Short & Sharp Mobile Festival launched its call for entries earlier in February, it aimed to discover new-age storytellers and content makers who are passionate in telling stories of our generation with any mobile phone. The theme was “What the World Needs Now”, with participants working on short films built upon this theme, inspired by the new world we live in work and play in, and where the pandemic has moved us to express our hope, joy, compassion and humanity in new ways.

Veron Teng’s winning entry, titled, “What the ‘World’ Needs Now” is a short story about a son who is a great advocate in helping the less fortunate. However, he is unaware of this mother’s struggles to make ends meet and accuses her of being un-compassionate during these times. Veron received a S$20,000 cash prize, as well as a Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G and will also earn an opportunity to shoot and co-create video content on the Galaxy range of devices for Samsung’s campaigns in 2022.

“It has been a thoroughly gratifying experience where I was able to unpack and unfold stories with full creative rein. To be able to tell a story solely through the power of a smartphone has been unique, and I’m truly grateful for this opportunity where I’ve been pushed to think out of the box. I look forward to co-creating content with Samsung for their upcoming campaigns, and to also see how I can further unleash my storytelling skills with their devices,” said Teng. 

Five other individuals that were recognised for their outstanding works by the Festival Founders. They are:

2nd Place winner 

Special Award – Best Direction

Alvin Lee, 29, full-time filmmaker (“From a Distance”)

3rd Place winner

Clarissa, 26, freelance photographer & creative (“Not This Time”)

Special Award – Best Original 

James Fong, 33, actor & filmmaker (“Light”)

Special Award – Best Performance 

Kim Sim Kuang, 38, infotainment writer-director (“About Time”)

“We are pleased to have Short & Sharp as a platform to uncover and groom digital content creators, and I’m particularly amazed at the level of creativity and ingenuity our participants have brought to the room in partnership with our Festival Founders. The 2021 Festival may have ended, but we want to continue our efforts in igniting the passion amongst content creators to create meaningful and inspiring stories with our latest, top-of-class mobile technology features such as 8K video recording and hyper-fast 5G connectivity. We look forward to partnering with more creators in future Short & Sharp Mobile Film Festivals and empowering them with our Galaxy range of products to elevate their storytelling capabilities,” said Sarah Chua, Vice President, IT & Mobile, Samsung Electronics Singapore. 

About Short & Sharp, a mobile film festival powered by Samsung 

Launched in February 2021, Short & Sharp is a short film festival organised by Samsung to bring the power of its technology to the hands of storytellers and content creators. The festival saw over 300 entries, with 15 finalists shortlisted. 

Local film and entertainment luminaries including Eric Khoo, Anthony Chen, Mark Lee, Jeanette Aw, Haresh Tilani and Terence Chia from Ministry of Funny and Wong Kim Hoh served as Festival Founders and judges this year. Finalists had an opportunity to attend masterclasses conducted by Festival Founders, where they picked up skills on filmmaking and content creation. 

“We are super thankful that we had the opportunity to partner with Samsung for Short & Sharp, as it gave us opportunities to capture scenes and learn to tell stories in new ways. The form factor and power of the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G makes it ideal as a tool for anyone wanting to pursue the craft of filmmaking. Throughout the process, we also met a number of promising filmmakers with fresh perspectives of telling homegrown stories, which has inspired us as well,” shared Haresh Tilani and Terence Chia of Ministry of Funny. The Festival was held in conjunction with the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Series 5G. Designed to deliver epic experiences, the Galaxy S21 Series 5G smartphones feature advanced photography and videography features powered by a pro-grade camera system. 

Short & Sharp is expected to return in 2022. To learn more about Short & Sharp, visit https://www.samsung.com/sg/short-and-sharp/ 

As a fellow photographer, content creator and in recent years moving into/learning videography/filmmaking, Samsung’s Short & Sharp Mobile Film Festival inspires and encourages other fellow content creators as well. It’s great to see outstanding short films being shot and produced by fellow content creators here in Singapore!

I would like to invite you to visit all finalist short films on the Festival’s microsite here!

* Information and picture courtesy of Samsung Singapore and IN.FOM *

The post Samsung announced Short & Sharp Mobile Film Festival 2021 Winners appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.

Most of my technology (consumer and enterprise) coverage are published on my other website, TGH Technology and Business Portal/Blog, while TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog covers mainly photography, travel, food and in recent years (videography and filmmaking). I have been doing storytelling and content creation through my photographs and writing here on this website for more than a decade and counting (my website is celebrating a 15 years milestone in April 2021), I feel that this Short & Sharp – A mobile film festival would be an ideal sharing for myself and fellow creatives.

Ahead of the Short & Sharp: A mobile film festival taking place in May, Samsung is commencing a call for entries starting from 27th February for aspiring storytellers and serious content makers to submit a 1-minute short film shot on any mobile phone based on the theme “What the World Needs Now” – inspired by the new world we live, work and play where the pandemic has moved us to express our hope, joy, compassion and humanity in new ways.

