The Film Directors Association of Malaysia (Fdam) said even the Academy Awards in the US have a separate category for non-English language films.

Fdam vice-president Syed Zulkifli Syed Masir said this in reference to the 28th Malaysia Film Festival (FFM) which generated controversy after it disqualified local films which did not have more than 70 percent of its dialogue in the national language and instead created a separate non-Malay language best film category for them.

"The film 'Amour' directed by Michael Haneke which won the Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards could not participate in the main category of the festival," he told Malaysiakini when contacted.

He added that the qualification of the film, particularly in national film festivals, depends on the recognised official language.

"The Malaysia Film Festival is an official festival organised by the government and so is the case in Taiwan and India.

"For Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Festival and the India's National Film Awards, both use the officially recognised national language," he said.

As such, Syed Zulkifli said it was justified for FFM to separate the nomination categories to national language and non-national language.

The FFM this year moved to separate the best film, best director and best screenplay categories into national language and non-national language films.

This had caused some unhappiness among screenwriters particularly in a year where the local film industry has produced a number remarkable movies in various languages.

Md Nor Kassim, who was nominated for best cinematography at the awards, has announced he is pulling out of the contest, while actor Afdlin Shauki said he would be boycotting the event, which is to be held on Sept 3.