Taiping’s Doctor Venoo Kuppusamy Wins Rainmaker Award at 3rd Raintown Film Festival for His Short Film Petrichor: The Missing Lies of Taiping
The 3rd Raintown Film Festival was held from 4 to 6 September at Paragon Cinemas, Taiping Mall, drawing an estimated 2,000 attendees. The three-day festival featured four films shot in Perak, a talk on SJKC Aik Hua Trong, and a guided tour of Bukit Larut, offering audiences the opportunity to experience Taiping through both cinema and local exploration.
This year, the festival expanded its curatorial focus from “Taiping films” to “Perak films”, featuring Circus of Life, which was shot in Taiping; Goodbye Boys, a coming-of-age story about scouts shot in the Kinta Valley; Men Who Save the World, shot in Kuala Kangsar and inspired by the Malay tradition of Angkat Rumah; and the film essay Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow…and Tomorrow, which examines four films by the late renowned Taiping filmmaker Jins Shamsuddin.
The festival also marked the 20th anniversary of Goodbye Boys. The film team prepared a special surprise clip for the screening, surprising Taiping-born director Bernard Chauly, who flew from overseas to attend the festival, and delighting the packed audience. The surprise continued during the Q&A, when actors Razif Hashim and Farid Ramlee, who were also attending the festival, made an unexpected appearance, turning the screening into a memorable 20th anniversary reunion.
Raintown Film Festival founder Jacky Yeap said, “Every year, it is meaningful to see audiences from outside Taiping come to the festival, while also taking the opportunity to explore the town. Beyond ‘finding new audiences for local films’, we hope the festival can provide a platform for filmmakers to connect and exchange ideas, while helping more people discover Taiping’s stories, history and culture.”
The Raintown Short Film Competition 2026 received 152 submissions, with 20 films shortlisted. The Best Short Film Award went to Daughter of the Last Journey, a documentary directed by Agnes Yap Jen Nie, who received RM8,000 sponsored by West Coast Expressway. The Best Director Award went to actress MayJune Tan for her directorial debut, the short film Oi-Jia. The festival’s highest honour, the Rainmaker Award, went to Petrichor: The Missing Lies of Taiping, a short film directed by Taiping-based doctor and filmmaker Venoo Kuppusamy.
Complete list of winners:
The Rainmaker Award: Petrichor: The Missing Lies of Taiping by Venoo Kuppusamy
Best Short Film: Daughter of the Last Journey by Agnes Yap Jen Nie
Special Mention Award: Rainbow by Alli Hasrom
Best Director: Oi-Jia by MayJune Tan
Best Script: Sesudah Taiping by Adam Taufiq Suharto
Best Cinematography: Wowo by Hana Roanne
Best Editing: We Remember What We Remember by Julien Chen Lip Syn
Best Sound: Far From Home by Cheun Shi Chin
The 3rd Raintown Film Festival is supported by Member of Parliament for Taiping and Deputy Minister of Education Wong Kah Woh, Perak State Executive Council (EXCO) Member for Tourism, Industry, Investment and Corridor Development Loh Sze Yee, Pokok Assam State Legislative Assemblyman Ong Seng Guan, Dana Kreatif Perak from Port Ipoh, as well as various local organisations. Their support allows film culture to continue taking root and growing in Taiping, the Raintown.
