Malaysia Film Producers Association (PFM) president Yusof Haslam said he will no longer involve himself in future Malaysia Film Festivals (FFM) after being grilled at a public dialogue last night.

PFM, the official organising body for the FFM, generated controversy this year over the segregation of national and non-national language films for its top awards.

The event, organised by the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas), also saw Yusof being badgered over issues of conflict of interest.

Those present pointed out that two films produced by Yusof's company Skop Production were nominated as best films at the FFM, of which he is in charge of.

The films are ‘Munafi’k and ‘Mato Moto: Kami Mat Moto Bukan Mat Rempit’.

Several movies, in particular ‘Jagat’ and ‘Ola Bola’, were disqualified from the best film category after a new category was created for non-national language films.

However, Yusof defended himself against claims of conflict of interest, stating that he had no knowledge of the award juries.

"I don't know who the juries are at all. We (PFM) only sent Nancy Foo as one of the juries. There is no reason for me to have a personal interest in the FFM," he told the public dialogue in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Yusof said he did not want to be involved with FFM in the future to avoid such issues.

"Actually, I'm not interested in holding this position (PFM president) because my children and I are active in producing films so issues of our personal interest like this will arise.

"For me, after this (28th FFM), the chance should be given to younger people to hold this position in the future," he said.

Also present at the public dialogue in Kuala Lumpur were Finas director-general Kamil Othman and PFM chief executive officer N Pansha.

Present among the audience were actors, directors and producers such as Ellie Suryati, Norman Abdul Halim, Shuhaimi Baba, David Teo, and Screenwriters Association of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor (Penulis) president Alfie Palermo.

Finas' Kamil defended Yusof, stating that he believed the awards was conducted transparently.

Kamil added that the discussion was productive and all proposals made will be forwarded to the minister.

The 28th FFM will take place on Sept 3 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre at 9pm.