Editor’s Update: We just received news that we will be giving away two [yes two!] Diana F+ Medium Format Camera. If you’re interested, hurry and submit your entries! We have extended the submission date till 11 June and the draw will be conducted on 12 June! Don’t say we “bojio” because all it takes is just a click for you to stand a chance to win some really cool prizes.
ciNE65, the biennial short film competition that aims to capture our Singapore identity through the lenses of local budding film-makers, has just recently concluded the submission phase with a record number of 230 entries.
So, what’s the deal?
Out of the 230 entries that were submitted, 10 entries were shortlisted for the Favourite Film, 6 for the Favourite Actor category, and the remaining 6 for the Favourite Actress category.
In order to determine who will win the Favourite Film Category, the Favourite Actor Category, and the Favourite Actress Category, the shortlisted films will need to garner votes from members of the public and this is where you can play your part!
Our Personal Favourite Film is Sightless
Just simply by voting, you can also win for yourself some really cool prizes like a GoPro Hero 4, a 2 Day 1 Night Staycation at a local boutique hotel worth SGD$400, a pair of Universal Studios Singapore Tickets, or a set of 10 movie vouchers!
We know we caught your attention now!
To vote, simply go to the Voting Tab on www.ciNE65.sg [requires Facebook login] or send a message to 76677 following this format: Cine65FBChoiceCode [you can find this in the film description]NRICName
Do note that the Voting Contest period is from 15 May 2015 to 11 June 2015 and it is open to all Singaporean citizens and Permanent Residents.
To make this even sweeter, we will be giving away 1 Diana F+ Camera worth SGD$150 to one of our lucky readers who voted for the Favourite Film Category, the Favourite Actor Category, and the Favourite Actress Category!
Just send us a screenshot of who you have voted for to admin@awinsomelife.org and we will conduct a lucky draw on 11 June 2015. The last day to email us your screenshots will be 10 June 2015, so don’t forget!
Screenshot Must Clearly Show The Video Voted By You and Your Profile Picture
And in case you’re wondering what on earth a Diana F+ Camera is, this is it!
Shoot dreamy, colour drenched images with this Lomography best-seller. An analogue classic yet highly experimental. Truly something for all hobbyists to own!
It was a very hot Saturday afternoon and while we could just laze at home and take a nap or plan for our wedding, both Jacqueline and I attended an exclusive film-making workshop that was hosted by the team from ciNE65 and BananaMana Films.
Held at OBJECTIFS, Centre for Photography and Film, we had a very enjoyable and fulfilling time and we were really glad that we attended the workshop because we had gained a great wealth of information from both Christian and Jason; so much so that we are now contemplating whether we want to submit an entry for the ciNE65 Short Film Competition.
In case you are new to ciNE65, the ciNE65 Short Film Competition is a competition that encourages Singaporeans to express and embrace the Singaporean identity through film and to cultivate budding film-makers to boost the local film scene.
This year, the theme for the ciNE65 Short Film Competition is, “Believing . Home” and it calls upon Singaporeans to reflect on their past, present, and future as a nation while celebrating 50 years of being one people, one nation, one Singapore.
Well, whether or not we submit our entry for the ciNE65 Short Film Competition, here are just some of our personal thoughts and opinions about the theme, “Believing . Home”
The dictionary defines the word, “believing” as “having confidence or faith in the truth of a positive assertion, story, and etc.; giving credence to” and the word, “home” is defined as “a dwelling-place used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for an individual, family, household or several families in a tribe.”
Having been born and raised in Singapore, Singapore is our home and we count ourselves pretty fortunate [than most people in the rest of the world] because we have a good education system [which is quite elitist], an efficient public transport system [which breaks down more often than not nowadays], a credible defence force [that trains with simulators and mock-up exercises], and good governing policies [that are really not so popular with the masses].
Do we really believe in Singapore, our home?
We know this is an irony but really, Singapore may not be the best country to live in because the country has no natural resources and only has a land area of about 716.1 square kilometres [which is way smaller than Hong Kong, China]. Furthermore, the general working hours are pretty long; car ownership is highly regulated; and all Singaporean sons turning 18 have to serve a mandatory 2-year National Service with the Singapore Armed Force.
