U-Wei Shaari

Award-winning Director (Malaysia)

Award-winning U-Wei is often described as one of Malaysia’s finest directors as well as one who would not shy away from incorporating taboo social issues in his productions for the sake of avoiding controversies.

Born in the State of Pahang, Malaysia where he grew up nurturing a passion for early films, U-Wei then moved to the US, where he spent 15 years living in New York. During this time he attended the New School studying film directing.
 

U-Wei debuted as a television director in 1987 and made about 16 television movies up until 1996. His first films, “Woman Wife and Whore” 1993, received 5 awards at the 11th Malaysian Film Festival including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. In 1995, his film “Kaki Bakar” (The Arsonist) was invited to Un Certain Regard in Cannes Film Festival as well as Berlin, Montreal, Nantes, Fribourg, New York and Pusan. The film was awarded Grand Prix at Brussels Film Festival.
 

His third film “Jogho” (The Bullfighter) 1998 was also invited to numerous film festivals such as Singapore (1998), Pusan (1998), Cinemanila (1999) and Nantes (2001).  In 2004, he released “Buai Laju Laju”, a feature film loosely based on James Cain's crime novel The Postman Always Rings Twice. In 2005, U-Wei's short film, Sepohon Rambutan Indah Kepunyaanku Di Tanjung Rambutan (My Beautiful Rambutan Tree in Tanjung Rambutan) was invited to participate at the 2006 Nantes Film Festival.
U-Wei is currently working on feature film “Hanyut” (Drift), which is based on Joseph Conrad’s 1895 novel Almayer’s Folly.