Singapore, October 3, 2019 – Ten heartfelt, imaginative and entertaining stories have been selected as finalists for the second Viddsee Juree Singapore, an annual industry pick award celebrating best short films from Singapore.
The nominated films were submitted by a range of independent filmmakers, from more experienced directors like Eva Tang, whose films were selected for Venice Film Festival and TorinoFilmLab, and Mei Ann Teo, whose films have been included in Festival de Liege, M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, and the Montreal World Film Festival. As with last year, student films from Temasek Polytechnic and Lasalle College of the Arts made up a majority of this year’s finalists, including those from Pocholo Dela Cruz, Lew Kee Wen, Jastine Tan, and Anja Dimova, to name a few.
The films cover a wide range of subjects, such as family relationships, love, and artificial intelligence told across various genres of drama, sci-fi and musicals. Among them include a cancer-stricken mother who has to teach her Down’s Syndrome son how to survive on his own (‘Sleep Well, Mother’ co-directed by Kee Wen Lew and Claire Tan See Lin); a coming-of-age tale of a high-school band preparing for the night of their lives (‘The Prom Bomb’ by Pocholo Dela Cruz); a story of a grieving husband who falls in love with his AI assistant (‘All About Evee’); and a teenager who deals with her mother’s abuse by imagining fantastical ways to kill her (‘Let Me Kill My Mother First’ by Mei Ann Teo).
Other entries include ‘Up In The Air’ by Bernadus A. Chandra, ‘ Blood Taxi’ by Anja Dimova, ‘Separation’ (Pepisahan)’ by Nur Elaika Binte Zukhiruallah; ‘ O Meri Jaane Jaan (O My Beloved)’ by Jastine Tan; ‘Breakdown’ by Gabriel Isaac Goh; and ‘The Veiled Willow’ by Eva Tang.
“This year’s finalists showed an impressive understanding of the craft and creativity required in creating a well-produced short film. Coupled with filmmakers’ candidness in examining the issues of familial ties, relationships, and cultural diversity, the films managed to both entertain and stir meaningful conversations,” said Viddsee’s Head of Content, Nikki Loke.
Awards, filmmaker discussions and more at *SCAPE Gallery
The winners will be announced on October 20 in an awards ceremony at the *SCAPE Gallery, which is also the event’s Programme Partner. Prior to the ceremony, Viddsee will be organising a three-day Juree Singapore Awards Programme from October 18-20 at the same venue, and will feature a number of activities including talks, and screenings that are open to the public.
Among them include panel discussions on storytelling to the woke, better personal branding for filmmakers, and championing unheard voices. The full event lineup can be found at jureesg2019.peatix.com
Two top entries will be named the Gold and Silver winners, who will be picked by an international panel of judges that comprises Tim Redford, who is part of the Executive Team of Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival and sits on the board of the Short Film Conference; Kattie Fan, the festival director of ifva – a short film and media art awards and festival organised by the Hong Kong Arts Centre; and Sanif Olek, a film and television director whose film ‘Sayang Disayang’ was Singapore’s first official entry to the 2015 Oscars® (Best Foreign Language Film).
The Gold winner will be awarded a film production grant worth SGD10,000 and a five-day Global Film & TV Program in Los Angeles sponsored by the Motion Picture Association.
In addition to the grant, the Gold winner will receive a 14-day loan for RED Digital Cinema camera equipment with a five-lens set of ZEISS CP.3 Lenses, while the Silver winner will receive a 14-day loan of RED Digital Cinema camera equipment and the ZEISS Light Weight Zoom LWZ.3 21-100mm lens. Gold and Silver winners will also receive a 14-day loan for Sachtler tripod system and Litepanels LED products provided by Vitec.
City Music will provide the Gold winner with a Zoom F4 Field Recorder, and the Silver winner with a Zoom H6 Handy Recorder. Iceberg Studios will offer the Gold winner post-production services for a short film and the Silver winner offline post-production services for a short film. The post-production services include colour grading sponsored by Eugene Seah.
All ten finalists will receive a 12-month Creative Cloud All Apps subscription from Adobe.
Aside from the main winners, finalists and out-of-competition films can also vie for the Audience Choice Award, which will be picked based on the most number of ‘likes’ it receives on Viddsee.com. The voting period for the Audience Choice Awards was held from September 12 to 26.
The annual Juree Awards initiative debuted in Indonesia in 2016, and expanded to include the Philippines in 2017, and Singapore in 2018. Find out more about the Juree Awards at https://www.viddsee.com/channel/juree.
The public can learn more about the Juree Singapore Awards Programme, as well as watch all nominated and other out-of-competition films for free on https://www.viddsee.com/channel/juree/singapore2019
For more information, stills, and press images of the directors, visit https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/19nF7Wu6krVJihwUzsUmVWWJm5pBoelTR.
About Viddsee Juree Awards
Viddsee Juree Awards (‘Juree’) is an annual industry pick award celebrating best short films from Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. In each edition, the countries’ brightest talents and storytellers submit their films to a panel of international judges, who will then handpick the winning entries. Viddsee amplifies the out-of-competition entries and finalists to our audience communities. Juree is part of Viddsee’s commitment to grow a network of prestigious storytellers, to support local film communities, and to inspire a new generation of storytellers across Asia.
About Viddsee
Viddsee is a leading video entertainment platform for short premium content. With over 1 billion views powered by data insights and a trusted community, we empower storytellers by enabling the creation of films and amplifying stories to targeted audiences.
Media contact
John Lim john@viddsee.com