Seems pretty bad eh?
However, no matter how bad Singapore is, Singapore has been our home for the last 2 decades and it will be in the many years to come.
Since the days of old, our forefathers have worked extremely hard so that future generations of Singaporeans [like us] can enjoy the fruits of their labour. They were far-sighted and they looked at things from a bigger picture. They sacrificed and they saved what they could. There weren’t much entertainment back in those days, but still, they were happy and satisfied.
Today, we enjoy the fruits of our forefathers’ labour but in the midst of the enjoyment, we forget to ask ourselves this question, “What can we do to continue enjoying the fruits of our forefathers’ labour and how can we ensure that the future generations of Singaporeans [our children’s children] can continue to do so too?”
For any fruits to bear, there must be the sowing of seeds and the act of tending to the young seedlings. Without the sowing of seeds, there will be no seedlings, and with no seedlings, there will be no trees that can bear fruits.
However, having said that, even when the seeds have been sown, there may be a possibility that the tree will not bear any fruits because the seeds were not sown in good conditions and given proper nurturing. It could be due to overcrowding [over-population], the competition for water and sunlight [jobs, survival, and finance], the quality of fertilisers used [education, family background, and network of contacts], or any other factors [family issues, debts and etc.] that may affect the growth of the seed.
However, a point to note is that every seed has stored potential. It has all the necessary micro-nutrients [the God-given gifts, talents, and abilities] to cause it to sprout, grow, and bear fruits.
To us, we personally feel that there are no good seeds and there are no bad seeds. All seeds are the same because a bad seed can become a good tree with proper conditions and nurturing, causing it to produce sweet fruits that contain better seeds while a good seed can become a lousy tree with poor growing conditions, causing it to not produce any fruits and die off without leaving any trace of its existence.
Singapore is like a giant tree and her people are like the seeds. The kind of tree we want Singapore to be, depends on us, her seeds.
Do we believe in ourselves to grow, outshine, and achieve [the constant seeking of knowledge to improve and become better/more productive] so that Singapore can be the kind of tree that not only produces fruits [the people’s happiness, prosperity, and progress], but also be a home to the birds and animals [investors] or do we believe that there is nothing we can do [just complain all day long and become keyboard warriors] to change the tree from becoming a decaying stagnant piece of log?
What will you do and what do you ultimately believe in?
Be the change that you want to see and believe that you can make a difference in the community; even when others may slam you, judge you, and criticise you for doing the right thing. Don’t be easily swayed by what other people tell you but hold fast to your own conviction about how you want Singapore to be in the next 10-20 years down the road.
Last Thursday, we concluded our movie tickets giveaway and we would like to thank ciNE65 and Golden Village for their kind sponsorship.
Without further ado, we will be revealing the five lucky winners whom will be walking away with a pair of movie tickets that are kindly sponsored by ciNE65 and Golden Village.
Here is a list of participants whom have participated in our Movie Tickets Giveaway. Names are arranged according to the time we received the email from the respective participants.
The five lucky winners are selected by a random number generator.
And the five random numbers that were generated are…
A hearty congratulations to Valentine, Alvin Toh, Grace, Deve, and Michelle Ang. Each of them will walk away with a pair of movie tickets that are sponsored by ciNE65 and Golden Village. If you haven’t caught any of the winning short films that are wonderfully produced for the ciNE65 [Season II] Competition, do go catch it at ciNE65’s Website now!
For the rest of the participants whom did not win in our Movie Tickets Giveaway, don’t fret because we are currently running a new contest where we will be giving away 4 pairs of Movie Passes to catch Lee Byung Hun’s latest Hollywood action comedy blockbuster, Red 2, that are kindly sponsored by NESCAFE.
