KUCHING:Yayasan Perpaduan Sarawak (YPS) is inviting members of the public in Sibu, Miri and Kuching to choose the winners of its ‘Smiles of Unity’ short film competition.
They are toview and then cast their votes for three of the shortlisted filmswhen they attenda free public screening of the films;held first in Sibu, on July 14 at RH Hotel; followed by Miri, on July 18 at Pustaka Miri; and in Kuching, on September 1 at Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak Campus.
The film screenings, showcasing the competition’s three short-listed entries will take place from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at each of the venues.
The grand prize winner of the ‘Smiles of Unity’ short film competition stands to win RM11,000.00 in cash, whereas the second and third prize winners will receive RM7,000.00 and RM5,000.00, respectively.
“We are excited to see so many talented film-makers among us Sarawakians and we are proud to say that we have selected three of the best entries. Now, we want the public to play a part in deciding which film best depicts the unity and harmony in Sarawak,” said Mark Bonchol, Secretary to the YPS Board of Trustees.
From a pool of 16 entries, a panel of judges chosethe three outstanding films that best depicted Sarawak’s story of unity and harmony.
Apart from the shortlisted films, twoselected short cultural documentaries will be screened on the night. ‘Wayang’ will showcase the story of the iconic Indonesian puppet theatre, followed by ‘Chinese Knots’ which is a symbol of peace, success and prosperity to the Chinese community.
These two films were contributed by the Indonesian and Chinese embassies to highlight the diverse cultures and traditions in their countries.
The ‘Smiles of Unity’ short film competition which began in December last year and closed recently on June 15, aimed to provide an opportunity for budding local filmmakers aged between 18 to 35years to make full use of their talents to tell a story through a short film to highlight the unity in Sarawak.
“One of our aims in organising this competition wasalso to nurture the development of students andeven established filmmakers in the craft of film-making, to further the cause of unity. Seeing the response we got, I believe we have achieved that,” said Mark.
The competition is one of the many activities organised by YPS’ year-round involvement with the community, under the‘March on for Unity 2012’ calendar of events.
It is also one of the events held as a run-up to YPS’ International Youth Cultural Conference (IYCC) in November this year that has generated quite a buzz among local college and university students.
The ‘March on for Unity 2012’ events by YPS are co-organised with Sarawak Development Institute (SDI) and Faradale Media-M Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Angkatan Zaman Mansang Sarawak (AZAM).
Members of the public are encouraged to regularly check the YPS Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/YayasanPerpaduanSarawak) for updates on the results of the voting.
Winners will be announced on the YPS Facebook Page on September 19.
Those interested inattending this film screening, can contact Samson Tan at 082-236629.
