Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) and the Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing (CMHW) recently launched the 2nd season of the “My Mind On Film” (MMOF) Youth Mental Health Film Festival to coincide with World Mental Health Day. MMOF2021, themed Heart and Mind, will be accepting submissions from young filmmakers until the 31st of December 2021.
This year’s Grand Prize will see the top filmmaker walk away with RM10,000 cash and an opportunity to produce a mental health short film (valued at RM30,000), which will be screened in GSC theatres, with full production support from the exhibitor. Tung Yow Kong, General Manager at GSC Movies and one of the MMOF2021’s jurors commented, “As one of the leading cinema exhibitors in Malaysia, we are fully committed to developing and nurturing local filmmaking talent. MMOF2021 provides this opportunity to budding and young filmmakers, and we look forward to creating and sharing powerful messages about mental health through cinema.”
The competition jurors also include Edward Lim, a past winner of Malaysia’s most prestigious film festival, BMW Shorties, who has been with MMOF since the 1st season. “RM30,000 funding is an amazing way to transform a vision into reality and provides an excellent way to progress as a filmmaker. This grant really boosts MMOF and we’re looking forward to seeing some fantastic submissions,” said Edward.
Ahmad Shah bin Ahmad Shahrifuddin, MMOF2020 Finalist, said, “MMOF was a life-changing experience for me as a young filmmaker. I had no idea I’d be nominated, and meeting Dr Andrew and Tengku Iman Abdullah has been an honour. I wouldn’t have been accepted into ASWARA (National Academy of Arts Culture and Heritage) without MMOF.”
Films produced by all finalists will be screened at GSC during an Awards Ceremony in January 2022. A wide range of other prizes, including film industry placement, packages of counselling sessions with mental health professionals, and university study awards will be announced soon.
MMOF2021 juror Tunku Mona Riza binti Tunku Khalid, whose film about a family’s experience with autism, Redha, was selected as Malaysia’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards, commented, “I strongly believe that through film, true life can be reflected, and the emotions can be felt by the audience. Redha elevated the understanding of autism to those who watched it.”
Talking about her experiences, MMOF2020 Winner Cheong Yok Yee said that she had the opportunity to step out of her comfort zone, meet new people, and learn a lot throughout the entire process of participating in My Mind on Film.
In addition to continuing the two categories of Young Adults (aged 18 to 25) and High Schoolers (aged 15 +), and following many submissions from around the world in the first season, MMOF2021 has also introduced a Non-Malaysian (International) category.
Dato’ Dr Andrew Mohanraj, president of the Malaysian Mental Health Association and one of the founders of the Centre for Mental Health and Wellbeing, said, “I was truly amazed by the quality of films in the festival last year, and we have since worked with one of the finalists (Ahmad Shah bin Ahmad Shahrifuddin) to produce a short film that is being used as part of our ‘A conversation on suicide’ intervention. MMOF is a uniquely accessible way to inspire and empower around mental health.”
The organisers are committed to making the festival a shared experience with the continued objectives of inspiring sharing of perspectives and ideas and breaking down stigma. All selected films from the MMOF2020 Virtual Festival can be seen here https://sites.google.com/view/mmof2020-21-virtual-festival/#h.s045awbvswm
About the My Mind On Film Festival
You can learn more by contacting the MMOF festival team or going straight to www.filmfreeway.com/mymindonfilm where you can also submit your film.
