Source: Cathay Organisation
The Cathay Motion Picture 2012 Awards has concluded with the crowning of the top three winning motion pictures and the Viewers’ Choice award at the awards ceremony held on Monday, 29 October 2012.
Winners of the inaugural Cathay Motion Picture 2012 Awards walked away with cash and prizes totalling more than SGD36,000. The winner of the coveted Best Motion Picture award received a cash prize of SGD15,000, the biggest cash prize ever for a filmmaking competition in Singapore.
In addition to the cash and prizes, the top three motion pictures and Viewers’ Choice winner will be played in Cathay Cineplexes’ circuit before the screening of feature films, for four weeks in the first quarter of 2013. The motion pictures will be viewed by the hundreds of thousands of audiences who visit Cathay Cineplexes each month. All 25 shortlisted motion pictures will also be featured as an exhibition at The Cathay Gallery for one month in 2013.
The Cathay Motion Picture 2012 Competition has provided the opportunity for budding filmmakers in Singapore to showcase their creativity. 24 out of the 25 shortlisted teams have members who are working in the film industry or are film students.
(Image - From left: Rachel Toh and Chong Yu Lun from Walk and Roll Studios)
Walk and Roll Studios, who bagged the coveted Best Motion Picture award, comprises members Chong Yu Lun and Rachel Toh, both 20 and are freelancers in the film industry. Motivated by their passion for cinematography, they decided to take up the challenge to produce their winning entry, Poppie Pop, a quirky tale of celebration about a bunch of effervescent corn kernels.
“Our inspiration is popcorn itself,” Yu Lun and Rachel shared. “Movies are often accompanied by delicious popcorn and we thought it would be interesting for audiences in the theatres to watch popcorn popping on screen, while munching on their own popcorn.”
Walk and Roll Studios plans to invest the SGD15,000 cash prize back into their filmmaking careers. Yu Lun said, “We will save most of the money and use the rest to upgrade and invest in professional filming equipment of higher quality and better specifications.”
A showcase of the 25 films was screened during the awards ceremony. A popular theme amongst the entries is family ties. The 1st Runner-Up winner, Remember by Octopus, tells a touching story about a grandmother’s selfless love for her granddaughter. 碧落 (Blue Sky) by Kershaw Tan Ee Yong, the 2nd Runner-Up, is an intriguing film that starts out sinister and suspenseful but surprises viewers with a heart-warming ending.
(Watch all the 25 films at Cathay Organisation youtube channel)
Many participants found the competition to be a valuable experience which would help them in future filmmaking endeavours. Ishani Chakravarty, one of the team members of The Big O who produced the Viewers’ Choice winner, Study Break, said, “I wish to thank Cathay Organisation for recognising amateur filmmakers and giving us a platform for exposure.” Study Break received a total of 3,305 votes on Facebook, out of more than 18,000 public votes received over a three-week period.
“We’re incredibly honoured to have the support of the aspiring filmmakers who participated in the Cathay Motion Picture 2012 Competition; and heartened by the high quality of the motion picture entries,” said Mr Suhaimi Rafdi, Chief Executive Officer of Cathay Organisation. “This is only the beginning. With the success of this inaugural competition, we hope to establish the Motion Picture Competition as an annual signature event for Cathay Organisation and set the stage for more aspiring local talents to exhibit their work among like-minded peers.”
Launched in conjunction with Cathay’s 77th anniversary this year, the competition received a total of 49 short film submissions from 125 participants. The competitiveness of this inaugural competition has set the bar high for future Motion Picture competitions. Mr Adrian Pang, Artistic Director of PANGDEMONiUM! PRODUCTIONS and another judge in the competition, said “The Cathay Motion Picture Competition is a fantastic platform for nurturing filmmakers. I would like to encourage all filmmakers, including future participants in the competition, to be more daring and to take more risks in their execution.”
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(Image: Adrian Pang Artistic Director, PANGDEMONiUM! PRODUCTIONS)Adrian Pang encourages filmmakers to be bolder in their execution even if it means having their film banned (with reference to
Sex.Violence.FamilyValues which Adrian was also involved in).
(Image: The host for Cathay Motion Pictures 2012 Awards, Pornsak and Michelle Chong!)
Michelle Chong also took the opportunity to mention her next featured film,
Three Peas in a Pod. Her maiden film,
Already Famous, made it into the Oscars foreign long-list for 2013 and whether it will be Singapore's first nominated Oscar film remains to be seen.
- Additional note: The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
(Image: Audience Choice goes to the short film, Study Break, by The Big O)
(Image: One of the seven judges in Cathay Motion Pictures 2012, Mr Robert Crockett, Managing Director (Singapore | Malaysia | Indonesia) For Walt Disney Studios & Sony Pictures Releasing (Singapore) Pte Ltd.)
(Image: Second Runner-up goes to the short film, 碧落 (Blue Sky), by Kershaw Tan Ee Yong)
(The 1st Runner-Up goes to the short film, Remember, by Octopus)
(The winner of the coveted Best Motion Picture award goes to the short film, Poppie Pop, by Walk and Roll Studios)
