Julie's comedic Raya film about single-mother stigma won Malaysia's Golden Kancil

Hari Raya advertising is a genre of picture-perfect families returning to the kampung. Julie's, which had spent years making provocative festive films, spotted what the genre left out: single parents, who face relentless judgement at family gatherings.

For Raya 2023 the brand and GOVT Singapore told the story of Timah, a single mother who delays her balik kampung trip every year to shorten her exposure to relatives' questions. She belongs to P.E.R.I.T, a secret society plotting to end Hari Raya; the absurd premise plays for comedy before the film lands its plea for forgiveness and acceptance.

Produced by Fastman Studios, the film took the Golden Kancil — Malaysia's top creative honour — at the Kancil Awards 2023, chosen from 739 professional entries on a night that gave out 145 awards. The jury chair cited it as the year's example of rebooting festive-film tropes with humour and craft.

Comedy makes an uncomfortable family truth acceptable

It used comedy rather than lecture, so a stigma people avoid became a joke families could share.

The secret-society premise turned a painful reality into an in-joke, making the serious point easier to defend.

By championing atypical families, Julie's owned the festive moment instead of merely occupying it.

When a category's conventions exclude real audiences, break the convention instead of repeating it: the brand that names the uncomfortable truth owns the festive occasion.

Kisah Raya P.E.R.I.T followed Julie's 2022 gender-stereotype film 'Ini Iklan Raya Baru, Tau?', confirming a deliberate strategy of using Raya's biggest stage for inclusion messages. The Golden Kancil put the campaign and its production house Fastman Studios at the centre of Malaysian creativity, and the work became the reference point for rebooting the festive-ad genre.