By Yeoh Shin Yee
144p Production’s short film titled Father won the Best Short Film and Most Favourite Short Film Award while Ang Lyven’s Appreciate was voted as the Best Public Service Announcement (PSA) by the audiences in the Han Chiang University College of Communication’s (HCUC) e-screening, L’ultimo Film.
Organised by the final year broadcasting and broadcast journalism students, 44 students exhibited their outputs in a live-stream session from HCUC’s TV Studio.
The name L’ultimo Film is inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” It means “The Last Movie” for the graduating students of Diploma in Mass Communication and Diploma in Broadcast Journalism. It also conveys the message of “Before an end, let’s watch the last movie together.”
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s SOP, only the committee members were allowed to enjoy a physical screening at the campus while the rest had to view them through e-screening. As a precaution, all students and staff were required to undergo a Covid-test before entering the venue.
The presented projects include seven short films, 10 individual public service announcements (PSA), and two documentaries.
“Father” criticises society’s discrimination on career choices
144p Production: (From left to right) Li Hao Yang，Shirley Tan Ching Er，Chong Xing Qian，Ang Lyven，Lee Pei En，Chng Jun Jie.
Father, directed by Li Hao Yang, tells a moving story about a father who works as a clown and his son. The Sabahan student cum director’s story conveyed a straightforward message that every form of career deserves respect and at the same time encouraged viewers to cherish their family members.
The judges, composed of academics from the School of Communication, unanimously commented that although the idea is not new, the performance of the father and filming techniques ensured a good story to the audience, and the ending was satisfying too.
The 144p Production however was surprised as they never expected that their short film would receive a massive acknowledgement from the audiences, resulting in them bagging the award for Most Favourite Short Film. They thanked Loh Choon Tuck who starred as the father.
Despite the positive responses, the film crew affirmed there is still a lot to improve on their short film. Yet they are grateful for the audiences’ support.
“Appreciate” emphasises the importance of relatives
Ang Lyven’s PSA was inspired by her demised relative which reflects her life. Ang is a rebellious girl, through the project, she intended to encourage viewers not to be regretful when they lose something.
Ang said she needed to re-shoot and re-edit her whole video the day before submission as several factors like the weather during the initial filming and the conditions of the actor were hard to control. Winning the award made her delighted and felt grateful to her grandfather who starred in the PSA.
Speaking of the organising process, Event Director Billy Ong Thong Kai expressed his optimism. “The greatest challenge we faced was internal communication as the committees were formed by students from three different batches. Through this event, we also learnt the significance of cooperation,” Ong said.
He added that even though there were some technical issues amidst, he’s glad that the technical team acted fast to solve the problem, which again highlighted the importance to allocate duties.
Vice-Director of L’ultimo Film, Chew Ker Ying expressed that most of the comments from audiences were positive and received suggestions to improve their work.
Lee Kean Wei: Screening is a milestone for graduation
Lee Kean Wei is guiding students during the live streaming.
The advisor of L’ultimo Film, Lee Kean Wei said that the final year screening is like a signature event that needs to be held before graduation as it’s a chance for the students to showcase their creativity. This time, a greater opportunity fell on students, as they had to produce their individual PSA.
“Due to the duration of screening, we had only selected 10 PSA for display, so the winner of tonight could be seen as the best of the best,” Lee said.
L’ultimo Film is the fifth film e-screening led by Lee Kean Wei. He said that this batch’s students had sold a higher number of tickets compared to the previous batches.
He added this is the first time that the students were able to return to campus and utilise the facilities since the pandemic. He could feel their passion and excitement. He also encouraged students to further pursue their studies in the future.
Lee said that the format of e-screening may last for another two to three years. The positive side about it is there’s no restriction on the number of audiences and students’ work could even reach out, but it’s a pity that students couldn’t receive immediate responses from audiences.
In the near future, Lee said that he would consider requiring students to hold a physical and e-screening simultaneously.
Students live-streamed the closing ceremony from HCUC’s TV studio.
Event director Billy Ong appreciates all committee members and lecturers who provided them guidance and felt grateful to the studio technician who patiently aided them during the live stream.
He said that the profit gained from this event will be donated to the alma mater, and also to some charity organisations.
L’ultimo Film sold nearly 800 tickets for the e-screening held on 11th December 2021.