Young filmmakers have two more days to submit entries
KUCHING: Aspiring young filmmakers in the state can still submit their short film for the Awesome Sarawak Short Film Festival (ASSFF) inaugural competition to be held in conjunction with the Asean International Film Festival & Awards (AIFFA).
Though entry deadline ends today (March 26), AIFFA festival director Livan Tajang said they would extend it for another two days.
They had so far received seven entries, she revealed to reporters when met at Konti SarawakFM at RTM Kuching yesterday.
ASSFF, organised in collaboration with Angkatan Zaman Mansang Sarawak (Azam), is open to Sarawak youths aged 18 to 30 to showcase their filmmaking talents.
“This is an opportunity for the youths to show us what they can do with a camera be it a video camera or even a smartphone.
“It’s one way get young Sarawakians interested in the film-making especially for those who dream of one day becoming a film director,” she said.
She said the short film entries must be at least five minutes long and should pivot around the theme of what makes Sarawak awesome. First prize for the contest is RM5,000; second is RM2,500; and third is RM1,500.
“The winning short films will be shown at the ‘AIFFA Movies in the Rainforest’ event on April 10 at Sarawak Cultural Village,” Livan said, adding that Azam will also help AIFFA organising committee to recruit volunteers for the festival which is to be held here for the second time from April 9 to 11.
“The Azam Youth Volunteer Programme is a good avenue for youths to learn something about the film industry because AIFFA will be in Kuching every two years much like the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF).
“As such, we must organise programmes for our people be they educational or entertainment otherwise the objectives of AIFFA will be defeated if they are only for people from Asean countries to come here to party every two years,” she said.
Earlier, Livan alongside AIFFA organising committee members which also included AIFFA director Jaffri Amin participated in a live radio interview on ‘Sarawak Film Industry Development: The Current Scenario’.