Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival is back


KOTA KINABALU: The Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival (KKIFF) is back for the seventh year and will be held from May 31 to June 11.

It continues to be co-organised by SEDIA and SPArKS (Society of Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu Sabah), in collaboration with Elysee Fund (through the Goethe-Institute Malaysia and Alliance Francaise) and the Embassy of the USA.

“The criteria (of materials to be submitted for competition in KKIFF2015) are simple; as long as they portray the originality and creativity of story-telling,” said KKIFF 2015 director Jude Day.

“KKIFF 2015 promises to be the best film festival yet. We have positioned ourselves as a significant film festival in the ASEAN region to build up, nurture and present young talented film directors.”

KKIFF is currently calling for applications for the Sabah Film Academy which will take place from May 31 to June 7.

The 10 selected participants from Malaysia will work in two teams with four mentors from Germany, France, the USA and the ASEAN region. In the month before they come to Kota Kinabalu, the two teams will work on pre-production of their 10-minute documentaries with their mentors and each other.

Once in KK, everyone will finalise pre-production arrangements and attend workshops with the mentors. Then they will go out and shoot their documentaries, edit them and screen them at Awards Night on Sunday, June 7. Applications close on April 30.

The film festival is also calling for applications for the Sabah Pitching Training & Awards programme on June 5 and 6. Anyone within the ASEAN region can apply with a new documentary film project. These can be feature-length (60 minutes plus) or shorts (up to 15 minutes).

The 10 selected projects can be represented at KKIFF by two people each who will receive training in making pitches before pitching to a panel who will award a total of RM20,000 in grants to help get three of the projects started.

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