HBO, Disney, Mediacorp, JTC and the hosts at Tanglin Trust School really helped the AAYFF shine in it's inaugural year. The #AAYFF2017 Gala Screening will be sure to live long in the memory of the young filmmakers who's work was screened and the audience lucky enough to be in attendance. HBO sent a team in to cover the event and here is the TV Spot that went out Across Asia last month.
The AAYFF Gala Screening Event 2017
Many thanks to all of you who helped share word of the festival with your students and help make this event happen. Tomorrow at Tanglin Trust School, thirty two films shortlisted from 274 will be screened before an audience of 500 and an industry jury. Many of the young Singapore based filmmakers will get to meet those travelling in from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and China. We will have in excess of 100 student filmmakers who submitted films in attendance!
Shortlisted young filmmakers from 17 schools across Asia.
Shortlisted young filmmakers from 17 schools across Asia.
From 6pm the shortlisted films will be made made public via our Facebook page and here on the site. The programme will consist of 32 films by students from 17 schools being screened and then the awards ceremony.
✦ International School of Ho Chi Minh City ✦ Tanglin Trust School ✦ International School of Beijing ✦ UWCSEA, Singapore, ✦ IGB International School Malaysia ✦ International School of Dongguan ✦ QSI Shenzhen, China ✦ Shrewsbury International School Bangkok ✦ International School Manila ✦ Singapore American School ✦ The International School Of Macao ✦ SMK (LKTP) Maokil, Labis Johor, Malaysia ✦ The British International School Shanghai ✦ Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapore ✦ Canadian International School ✦ Vientiane International School, Laos ✦ International Bilingual School at Hsinchu-Science-Park ✦
We will also be featuring films during the interval on the live stream which didn't quite make the shortlist, so be sure to share with your students.
✦ Green School, Bali ✦ King George V School, Hong Kong ✦ Dulwich College, Shanghai ✦ Tanglin Trust School ✦ Kellett School, Hong Kong ✦ Yew Chung International School Shanghai ✦
There will be an Audience Award which will be decided by the public voting over a period of a week following the screening. This year's winner will win S$250 kindly donated by the Tanglin Trust School PTA and one of our AAYFF trophies. Voting will open tomorrow at 6pm via our Facebook page and here on the site.
I'm already looking forward to the impact this event will have on youth filmmaking in the region, so when we return with the second edition we can look forward to even more students getting involved and sharing their stories through film.
Kind regards,
David
David Anthony Procter
AAYFF Director
NEVERMIND THE OSCARS – IT’S THE AAYFF SCREENING 2017
The ultimate red carpet student event! seats for the much anticipated aayff screening are now available!
Showcasing the Top 20+ short films with submissions from students at Tanglin and schools across Singapore and Asia.
Supported by Disney, Mediacorp, HBO and JTC, The AAYFF is the first Across Asia Film Festival for young people in age categories from 10-21 years. We have had some incredible short films submitted and the Festival Screening on 24th March promises to be THE MOST GLAMOUROUS event ever held at Tanglin.
Our fantastic judges include, Tom from Disney, CheeK from MediaCorp and Steve from HBO! Great Prizes will be awarded on the night!
This is primarily a student event – it is strictly first come – first served and there are only 300 tickets available. Minimum age 10 years old.
Please click here to book a free online ticket for the student(s) to attend this red carpet event.
The shortlisted films will be announced on Friday 17 March and parents of these filmmakers will also be invited to attend. Seats will be reserved for them.
Event Details
- The fun starts at 5.30pm on Friday 24th March on level 1 of the Nixon Building (Bus Bay like you have never seen it before)
- Expect the event to conclude around 8.30pm
- Dress code – Prom style, Hollywood glamourous
- Bring – a your own water bottle – it is Eco week J
- Delicious food and beverages will be provided
- Minimum age 10 years old
All students will be supervised for the duration of the event.
Meet the Jury Part 3!
The final member of the jury for our screening event is Tom Batchelor, GM - Disney Studios, Southeast Asia.
