| Aziz Idris |
ORGANISERS of the inaugural Brunei Film Blitz 2017 announced the secret ingredients for the 48-hour Film Blitz Category competition, happening today until tomorrow during a press conference held at the Times Cineplex of The Empire Hotel & Country Club yesterday.
Festival Director, Siti Kamaluddin told the media that participants of the 48-hour Film Blitz must submit a short film of up to six minutes within two days, and must feature scenes with these ingredients: the Borneo Bulletin and Media Permata newspapers and the Progresif Radio App.
The winner of this category will receive a $10,000 cash prize and their film will be aired on the silver screen tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the film festival will also have an Open Category competition, where local filmmakers will have the opportunity to showcase their short films.
The filmmakers participating in this category have submitted their entries beforehand and will be judged by invited film specialists from around the region. The winner will receive a cash prize of $5,000.
The winning films of each category will be announced, awarded and screened tomorrow night at the Brunei Film Blitz Gala ceremony.
“The Brunei Film Blitz 2017 aims to support aspiring filmmakers in Brunei and to encourage locals to keep making films and develop the lucrative industry,” said Siti Kamaluddin.
The ‘Yasmine’ director also added that the Brunei Film Blitz is a great start and platform to nurture the film industry in Brunei Darussalam.
“This is our first film festival and I am very thankful to the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism for supporting the film industry in their Brunei December Festival and to all our sponsors for believing in us and the creative industry in Brunei.
“What is important is that we make a start, and this is a good start,” she said.
Throughout the two-day film festival, there will also be masterclasses by film specialists Maxine Williamson, Alex Fischer and Raymond Miranda. The masterclass will cover the studies of cinematic languages, the DNA of a powerful story and the anatomy of short films.
In an interview, one of the film specialists, Maxine Williamson, advised the local filmmakers to produce movies with “your own culture, and it must be original and simple”.
“Make a film that your community wants to watch or can relate to with an original storyline and always remember to keep your film simple,” she said, before expressing her interest to view all film entries from local filmmakers. The day also saw a media screening of two short films from the Open Category.
Present in show of support was Wardi bin Haji Mohammad Ali, the Deputy Permanent Secretary (Tourism) at the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism.
He expressed his enthusiasm over the film festival and believed that the event will encourage more young filmmakers to come forward and showcase their talents.
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