15 shortlisted finalists will get to work with the who’s who of the local film and content industry, with the winner walking away with a cash prize of $20,000, Samsung products and an opportunity to produce Samsung-branded video content in 2022. They will create content using the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G while working with luminaries such as:

• Eric Khoo, Award winning filmmaker, Cultural Medallion recipient (Film) and the first Singaporean director to showcase his feature films at major global film festivals
• Anthony Chen, Film Director, First Singaporean to be awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and Winner of 3 Golden Horse Awards
• Mark Lee, veteran Singapore entertainer most known his comedic works. In 2017, he founded production house King Kong Media Productions, focusing on digital content, and was most recently nominated in the 57^th Golden Horse Awards for his portrayal as a drag queen in the feature film, Number 1
• Jeanette Aw, a multi-hyphenate who’s an actress, producer and director, and best known for her role in The Little Nonya. Aw is also the founder of the production company Picturesque Films
• Ministry of Funny, Ministry of Funny, Helmed by Haresh Tilani & Terence Chia, is a content studio that creates award-winning films & TV shows, comedy videos with more than 25 million views as well as “Yah Lah BUT…”, one of Singapore’s top podcasts with more than 500,000 downloads
• Wong Kim Hoh, Deputy Editor of The Straits Times Life, author of five books and screenwriter of Eric Khoo’s well acclaimed feature films Be With Me and My Magic.

All co-created content from the finalists and the participating auteurs will be showcased at the Short & Sharp Film Festival. More details will be announced at a later date.

“We’ve seen the rise of digital content creators in recent times and new consumer habits influenced by the pandemic has also driven the consumption of digital content. Technology now plays an important role in fulfilling a content creator’s vision in telling stories that matter. With the inaugural Samsung Short & Sharp Film Festival, we want to put the power of our smartphones in the hands of budding filmmakers so that they can leverage on our advanced camera features to tell stories that relate,” said Sarah Chua, Vice President, IT & Mobile, Samsung Electronics Singapore.  

Quotes from participating luminaries 

Eric Khoo

If not for short films, I doubt I would be making features today. Working on my early short films provided me with the best training and preparation for my big dive into features.

I believe very strongly in the importance of short film competitions as that was the platform by which I started my own career. Not only that but over the years, I have also discovered many promising and talented directors through these competitions.

I am moved that Samsung has organised its own short film competition and I eagerly anticipate the discovery of new gems! Definitely, technology has made film making much more affordable for budding directors. I think it would be fantastic if we could all create something wonderful together combining the love of storytelling with an incredible new device!

Wong Kim Hoh

It takes as much skill, creativity and planning to make an emotive and evocative short film as it does a long one. A good short film is singular in its purpose, and tells a story or expresses an idea clearly and concisely. 

Many acclaimed directors cut their teeth making short films and I’m really happy that Samsung is giving aspiring filmmakers a platform through its short film competition ‘Short And Sharp’. I look forward to discovering new talents.

The Festival is held in conjunction with the launch of Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone series, the Galaxy S21 Series 5G. Designed to deliver epic experiences, the Galaxy S21 Series 5G smartphones feature advanced photography and videography features powered by a pro-grade camera system.

The top-of-range Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G features a 108-megapixel camera to capture details and depth that are critical in emotive storytelling. It also supports 8K video recording, as well as Super Steady feature for action-cam-like quality in which AI stabilisation delivers gimbal-smooth video – even as you capture fast-moving action. All new videography innovations such as the Director’s View and Enhanced Single Take offer new tools and ways for storytelling, so that users can choose the best output to suit their storyline.

Samsung Short & Sharp Festival – Call for Entries Overview

Entry submission period: 27th February to 26th March

Theme: “What the World Needs Now”

Format: Length: Not more than 1 minute

Prizes:

• Grand Prize: Cash prize of $20,000, Samsung products (including a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G smartphone). Winner will also have an opportunity to shoot video content in partnership with Samsung in 2022 [1].
• Second Prize: Cash prize of $10,000, Samsung products (including a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G smartphone).
• Third Prize: Cash prize of $5,000, Samsung products (including a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G smartphone).
• Additional prizes [2] to be awarded for 1) Best Original Idea, 2) Best Script, and 3) Best Performance.

Do share this Short & Sharp: A mobile film festival with your fellow filmmakers, videographers, photographers, creatives, content creators and storytellers. Encourage them to go for it if they feel inspired to produce their own form of storytelling.

Since I am already into storytelling with my photographs and writing, and I have ventured into videography as well in recent years, I might take this opportunity to give this mobile film festival a shot at this, to test myself, improve my mobile filmmaking further and bring my storytelling to another level playing field.

Notes:

(1) Details to be shared at later date

(2) Details of prizes to be shared at a later date

* Information and picture courtesy of Samsung Singapore and IN.FOM *

The post Samsung presents: Short & Sharp – A mobile film festival appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.