Tom has spent the past 15 years working in the film industry, firstly spending a couple of years in production before moving over into film distribution. After 9 successful years at Warner Bros in the UK – where he was lucky enough to distribute over 200 films including 5 HARRY POTTER titles and all 3 DARK KNIGHT movies – Tom became Head of Distribution for Walt Disney Studios in the UK and Ireland in early 2013. Since then he’s worked on all of the company’s largest franchises, overseeing the release of 8 Marvel titles, several Pixar and Disney Animation Studios films including BIG HERO SIX, FROZEN and FINDING DORY and last year’s successful THE JUNGLE BOOK and was memorably part of the team that saw STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS become the biggest film of all time in the UK. In November 2016 he relocated from London to Singapore to become Disney’s General Manager of Studios for South East Asia. He is married with 2 children.
A 'Plastic Ocean' screening at Tanglin Trust School
More than 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans every year. A team of scientists and filmmakers explore its effect on marine ecosystems and human health. Don’t miss this thought-provoking documentary screening at Tanglin Trust School this Friday March 03, 2017
Click here to book tickets for free.
Craig Leeson is an award-winning television presenter and filmmaker. His debut cinematic feature film, “A Plastic Ocean”, which he wrote, directed and executive produced, will be released in cinemas third quarter of 2016. Craig is the CEO of Leeson Media International and Ocean Vista Films and founder of the I Shot Hong Kong Film Festival. He is a television news correspondent, presenter, emcee and public speaker. He began his career as a newspaper journalist before moving to television as a news correspondent and anchor for ABC TV Australia.
Craig has worked with the world’s major broadcasters including BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, PBS, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, Bio Channel, Universal, Al Jazeera and the Seven Network. He began his documentary filmmaking career in 1999 and has won the Asia TV Awards for “Rebel Impasse”, on the Maoist rebels of Nepal; “Marco Polo: The China Mystery Revealed”, (National Geographic Channel); and a New York Festivals medal for Best International Affairs Documentary on “The fall of President Suharto”. He has produced and directed NGC’s top Asia television programmes and projects including The Making Of A Gala, GeoWatch Asia, the Top 30 Countdown for NGC’s 10th anniversary special and Earth Day promos shot in multiple countries. He produced and directed Asia’s first extreme sports television series - the Action Asia Challenge – and screened it on two networks simultaneously, NGCI and ESPN. He is the first film director to stage a fashion show at the UN headquarters in Geneva. He is committed to charity work, producing successful fundraising films for Room To Read, Operation Smile, The Sovereign Art Foundation and FilmAid. From Tasmania, Craig is a passionate oceans explorer, surfer and diver. He also plays guitar in a published rock band. He is the fourth generation journalist in his family.
Meet the Jury Part 2!
Meet Steve Burton, Executive Vice President HBO Asia. Steve will join us as the second member of our panel for the AAYFF Gala Screening event on 24 March.
““The TV/movie business in Asia is at an incredibly exciting stage, with a significant increase in investment in the region leading to a rapidly expanding eco-system. The opportunities for people who are passionate about story-telling are better than ever.””
Steve Burton leads the financial management and information systems teams in his role as Executive Vice President of HBO Asia.
Wholly owned by HBO (a Time Warner company), HBO Asia reaches 23 territories across Asia with six 24-hour commercial-free subscription movie channels: HBO, HBO Signature, HBO Family, HBO Hits, Cinemax and Red by HBO. The network also has an internet streaming platform, HBO GO, and a subscription video on demand service, HBO On Demand.
HBO Asia has proprietary and award-winning HBO and HBO Asia Original programmes produced exclusively for HBO viewers. HBO Asia is also the exclusive distributor of BabyFirst and the DreamWorks channel in the region.
Burton joined Singapore-based HBO Asia in 2005 and has been involved in the Pay Television industry for over 25 years, having previously held senior finance roles at Jupiter Telecommunications in Japan, and Telewest Communications in the United Kingdom.
