| Ishan Ibrahim |
THE moment has come for Brunei Film Blitz participants to apply all they learnt from the previous two weeks of screenings and workshops.
Brunei Film Blitz revealed yesterday that the ‘secret ingredient of the 96-Hour Blitz is candas, a V-shaped bamboo stick primarily used as a utensil for local delicacy called ambuyat.
When asked about the secret ingredient, Brunei Film Blitz Director Siti Kamaluddin said, “We gave this aspect of the Film Blitz a great deal of thought. The secret ingredient should be both versatile and uniquely Bruneian.”
The 96-Hour Film Blitz participants were challenged to produce a three to six minutes short film within four days.
This portion of the event focussed upon “content generation” rather than exhibition and provided participants first-hand production experience.
To ensure fairness and succinct timing, the Brunei Film Blitz required a ‘secret ingredient’ to play a significant role in each film.
It should have to contain one, all or a variation of the following: Noteworthy screen time; a central theme within the plot structure; influencing character development in the story.
For the past two weeks, the Brunei Film Blitz curated a series of master classes with University of Southern California Professor: Mark Shepherd, Powered Up workshops with Filipino filmmakers: Sigrid Bernardo (director), Marya Ignacio (editor), Roland Tolentino (film critic) and Rito Asilo (film journalist) and an Indonesian director/cinematographer Kelik Sri Nugroho.
These classes focussed on identity and strength of character.
Siti Kamaluddin said, “We placed emphasis on film education this year, especially character development.
“It is hoped that the participants will apply all they have learned and create short films representative of a proud Bruneian screen identity.”
The films must be submitted on December 28.
Participants can win prizes including a scholarship valued over BND30,000 to attend the Screen and Media Diploma course at the Mahakarya Institute of the Arts Asia. This scholarship is sponsored by Progresif Cellular Sdn Bhd.
The Brunei Film Blitz is in partnership with multiple international film festival and will submit the 96-Hour Blitz entries as an anthology of film from Brunei Darussalam in order to continue Brunei Darussalam’s involvement within the global film industry.