THE Scam Prevention Short Film Contest, which recently concluded with an awards ceremony in Beijing, China, saw a total of US$128,000 awarded to winning entries that included a number of Malaysian-made works.
Organised by Malaysia's SunStrong Entertainment and China's Horizon Corporate Volunteer Consultancy (HCVC), the international contest began last year and received 59 and 29 entries for the open category and student category, respectively.
Ten entries were shortlisted for each category in the contest that featured the theme "Contribute Your Talent To Prevent Scams".
"These works show the creativity and talent of the contestants. It also highlights the significance of this contest as we get to see that society at large is concerned about the prevalence of scams," said SunStrong Entertainment founder Jment Lim, who was one of the judges.
He added that the winning entries would be posted on major social media platforms and the company's website to continue spreading the message.
"We may not stop scams from happening, but we can make an effort to prevent as many of them as possible," said Lim.
HCVC founder and chief executive officer Wang Zhongping commended SunStrong for putting together the campaign.
He added: "If it were up to me, all shortlisted works deserve to receive an award. We will continue to use films as a tool to raise public awareness."
For the student category, the first prize of US$5,000 went to A Forever Promise (China), which centres on a young graduate who ends up becoming a job scam victim.
The second prize winner, Got Trapped (Malaysia), and third prize winner, Sink (Malaysia), received US$3,000 and US$1,500, respectively.
The seven winning entries of the US$500 Excellence Award were Malaysia's The Distant Job, Got Trapped, The Untouchable Sight, Catherine's Love Story and Anti-Fraud Operation, as well as China's The Naked Price and If.
As for the open category, Help (China), which tells the story of a phone scam victim, bagged the first prize of US$50,000.
Second place went to Bad Days (Malaysia), which won US$20,000, and Scripted (Malaysia) came in third to win US$10,000.
Thanking the judges, the Malaysian winners said that this inspired them to put out greater works in the future.
The seven Excellence Awards in the open category were swept up by Malaysian entries — Putih Hati, Love Chess, I'm Here For You, Susan, Money Tree, Bungkam and Desire — with each receiving US$5,000.
Open category winners get to submit their film proposals to SunStrong for an opportunity to receive a grant of up to US$1 million to fulfil their dream of making a feature film.
SunStrong has been involved in many local and international productions, including Small Town Heroes, J2: Retribusi and Escape Plan: The Extractors.
Golden Horse Award-winning Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat Aun, one of the judges, said most entries were based on human trafficking stories, which illustrated the extent of this worrying matter.
He said that when telling a story within a 10-minute time frame, there were bound to be lots of challenges.
To his surprise, all these entries took into account the mobile viewing experience for viewers.
Another judge, Oscar-winning Chinese-American documentary filmmaker Ruby Yang, was amazed by many students' entries which used news broadcasting as a mode of storytelling and cast their friends due to limited resources.
The jury panel also included Shanxi Film Academy director Jia Yue, Leopard Change Academy director Zhang Dadou and Nanhai Academy of the Arts and Technology honorary dean Zhou Shixing.
The short films are available for viewing on https://sseshortfilmcontest.com/Gallery.
