National Youth Film Awards Film Facilitation Programme Returns For Its Second Season3 min read

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Organised by *SCAPE, the second edition of the National Youth Film Awards (NYFA) Film Facilitation Programme (FFP) makes its return with a new lineup of award-winning mentors — Frank Smith, Rafael Manuel, Fran Borgia, Siqi Song, Bradley Liew, and Tran Thanh Huy.

Helmed by Huang Junxiang, the NYFA FPP is a nine-month mentorship programme, a holistic end-to-end mentorship initiative that provides a seed funding of $10,000, where past NYFA nominees and winners are mentored by internationally-renowned filmmakers to produce a short film, complete with distribution and marketing channels.

The programme aims to further support young local filmmakers, foster a tight-knit community in the
industry, and connect youths with the industry through close guidance from mentors. NYFA FPP 2020 featured five short films across five genres — now all available for streaming on The Projector Plus.

Three of the five short films have entered acclaimed international film festivals. Tan Siyou’s horror short Strawberry Cheesecake was screened at the 74th Locarno Film Festival, while Alistair Quak’s action film Henchmen won the Special Mention Award at the 25th Fantasia Film Festival. Intimate drama Bridget, directed by Li Kayue and Zon Chan, also recently entered the 44th Asian American International Film Festival.

This year’s edition will add the Documentary genre, presented by Impact Films, to the mix, giving aspiring documentary filmmakers the chance to hone their craft through genre storytelling and narratives.

The mentors for NYFA FPP 2021 are:

Frank Smith, Documentary mentor
Peabody winner for A Year In The Clouds (2011) and more recently produced HBO Asia’s The Teenage Psychic (2017) and Netflix’s first original series in Mandarin, Nowhere Man. He is also a veteran producer with BBC and producer for National Geographic’s Fish Wars.

Rafael Manuel, Comedy mentor
He is the winner of the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival and George Lucas Award at the 2020 Short Shorts Film Festival for his film Filipiñana (2020). He is an internationally-acclaimed filmmaker currently developing his debut-feature film with the support of the Cannes Cinéfondation La Residence.

Fran Borgia, Drama mentor
As one of Singapore’s top arthouse producers, he produced A Yellow Bird (2016), which was nominated for the Critics Week Grand Prize and Golden Camera in the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2016, and co-produced Apprentice (2016), which screened at the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival in the same year, along with Yeo Siew Hua’s A Land Imagined (2018), which won Pardo d’oro (Golden Leopard) at the 71st Locarno Film Festival.

Siqi Song, Animation mentor
Her short film Sister (2018), was nominated for Best Short Film at the Oscars in 2020 and for an Annie Award in 2018. More recently, her short film The Coin (2019), was featured at the Short Shorts Film Festival in 2020. She was named Film Independent Directing Fellow in 2018, with films screened at international film festivals including Sundance, SXSW, and more.

Bradley Liew, Horror mentor
His film Motel Acacia (2019) was at the 2018 Berlinale Co-Production Market, part of the 2017 Sam Spiegel International Film Lab, the 2016 EAVE Ties That Bind and the 2015 NAFF IT Project of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. It made its world premiere in the Asian Futures Competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2019, where it was nominated Asian Future Best Film Award, and was the closing film of the Jogja Netpac Film Festival. He was the show-runner of Astro Malaysia’s ‘Doors: A Philippine Horror Anthology’ and Cignal Philippines’ ‘Now Streaming’ Anthology Series.

Tran Thanh Huy, Action mentor
Director of Ròm (2019) which won the Best First Feature at the 24th Fantasia International Film Festival in 2020. His short film, 16:30 (2012), also won the Best Short Film Award at the Golden Kite Awards in the same year.