R27.CREATIVELAB / Blogspot

Yasmin Ahmad, 51, celebrated filmmaker and executive creative director of Leo Burnett Kuala Lumpur, passed away this weekend. Ahmad died from a cerebral hemorrhage on July 25, after suffering a stroke two days earlier during a media presentation at local broadcaster TV3 in Kuala Lumpur.

Ahmad was born on July 1, 1958 in the Malaysian town of Muar. After graduating from Newcastle University in England, she went on to work brief stints in banking and at IBM before beginning her advertising career as a copywriter at Ogilvy & Mather. She joined Leo Burnett Malaysia in 1993 as joint creative director and eventually moved up to become the agency's executive creative director.

Ahmad was also an active blogger and regularly posted her musings about life and news about her work until near the time of her death.

She directed and wrote six films, including 2004's Sepet, a romance between a Malaysian girl and a Chinese boy, which earned awards in France, Malaysia and Tokyo.



Her latest feature was the 2009 Talentime, about a talent competition and love story between an Indian boy and Malay girl, and before her death she was working on two new films.



In the ad community, Ahmad is perhaps best known for her charming commercials for Malaysian oil company Petronas.

First, the acclaimed ‘Funeral’ spot from earlier this year.



‘Family’ - it’s less of a tear-jerker than ‘Funeral’, focusing on the relationship between father and daughter, but a great story nonetheless.



‘Tan Hong Ming’, the famous ad for Petronas that won Gold at both Cannes and the Spikes last year,



Chinese New Year back in 2001



AirAsia



If you know of any more work by Yasmin Ahmad, please feel free to leave a comment and link below.