Singapore – Indonesia’s Rotasi directed by Mr Destian Rendra is the Grand Winner of the inaugural “The 5-Min Video Challenge” organised by the Singtel Group. Rotasi (Rotates) beat 11 other entries from Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Tanzania to take home the first prize at the Regional Finals award ceremony held at Grand Hyatt Singapore. Pagnanakaw (Stealing) by Mr Miguel Sotto from the Philippines emerged the runner-up.
Mr Simon Israel, Chairman of the Singtel Group, and Ms Chua Sock Koong, Singtel Group’s Chief Executive Officer, presented cash prizes of US$30K and US$15K to the directors of Rotasi and Pagnanakaw, respectively. The winning entry, Rotasi, is about a photographer who is feuding with his best friend and his girlfriend. Due to this unhappy state of affairs, he loses faith in the enduring rotation of the earth as he seems to be somehow stuck in love and life. In the end however, he goes through a journey that restores his faith.
The runner-up, Pagnanakaw, is the story about a devoted young man tasked to travel every day to a faraway shop to buy tofu for his family. The container he brings with him is small and only gets filled with a few pieces, just enough for a day. While faithfully carrying out his daily duty, he often wonders why he’s not allowed to bring a bigger container in order to make his journeys more efficient. One day, however, his tofu-fetching task throws up an illuminating answer to life.
Two ‘People’s Choice’ awards were also given out during the awards ceremony. Indonesia’s Mr Destian Rendra also received US$3K for winning the popular vote for Rotasi, while Thailand’s Mr Yuttana Kanchanapinpong of Hello Gorgeous collected the runner-up cash prize of US$2K.
The winners, runners-up and finalists’ videos will be screened on the Group’s mobile and video platforms across Asia, Africa and Australia, reaching about 630 million customers. Conceptualised to drive content innovation and engage customers across the Group’s markets, the inaugural “The 5-Min Video Challenge” attracted close to 600 video submissions from Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Tanzania and Thailand