To stand a chance to win those Movie Passes that are sponsored by NESCAFE, kindly visit the following link: Movie Passes to Red 2 Giveaway
Please note that the Movie Pass is only valid on 6 August 2013 at Shaw Lido Cinema Hall 5. Registration begins at the NESCAFE Booth located near the box office from 1830 hours onwards and the movie will start screening at 1915 hours. The movie duration is 116 minutes and seats are available on a first-come-first-serve basis [free-seating].
As mentioned in our previous blog post about ciNE65 II, we will be giving away 5 Pairs of Golden Village Movie Tickets that are kindly sponsored by ciNE65 and Golden Village. [Image Courtesy of Insing.com]
If you haven’t read our previous blog post about ciNE65 II or if you’re new to what ciNE65 is all about, do click the following link before participating in this contest:
Share this post on Facebook and Twitter and include the hashtags, #ciNE65 and #awinsomelife in your caption
Drop us an email at admin@awinsomelife.org and kindly include your Name, Contact Number, Twitter Handle, and NRIC No.
Closing date for this giveaway will be on 18 July 2013, before 2359 hours. Winners will be selected by a random number generator and an email will be sent out to all the lucky winners. Names of the winners will also be announced on our blog after the closing date.
Last Saturday, we attended the Singapore Blog Awards Ceremony 2013 that was organised at Shanghai Dolly by OMY and it was a good time of catching up with our friends from the blogosphere. This annual event is a rather big event for bloggers and it always gets bigger and better every year. The theme for this year’s Singapore Blog Awards is the 1960’s and we found it really meaningful. It was through the theme that we learnt how the people in the 1960’s live and what their culture were like. To be honest, Jacqueline and I didn’t thought of participating in this year’s Singapore Blog Awards 2013 as we didn’t felt like we had the chance of even winning anything. However, a really good Blogger friend of ours, Mag, felt that we had the potential and nominated us for the Best Lifestyle Blog Category.
Seriously, there are a lot of Lifestyle Bloggers in Singapore and even then, the title of a “Lifestyle Blogger” can be rather generic and vague. As a matter of fact, lifestyle can cover anything and everything from topics like fashion and entertainment to topics like food and events. Hence, we were extremely surprised when the results were out and we ended up as the Top 10 Finalists for the Best Lifestyle Blog! Looking back, I guess we have come a long way now and it definitely wasn’t easy as the Best Lifestyle Blog Category was a hotly-contested one.
Although we didn’t clinch the title of “Best Lifestyle Blogger”, it didn’t matter to us because we know that all this wouldn’t even have happened if not for our Blogger friend, Mag, whom believed in us and nominated us. Hence, a very much of our success for this year’s Singapore Blog Awards 2013 is attributed to her. Also, the other group of people whom we would like to thank would be our family members and friends whom constantly and religiously voted for us every single day. Like we mentioned from the very first day, we don’t enjoy canvassing for votes because it is such a tedious and long process. If only the voting campaign was shorter and straightforward, I believe it would have levelled the playing field as Bloggers whom have more followers would definitely have a major advantage over those who don’t.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves at the Singapore Blog Award Ceremony 2013 as both Jacqueline and I wore quirky retro outfit that kinda attracted a little too much attention. It was a blast and it was really nice meeting new people and making new friends.
Here are just some of our photos that were taken during the Singapore Blog Awards Ceremony 2013.
A photo of both Jacqueline and I [Credits to Alvinology.com for the Photograph]
A photo of Jacqueline in her retro 1960’s outfit.
A photo of myself in my retro 1960’s outfit.
