All major film associations today reached a consensus to move forward with organisation of the upcoming 28th Malaysian Film Festival (FFM) after a meeting with Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak.

National Film Development Corporation (Finas) director-general Kamil Othman said the briefing session was held to resolve differences in opinions over the top awards.

"This morning was a briefing session because we felt that previously there was a lot of perceptions (on the issue).

"The minister had given a clear explanation (on his stand) and we ended the meeting on the same page," Kamil said at a press conference at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, after revealing the line-up of presenters and performers for the upcoming award ceremony next month.

"We settled the controversy that has surfaced because of not having the full clarification of what the minister meant when he made the announcement," he said.

Kamil, however, added that the final details would only be announced by Finas chairman Mohd Khusairi Abdul Talib tomorrow.

Finas had last week said the Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Film categories in the 28th FFM will be open to all Malaysian films regardless of language.

It scraps the earlier categories, which differentiate between films depending on whether they meet the 70 percent Bahasa Malaysia threshold.

Salleh had made the earlier announcement after an industry boycott was called when critically-acclaimed films like 'Jagat' and 'Ola Bola' were disqualified from winning 'Best Film' because it did not meet the language requirement.

Finas deputy chairman Yusof Haslam, meanwhile, concurred that all present have agreed to heed Salleh's advice.

"Now there is no more 'boycott' (of FFM) and I feel that we had a very good meeting.

"In any decision made, you cannot satisfy all parties but he (Salleh) had stressed that all of us in the industry must unite," said Yusof, who is also president of the Malaysian Film Producers Association.

In retaliation to Salleh's initial announcement, the Film Directors Association of Malaysia (FDAM) had disassociated itself from the upcoming ceremony.

At the same time, Yusof also said that now individual voices of dissent within the industry would not represent the views of the majority of association members.

Among associations present during the meeting were Coalition of Malaysian Filmmakers’ Associations (Gafim), Malaysian Professional Film Workers Association (Profima) and Seniman.