Sharifah Amani speaking at the LFF 2019 press conference.

13 Mar - "I'm jealous," was what Malaysian actress Sharifah Amani uttered when asked for her thoughts on the upcoming Le French Festival (LFF) 2019 in Malaysia.

The actress, who is this year's special guest of the festival, sang praises of the effort made by France in promoting their arts and cultures to other countries while at the same time, questioned the noticeable absence of such effort made by Malaysia.

"[France] collaborates with our people to nurture love towards their arts, food, dance and more, but what do we do?" she asked during our chat with her after the press conference of LFF 2019 yesterday.

This highlights the fact that we have our own melting pot of culture, religion and race to share with the world and yet we do not hold our own festival outside of Malaysia the way other countries like Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam do.

"So I'm very happy to be a part of [LFF 2019]. Anything that has anything to do with arts, cinema, which celebrates both Malaysia and their country I want to be involved in."

Sharifah Amani hopes that Malaysia will bring its film festival to other countries too.

Expressing her regrets that the government (both old and new) has not heed her opinions on the local film industry, the actress added that she would, however, continue contributing to its improvement anyway she could.

Her efforts are evidenced by her recent works both in and out of the country. Most recently, she wrapped up a theatre production "Gold Rain & Hailstones", in which she impressed with her portrayal of eight different roles.

Prior to that, she was promoting her short film "5 Minit" at the 29th Singapore International Film Festival last December, attended the cinema premiere of "Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections" in Tokyo last October (the movie was first screened at the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival) and was part of the play "Beautiful Water" at Japan's Kirari Fujimi Theatre, which was staged also last October.

Fans who have been missing her on the big screen, worry not, the actress said that her movie "Motif", helmed by Nadiah Hamzah, is set to open in cinemas this year. Also starring the likes of Rosyam Nor and Iedil Putra, the action movie will see her starring as a cop who is investigating a major crime.