Mental health themed Short Film Youth Competition open for submissions; winners to receive cash prizes, industry attachment

A $3,000 Post-Production Editing Package, industry attachments with Infinite Studios, and cash prizes up to $2,500 are up for grabs at the 2023 Short Film Youth Competition organised by Mental Health Film Festival Singapore (MHFFS).

From now until Jul 31, interested applicants can submit a short film of no more than 15 minutes, following one of the four themes on mental health: Coping through Creative Expressions, Resilience and Recovery, Suicide Prevention and Workplace Mental Health.

The competition has two categories – the Youth Showcase and the Open Competition.

The Youth Showcase category is open to students under 35 years old who are currently enrolled in full-time education in Singapore and are still new to filmmaking. The winner for Best Overall Film under the Youth Showcase category will receive a $1,000 cash prize with a trophy.

The Open Competition category welcomes Singaporean or PR youths under 35 years old with experience in filmmaking to submit their entries. Students who are enrolled in a filmmaking or media course may also participate in this category. The winner for Best Overall Film under the Open Competition category will receive a $2,500 cash prize with a trophy.

The winning short films will also be screened at the next festival. Participants will be rewarded an additional $500 if their short films are audience favourites.

MHFFS is also offering free workshops in line with the competition. Some of which include Art Therapy by Singapore Association for Mental Health, Journaling by The Tapestry Project and Suicide Prevention by Caring for Life. Interested participants can sign up for the workshops.

Each submission is required to follow a QuickTime (.mov) or MP4 (.mp4) container format, H.264 codec, 16:9 aspect ratio, 1920 x 1080 progressive resolution, a frame rate of 24 or 25 FPS, and Stereo Channels, AAC codec, 48kHz sample rate audio format. English subtitles should be included if the film is in a different language. Submissions can be made through MHFFS’ FilmFreeway website.