Here’s a short interview of the bloggers at the Singapore Blog Awards Ceremony 2013
Since we don’t usually have the time for some me-posts [a.k.a personal posts], here are just some heads-up information about our coming blog posts [arranged in order of sequence] that you might want to look out for:
[5 Pairs of Golden Village Movie Tickets Giveaway]-Sponsored by ciNE65
A Preview of the Kia Forte K3
Announcement of the Winners for the $20 NTUC Vouchers Sponsored by SingTel
[2 Packets of Cafedirect Ground Full Roast Coffee Giveaway]- Sponsored by Cafedirect
Announcement of the Winners for the Golden Village Movie Tickets Sponsored by ciNE65
A Preview of the New Nokia 925 Smartphone
Annoucement of the Winners for the Cafedirect Ground Full Roast Coffee Sponsored by Cafedirect
[2 Bottles of Jaillance Semillon Sparkling Wine Giveaway]- Sponsored by Jaillance
Our 2013 Trip to Taiwan [Xinshe Castle in Taichung & Mushroom Farm]
Announcement of the Winners for the Jaillance Semillon Sparkling Wine Sponsored by Jaillance
[2 Tins of Cafedirect Sao Tome Hot Chocolate Giveaway]- Sponsored by Cafedirect
Our 2013 Trip to Taiwan [Carton King & Banana New Paradise]
Announcement of the Winners for Cafedirect Sao Tome Hot Chocolate Sponsored by Cafedirect
Do note that the upcoming blog posts may be subjected to changes as we might be attending some other product launches and events that may fall in between the scheduled blog posts. Nevertheless, we look forward to all of your wonderful participation as we work with our partners and sponsors to bring you great content and products! 🙂
ciNE65 was launched in July 2011 by Nexus and it is a short film competition for film enthusiasts to share their Singapore story. Following the success of its predecessor, ciNE65 II was launched in February 2013 with the theme, “I’ll Be There For You, Singapore” and the public were invited to share their take on the theme through a 3-minute film. The aim of ciNE65 II is to strengthen the emotional connection of Singaporeans to Singapore through film and apart from that, it also serves as a unique platform to recognise and nurture film-making talents, thereby contributing towards the development of the local short film scene.
This year, there was a record bumper crop of 166 film entries that were submitted and this was double that of the inaugural run in 2011, which received 72 entries. The second season of the short film competition, ciNE65 II, concluded yesterday evening at Golden Village [Grand] with the unveiling of a new batch of winners.
For the Open Category, short film “Priceless” won the “Overall Best Film” and “Best Screenplay”. As for the Student Category, short film “Going Away” won the “Overall Best Film”. Both teams walked away with the grand prize of an overseas learning trip to a regional film festival in addition to cash prizes and Panasonic cameras.
Short Film “Priceless”
Short Film “Going Away”
Short film “Honey.” won the Favourite Film award, which was determined by public voting.
The Inter-School Challenge Trophy, a new award this season, went to Temasek Polytechnic, which submitted the highest number of quality entries in the Student Category.
13 other awards were also presented for Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Sound Design, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Favourite Actor and Favourite Actress.
In his speech at the Awards Ceremony, Guest-of-Honour, Senior Minister of State for Defence, Mr Chan Chun Sing, said that he was heartened by the response to the competition as it showed that people cared and wanted to contribute. Expressing his views on this season’s entries, Mr Chan said, “Many of the ciNE65 clips relate to me personally and deeply. They revolved around themes such as family, friends, care for fellow Singaporeans, commitment to Singapore’s defence and love for this place called home. Some brought back long-forgotten memories for me, some touched my heart and some made me laugh. The quality of films submitted was impressive. They reflected the deep thought and effort that participants put into making their films. More importantly, they have engaged us at the level where it matters – the heart.”
A photo of Mr Chan Chun Sing with the team from Temasek Polytechnic that produced and won the Overall Best Film Award [Student Category] for the short film entitled “Going Away”
[Credits to ciNE65 for the Image]
Personally, we like the short film entitled, “Saga Seed” because the story plot is really heartwarming and touching. Furthermore, the actors really portrayed their character really well and the music complements the overall theme of the short film. Truly, the short film, “Saga Seed” deserves to be the winner for the “Best Art Direction”.
Well, what about you? What are your thoughts about the short film and which one do you personally like the most?
For more information on ciNE65 II, you can also “like” ciNE65’s Facebook Page too! Last but not the least, do stay tuned to our blog as we will be giving away 5 pairs of Golden Village Movie Tickets to catch your favourite movies. In order to prepare you for our Golden Village Movie Tickets Giveaway, do check out the winning videos on ciNE65’s Official Website as we will be running a contest about it soon! Cheers!