Meet the Jury Part 1!
We're incredibly excited to announce the first member of our jury panel. Meet CheeK, chief Content Officer At Mediacorp Pte Ltd
A creative professional with over twenty years of experience in entertainment, film and television production in Asia, CheeK has worked on both sides of the desk – as a multiple award winning writer, director and producer and as a senior management executive at major international media companies like MTV Japan and STAR TV. As such he has full understanding of the creative process as well as how to manage the business.
CheeK is currently the Chief Content Officer of MediaCorp Singapore, responsible for driving the content strategy and development for its extensive portfolio of entertainment products across its TV and digital platforms as well as content syndication and on air talent. He was previously the Head of Creative, Content and Marketing for Scripps Networks Interactive, Asia Pacific (Food Network Asia, Asia Food Channel, Travel Channel and HGTV). Prior to joining Scripps, he was a co-founder and the Head of Creative for The Group Entertainment, overseeing all of creative and co-managing the business.
Food is a recurring theme in CheeK’s work both in television and film. This is not surprising as he is a food and wine lover who holds a Diploma in Wines and Spirits (WSET Level 4), Certified Sommelier (CMS level 2) and French Wine Scholar (FWS) qualifications. He also writes about wine and food in Wine & Dine magazine.
His current obsession is with how entertainment content can increase the Happiness Quotient of users/viewers on multiple platforms - especially in the digital space.
““Whether on a smartphone or a Hollywood sound stage, great film-making is all about Story, Stars and Style…
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The AAYFF presents Film Masterclasses with Dan Sully
The AAYFF and the Tanglin Trust Foundation are very excited to announce the visit of Dan Sully, TV Director and filmmaker on the 6 and 7 March. Dan will be putting the Senior film students through their paces as they learn about filmmaking from screenplay to edit, in two days of masterclasses. The sessions will be recorded and shown at a later date via the AAYFF's youtube channel.
Dan Sully is a British filmmaker based in London. He started his career at MTV making music television and shooting live multi-camera music performance before making the leap into music videos. He started off making a series of music videos for the independent label Bella Union (Beach House, Howling Bells etc...) and went on to make music videos for many high profile artists such as Elbow, Will Young, Kaiser Chiefs, The Maccabees and Miles Kane.
In 2012 he wrote and directed the short film 'The Ellington Kid' which made the front page of reddit, became a Vimeo staff pick and racked up 500k hits in under a week. ‘Senka’ his second short film was completed in 2015 and is playing film festivals. He is now developing a couple of feature projects. He has directed commercials for Nike, Beats, Absolut, McDonalds, Tesco, Nurofen, Ubisoft among many others.
Dan Sully's work in film and photography can be found on his site:
Freddie Yeo of Infinite Studios
Freddie Yeo, COO of the incredible Infinite Studios, Singapore popped into Tanglin last week. He had lots of support and ideas for the forthcoming film festival and offered these words of encouragement for all students…
““Whilst technology is important, we also can’t be slaves to it. It’s the combination, with our own human experience and individual stories that will make our storytelling unique. That will ultimately inspire and differentiate us as filmmakers”.
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He was particularly impressed that the AAYFF festival is aimed at students from 10 years old and he’d encourage young students from all across Singapore and the region to start film making – no matter how old!
Infinite Studios is an integrated Media Entertainment and Creative Services company with the vision to become one of Asia's leading producer of Film, TV and Digital Media content for a global audience.
Wise words for our young filmmakers from Philip Cheah, director of the Singapore International Film Festival
As we make preparations for the very first Across Asia Youth Film Festival, we have been lucky enough to draw on the experience and expertise of our festival partners Disney, HBO Asia and Mediacorp. Another prominent member of the Singapore film community to offer us his wisdom is Philip Cheah, director of the Singapore International Film Festival. Philip was kind enough to write with words of encouragement and some advice about running a film festival. He also had this special message for our young filmmakers.
“If one can assume that the Buddha is within us, then one can also imagine that the film we want to make is also already within us”