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Indonesian Talent Sweeps Awards at Singtel Group’s ‘The 5-Min Video Challenge’
Singapore – Indonesian talent swept the awards at Singtel Group’s “The 5-Min Video Challenge” Regional Finals in Singapore last evening. Chick Chick directed by Kevin Anderson beat a host of entries to be named the Grand Winner, while Sowan by Destian Rendra was the runner-up.
Chick Chick tells the story of a young girl who befriends a chicken. Her attempts to communicate with the chicken, inspires her to try and reconnect her fighting parents with a tin-can phone. As the grand winner, Anderson received a cash prize of US$30,000 and a Sony camera and lens set worth more than US$5,000. Reacting to the win, he said: “We wanted to tell a story about connecting lives that goes back to basics without gadgets and social media. It’s been a great experience for us to connect with the finalists and judges from the region through this video challenge. We thank Singtel, Telkomsel, and the judges.”
The runner-up Sowan follows a man who travels to various places on his motorbike. He hears about recent agricultural issues and discovers the conflicts among farmers, middlemen, and sellers. Rendra, who also competed in and won the inaugural video challenge last year, received a cash prize of US$15,000 and Sony products worth more than US$4,000. “We appreciate this video challenge for bringing our vision to a bigger audience. We’re back again this year because it’s been a priceless experience for us,” he said.
The entries impressed the regional judging panel headed by award-winning Singapore filmmaker Eric Khoo and comprising Aaron Lea (Australia), Joko Anwar (Indonesia), Serge Abessolo (Gabon), Quark Henares (the Philippines), and Thitipong Kerdtongtawee (Thailand).
Khoo, who returned as a judge for the second year, said, "We were wowed by the great improvement in the short videos this year. The winning works really spoke to us, and we look forward to working with some of these talented filmmakers." He advised aspiring filmmakers to hone their craft by continuously filming and finding new ways to tell a story even with their smart phones.
“The 5-Min Video Challenge” is both a celebration of the filmmaking talent in Asia and a content push by the Group. Centred on the theme “Connecting Lives” this year, it attracted hundreds of video submissions from Australia, Gabon, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The videos submitted spanned a range of genres from comedy and romance to drama and slice of life.