Youths Express their Views on Organ Donation through New Short Film Contest

26 May 2010

Finalists to receive mentorship from renowned creative personalities Royston Tan, Boi Kwong, Liam Yeo and Eric Ng

Young Singaporeans will be given the chance to express their views on one of society’s most emotional topics – human organ donation – through a new film short competition organised by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

2. The "Live On Short Film Competition", which is open to all aspiring film makers aged between 15 and 25, encourages youths to use film as a medium for demonstrating the importance of human organ donation and its ability to save lives.

3. The selected five finalists will receive personal mentoring from acclaimed film maker Royston Tan, film director Boi Kwong, award winning writer Liam Yeo and renowned song writer and music producer Eric Ng.

4. Ms Karen Tan, Director of Corporate Communications Division in MOH, said that the aim of the short film competition is to raise awareness of organ donation amongst youths in a meaningful and creative way using an emotive platform to engage people at all levels. 

5. "The youth population is an important group as values and attitudes are  instilled from young.  However, in this era of new media, we know that it may no longer be effective to reach them via traditional media.  Viral marketing, online interactions and co-creation of content may be more appealing to them and we need to think out of the box," said Ms Tan.

6. "Through the Live On Short Film competition, we hope to engage young Singaporeans to think about what organ donation means to them and see the impact they can make by supporting the cause," she added.

7. Mr Royston Tan said he was looking forward to participating both as a judge and a mentor for the competition.

8. "Human organ donation is an emotional topic. Organ donation saves lives and improves the quality of life of recipients.  And yet for every heartwarming story of a person helped by a donation, there may be the heartbreak of another family who has lost a loved one.  I will be interested to see how young Singaporeans interpret this emotional and important issue through a short film," Mr Tan said.

Competition Details

9. Teams can enter the contest by submitting a script, treatment and proposed budget for the proposed short film through the Live On website (www.liveonfilms.sg) by 15 July 2010. Competition details and highlights can also be found on the Live On Films Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/liveonsg).

10. Ten teams will be shortlisted and invited to pitch their movie in a face-to-face interview with the judging panel. The judges will select five teams to be finalists and they will be given up to $3,000 in funding to help them produce their short film. 

11. Teams will be given two months to produce their films, during which they will share and update on their progress using new media tools such as Facebook and Twitter.  All completed short films will be submitted by 31 October 2010.  The grand finale will be a screening in November where the judges’ choice of the winning film will be announced.  The winning team will receive the grand prize of $5,000 in cash. 

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

26 May 2010