NEWS: Singapore International Film Festival Partners Up With *SCAPE for National Youth Film Awards 20194 min read

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The National Youth Film Awards (NYFA) 2019 is here again and brings with it a familiar face. Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) has come onboard as the organiser, cementing NYFA’s status as the platform for young filmmaking talent to take their first steps in their filmmaking journey.

The fifth edition of NYFA is centred around the carpe diem spirit and celebrates the dreams of today’s youths, encapsulating their joy, energy and excitement. In that same theme, NYFA has announced an exciting line-up for their annual conference and a new NYFA Youth Inspiration Award as part of the refreshed award categories this year. Submissions are open from now till 31 May 2019.

As Singapore’s longest-running film festival, SGIFF is an important voice for ground breaking Asian cinema in the region. Throughout its programming, SGIFF has shown great commitment to youths and the development of youth skills with different outreach and immersion programmes. Together, *SCAPE and SGIFF will build on the NYFA brand and take NYFA to the next stage of growth, which is to be on par with other youth film awards and film festivals, and pursuing potential partnerships that will, over time, allow greater opportunities for our youths and their films to gain regional exposure.

“There is natural synergy in the partnership between SGIFF and *SCAPE. We both believe in nurturing, awarding and celebrating the talented youths we have in the filmmaking industry. We want these young, budding filmmakers to keep pursuing their dreams and eventually do Singapore proud”, said Yuni Hadi, Executive Director, SGIFF.

This year, to recognise and honour young industry professionals who have made exemplary contributions towards the filmmaking industry in Singapore, NYFA will be introducing a special award – the NYFA Youth Inspiration Award.

This award celebrates an inspiring film professional in Singapore that serves as a role model to youths in terms of career aspirations. It aims to encourage young filmmakers to persevere on with their artistic pursuits while at the same time, affirm their commitment to guide the next generation of budding filmmakers. To be eligible for this award, the nominee to be shortlisted by SGIFF and *SCAPE has to be a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident of Singapore, below the age of 35 on 31 December 2019.

Additional criteria for the nominee includes having artistic excellence and commitment manifested through a distinctive body of film works, boasts good standing and recognition locally and/or internationally as well as showing exceptional, ongoing contribution in shaping the development of local film industry.

Goh Kok Wee, Executive Director, *SCAPE said, “NYFA provides today’s youths with a stage to showcase their filmmaking talent, while plugging them into the local filmmaking ecosystem. The NYFA Youth Inspiration Award help recognise the exemplary youth in the local film industry and continue to motivate them to keep chasing after their dreams while being a role model for their fellow peers. The partnership with SGIFF also helps support their journey by giving them access to a filmmaking education and a regional platform to take their art and vision further.”

Since its inception, NYFA is regarded as a distinguished film award for media students with over 1,000 film submissions since 2015. The Open Youth Category is an acknowledgement of the vast talent pool of youth filmmakers in Singapore that lies beyond the schools. This category offers all youths aged between 15–35 years old, with or without formal media training, to compete in this nationally recognised film award.

This edition of NYFA will continue to accept submissions under both Media Student and Open Youth categories, where participants are free to submit their Documentary, Animation or Live Action films. A total of 21 films will be shortlisted for each category and each of these films will qualify for award titles such as Best Sound Design, Best Editing, Best Original Music, and more. In addition, the talent in all shortlisted Live Action films will qualify for Best Actor and Best Actress. Other award titles also include Best Documentary, Best Animation, Best Live Action and Best Overall School (only applicable for entries under Media Student category).

As part of NYFA’s commitment to support and develop youth talents in filmmaking, a three-day conference will be organised from 29 to 31 March at *SCAPE. Well-known filmmakers such as film producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who produced Boo Junfeng’s Apprentice (2016) and screenwriter and director of Letters from The Motherland, He Shuming will be in attendance and will be sharing their knowledge and insights on the film industry.

One class to spotlight at the film conference would be the Content Creation – Choreographing Stunts session, conducted by Stuart Stephen Clifford, an award-winning resident fight choreographer and lecturer from LASALLE College of the Arts and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. Participants will get to learn the fundamentals of fight choreography, fight sequences as well as how to choreograph and shoot a fight scene and more, within the 2-hour session.

In addition to talks, workshops and masterclasses, there will also be a ‘Best of Youth’ Short Film Showcase of previous NYFA winners as well as other award-winning films from Southeast Asia.