisers and the jury for recognising the work. The guests invited to the presentation included Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil, ministry Secretary-General Datuk Abdul Halim Hamzah and Perodua's Senior Director of Corporate Strategy, Borhan Din.
Broadcasting Director-General Datuk Ashwad Ismail was also introduced as the guests were invited onto the stage. The moment is preserved in our award presentation footage.
The People Who Worked Before Us
Some of the most moving moments that evening belonged to the senior members of the industry. We watched them receive recognition and thought about the years of work behind those few minutes on stage.
We did not know every part of their careers. We knew that the industry we work in today had been shaped by people who kept making programmes, telling stories and maintaining broadcasts long before our team arrived.
Today, we can publish a trailer online and share it beyond Sarawak almost immediately. Before online publishing, film, television and radio offered very different routes to an audience. The tools have changed, and we benefit from that change every day.
ASA itself began in 1972. By the 2026 ceremony, 54 years had passed since its beginnings. Sitting in that room made that history feel less like a date and more like the working lives of people around us.
We owe those people our respect. Their persistence helped make room for the work we are able to do now.
What We Hope Comes Next
We believe small opportunities accumulate. A student joins a production. A team completes a film. A broadcaster gives it a slot. With another project, the same people return with more experience and something new to contribute.
An award cannot create a whole industry. Regular opportunities to do the work matter just as much. For us, the hope is that more people can build a future in animation here, while more of Sarawak's stories find an audience.
Twenty years from now, some of us may be the senior faces in that room. We may even need a hand up the steps ourselves. We hope someone starting out then can look at us and see a reason to stay with this work.
For now, there are more films to make. Thank you to our artists, voice cast, collaborators and everyone who has given these stories a chance to be seen. We hope to keep earning that trust, one production at a time.
For more of the work behind these stories, explore our animation production in Kuching, Sarawak.
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