I love warm heartfelt stories. Those stories that touches the soul, finds its way to the heart and gives the eyes a reason for a few tears to drop. It takes a lot of skills and innate creativity & talent to tell a beautiful story. These stories can be artfully told in a beautifully weaved short film. And that is just what the young budding filmmakers of Singapore did in this 3rd season of Cine65.
Cine65 is a short film competition featuring creative young filmmakers telling touching, raw and true stories of Singapore. This is a project by Nexus that was launched in July 2011. This year as Singapore celebrates SG50, Cine65’s theme for this year is “Believing Home” as the contenders convey stories of Singapore, past, present and future, their one & only true home.
Cine65 has received more than 230 entries and last June 12, 2015, Cine65 gathered the amazing artists behinds the films to give recognition to their talent. I was privileged to be one of the people invited to the Cine65 Awards Ceremony at Joyden Hall at Bugis+ and witness this star-studded event.
The place was filled with budding young filmmakers. I also got to see famous Singaporean celebrities like Edmund Chen and Irene Ang. I was happy to see some blogger friends, Lunarrive and Frannywanny and have HydeParkBlues to join me in the event.
I had some of my favourite films which I voted online days before the event. I was hoping for the films I voted to win. We got to see snippets of some of the films during the awards ceremony. If you want to see the films, go here.
There was so many wonderful film entries and it was tough tasks for the judges to choose the winning films.
There was a palpable excitement in the air when the winners for The Best Films were announced. “Unwavering” won “Overall Best Film” in the Open Category; while “Home-made 家味” won “Overall Best Film”, “Best Screenplay” and “Best Sound Design” in the Student Category. The grand prize is an overseas learning trip to an international film festival. Talk about wow! Plus cash prizes and Panasonic cameras.
Unwavering
Film Still from Cine65
Unwavering
Film Still from Cine65
SYNOPSIS: Unwavering is a film based on an old cleaner, who reminisces about the times when she set out to achieve her dreams and aspirations. Even in the monotony of her days present, she endeavours with unwavering belief and commitment, both cornerstone characteristics of our Singapore Pioneer Generation.
Home-made
Film Still from Cine65
Home-made
Film Still from Cine65
SYNOPSIS: Home-made is a short monologue about a young Singaporean chef, Joey (Ah Boy). He participates in an international cooking competition, drawing inspiration from and seeking to achieve the taste of his grandmother (Ah Ma)’s dishes. Home-made resonates with the theme of “Believing.
There were also many winners that night. “Sightless” won the Favourite Film award by public voting. The Inter-School Challenge Trophy goes to Ngee Ann Polytechnic, which submitted the highest number of quality entries in the Student Category. There were a lot more winners that were awarded that night and they were all very deserving.
The Guest-of-Honour and Speaker for the Awards Ceremony was Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman, Minister of State for Defence. He congratulated all the filmmakers for all their hardwork.
Minister of State for Defence Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman (right)
with the winners of the Overall Best Film in the Student Category
Credits to Cine65
The award ceremony was closed with us watching the two best films which tugged our heart strings and made us dab the tiny tears from the corner of our eyes.
We went home with tokens to remember from Cine65.
Thank you Cine65 for opening our eyes to the beautiful stories of Singapore. I am happy to be invited to this celebration of film artistry and Singapore.
For more information on ciNE65 Season Three, please visit the following social media platforms:
• Official Facebook microsite: www.cine65.sg
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/cine65
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/cine65sg
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/cine65sg