Singapore – The National Youth Film Awards (NYFA) concluded its call-for submissions on 15 May, with a total of 238 submissions received from 13 Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) offering film and media programmes. Leading the number of submissions received are Nanyang Technological University and LASALLE College of the Arts, with 36 entries each.

NYFA has garnered tremendous support from the media industry in Singapore. In less than a month since its official launch, several industry stakeholders have also come forward to partner the Awards via jury duties, offering apprenticeship and mentorship opportunities, as well as sponsoring prizes for Award winners.

Among the new industry partners coming on board are:

• Vividthree Productions Pte Ltd, a 3D stereoscopic animation and VFX studio
• Iceberg Design Pte Ltd, a feature film and television post-production & finishing facility
• Beam Artistes Pte Ltd, an artiste management agency

Vividthree Productions and Iceberg Design will be offering apprenticeship and mentorship opportunities for the Best Editing Award and Best Visual Effects Award winners respectively. Beam Artistes will offer a management contract to the Best Performance Award winner.

Max Chan, Compositing Supervisor, Vividthree Productions Pte Ltd, said, “NYFA is a great way to gain good exposure, as well as recognition at a national level while being assessed by a panel of jury who may become your future employer or offer you your first job in the industry. Here at Vividthree Productions, we hope to nurture and cultivate budding visual effects artists of the younger generation and give them a better insight into filmmaking.”

Max will be joining the Jury with two other new additions, bringing the panel to a total of 11 members. The other two members are Francis Kitaro Tan, Managing Director, Iceberg Design Pte Ltd and Joachim Ng, Director, Industry Operations, Media Development Authority of Singapore.

“I am delighted to represent the Singapore Film Commission at the panel of the inaugural NYFA. The NYFA serves as a good platform to discover and groom young emerging talent, which will add vibrancy to our growing film community,” said Joachim.

Adobe, the global leader in digital media and digital marketing solutions, is one of the new sponsors on board, and will offer a one-year complimentary Adobe Creative Cloud subscription to all technical based Award winners.

“Singapore’s creative community continues to inspire the world with its unique vision and point of view. Investing in the next generation of filmmakers is critical to the evolution of our creative sector and Adobe is proud to be part of this vital initiative,” said Janie Lim, Director of Marketing, Digital Media, Adobe. “Adobe Creative Cloud provides a powerful, integrated range of professional video tools that enable filmmakers at all levels to realise their ideas from script to screen, and we‟re excited that participants will have the chance to experience it.”

The announcement of shortlisted nominees will be revealed on 2 July.

NYFA is organised by *SCAPE‟s media programming pillar, *SCAPEmedia, in partnership with

Sinema Media, a film project consultancy, management and training company based in Singapore.

The competition is part of *SCAPEmedia’s strategy to serve as a community platform for budding youth talents who have the passion and commitment in honing their craft, by enriching them with knowledge and opportunities to develop their skills, as well as linking them with media partners and stakeholders.

Other activities happening in conjunction with NYFA include a series of *SCAPEmedia SKILL workshops which will be conducted in June by well-known industry names such as Royston Tan (Chuan Pictures Pte Ltd), Nicholas Chee (Sinema Media Pte Ltd) and Kazz Sato (Muse Pte Ltd).

In addition to the workshops, a series of *SCAPEmedia INSIGHT sessions will be conducted by internationally renowned film practitioners such as Matt Siegel for a hands-on Panasonic Varicam 35 master class and a GH4 camera workshop, and Karl Soule for a video workflow workshop using Adobe Creative Cloud.

The competition will culminate in a by-invite only Award Ceremony happening on 2 August with Lawrence Wong, Minister of Culture, Community and Youth, gracing the event.