Held in collaboration with In-Docs
Deadline: Sat, 31 Aug 2024 (2359H SGT)
LENScape: Documentary Shorts from Southeast Asia is a new short film programme that celebrates the creative spirit of the documentary form. Co-organised by Objectifs and In-Docs, the selected short films will screen in Indonesia within November 2024 to February 2025, and Singapore in March 2025. The programme welcomes films of all topics and themes.
Films with environmental and youth themes will have the opportunity to win the inaugural Silvana S Film Award from the Silvana S Foundation, a non-profit organisation that empowers photographers and filmmakers in Asia Pacific. Worth SGD$8,000, the award will be presented to a documentary filmmaker whose film responds to the theme, ‘Connecting Threads’. The theme acknowledges the myriad ways in which we are linked with others and the environment, exploring how we each have an impact on our communities, including our youth and non-human species.
Submissions will be assessed by Objectifs, In-Docs and an external curator, Komtouch Dew Napattaloong.
SUBMISSION ELIGIBILITY AND REGULATIONS
1. Filmmakers must be of Southeast Asian nationality.
2. The submitted documentary short film must have been completed in 2023 or 2024.
3. The duration of the submitted short film must be 30 minutes or less (including opening and end credits).
4. We welcome films that approach documentaries with a creative storytelling approach. Films can be conventional, visual experiments or in hybrid formats.
5. Films with themes about the environment and youth are eligible for the Silvana S. Foundation prize.
6. No premiere status is required.
7. Selected films might be presented as a travelling showcase at other festivals. Objectifs and InDocs will update the selected filmmakers if there is a planned showcase.
8. All entries must be completed and submitted through the Objectifs website before 31 August 2024, 11:59pm (SGT).
9. Objectifs and In-Docs will notify applicants of the selection results by mid-October 2024.
10. Objectifs and In-Docs will not provide individual explanations on the non-selection of a film.
11. Rights of the materials submitted will solely belong to the applicant.
12. The applicant is responsible for all necessary copyright clearances for materials used in their submitted works, and shall fully indemnify Objectifs and In-Docs from any damage resulting from copyright infringement lawsuits from other parties.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Applicants are to submit the following in a single Google Drive folder:
1. Completed submission form
1. Preview link to short film (Please ensure that your link/password is accessible.)
2. Film synopsis and information (duration, year, etc)
3. Director’s biography, including Instagram handle if applicable (max. 1 page, PDF)
All submissions must be made in the English language. Films in any other language other than English must have English subtitles.
Incomplete submissions will not be accepted.
Submit your applications by Sat, 31 Aug 2024 (2359H SGT).
APPLY NOWSpecial thanks to Silvana S Foundation.
EXTERNAL CURATOR
Komtouch Dew Napattaloong is a Thai artist, filmmaker, and producer. His latest video piece, NO EXORCISM FILM, competed for the NEW:VISION Award at CPH:DOX 2024. His debut feature documentary, HOURS OF OURS, premiered at the Visions du Réel 2023 and screened at SGIFF 2023. Komtouch is also the producer for Thai feature documentaries BREAKING THE CYCLE (Hot Docs 2024, Sheffield DocFest 2024) and SOIL WITHOUT LAND (Visions du Réel 2019, TIDF 2021 Special Jury Prize winner). Komtouch curated films for the SAC Anthropology Center film festival and monthly screening series and served as Lab Manager for Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (SEAFIC) from 2018 until its closure in 2022. He was a selection committee member for SEAFIC Seed Lab in 2022 and a reading committee member for Purin Pictures’ 2023 Short Film Camp.
In 2023, he was a directing mentor for Chiang Rai Film Club and the US Embassy’s “Through the Lens of Climate” documentary workshop, a resident at the Purple Tree writing residency, and guest lectured at Mahidol University on Documentary and Fiction. He also served as the program producer for the Cinema For All pavilion curated by MoMA’s film curator Josh Siegel for the Thailand Biennale 2023. In 2024, Komtouch was selected to join the Berlinale Talents and participated in the Flaherty Film Seminar at the Thai Film Archives.
SILVANA S FILM AWARD JURY
Qila Gill is a film programmer who has been working in the film industry for over a decade. She recently guest-curated the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition at the Singapore International Film Festival and returns as a programmer for the 35th edition. She is the Head of Programme at the London Short Film Festival, serves on the Berlinale Shorts and Generations committees, and is involved with Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg. She was also a SXSW 2024 documentary features screener. Other programming credits include being on the selection committee at Sheffield Doc/Fest (2020 and 2021 editions) and programming for Experimenta at the London Film Festival (LFF) and Aesthetica Film Festival. She previously worked as Distribution Director at LUX, London.
Alongside programming, she independently runs Marginalia Pictures, a creative atelier producing artists’ moving image and creative non-fiction. Marginalia Pictures has produced work for Jarman Award-winning artist Michelle Williams Gamaker, Turner and Jarman nominee artist Onyeka Igwe, and Berlinale Talents and Global Media Fellow director Asmita Shrish. Independently, Qila is an Associate Producer for Malaysian director Badrul Hisham Ismail’s film, Maryam dari Pagi ke Malam (World Premiere, IFFR). Her research focuses on fragility, sensitivity, inclusivity, ethnicity, ethical discourse, and embodiment. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), a member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia, and a member of the Programmers of Colour Collective.
Shaun Gozali is the director of the Silvana S. Foundation Ltd, which was established in 2016 to continue Silvana Sutanto’s (1957 – 2016) legacy. The foundation aims to support underprivileged children, environmental issues and wildlife conservation through her photographic work, as she has always done throughout her life.
Related events
Please stay tuned for more events.
About Silvana S Foundation
The Silvana S Foundation supports image-based work that addresses environmental and youth -related causes. It was established in honour of Indonesia-born Silvana Sutanto (1957 – 2016), who spent most of her adult life in Singapore. As she discovered her voice through the photographic medium, and joy in conveying stories through images, Silvana set out on a dedicated path to deepen her practice. She undertook an apprenticeship with a professional photographer in Hong Kong that spanned several years, and later travelled to remote regions such as Kenya, Papua New Guinea, and Alaska. These expeditions allowed her to engage with the natural world through the lens of her camera. Silvana was fearless in her pursuit of the perfect shot, stepping out bravely into untrodden terrain and often braving the wild in harsh conditions. Her keen eye was recognised with numerous exhibitions and awards.
For more on the foundation, visit https://silvanasfoundation.sg/