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Press

2011-08-18

Think Independent, Frame New The 17th ifva Awards is officially open for submission

The 17th ifva Awards, organised by the Hong Kong Arts Centre and sponsored by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, is now open for entry. This year, ifva has adopted “Think Independent, Frame New” as its slogan and will continue in its efforts to nurture local media talent and encourage creative thinking. 
 
ifva Awards upholds Independent Spirit
Carrying on ifva’s tradition of upholding independent spirit, this year’s competition is divided into five separate categories including the “Open Category”, “Youth Category”, “Animation Category”, “Interactive Media Category” and “Asian New Force Category”. Each has its own Gold Award, Silver Award and Special Mention. Adding an extra flavour to this year’s award, the Interactive Media Category has a Best Concept Award to encourage originality. Winners of the Gold Award and winners of the Animation and Interactive Media Categories will receive, in addition to a cash prize, subsidies to attend the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France and the ARS Electronica Festival in Austria where they will share their works with an international audience. Furthermore, all of the finalists’ work will be shown at the 17th ifva Festival in March 2012.

ifva’s jury comprises of many experienced film and video makers, including Teddy Robin and Ann HUI On-wah in the Open Category, Adam WONG Sau-ping, CHEUK Wan-chi and Clement Cheng in the Youth Category, Tamás WALICZKY and WONG Wan-hin in the Animation Category, Lars NITTVE and Sarah KENDERDINE in the Interactive Media Category and LAM Kee-to and LEE Ping-bin in the Asian New Force Category. These experienced artists will help pass the torch of creativity to the next generation of media talent.
 
Building platforms and linking with the creative community
In addition to the ifva Awards, ifva also actively connects with the creative community. This year, we have obtained the sponsorship of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Oxfam Hong Kong to present “All About Us 2011”, which allows South Asian teenagers to tell their stories and build their own creative platform using this video project. The scheme includes a Creative Camp (from 30 September to 2 October) and a weekly video production workshop (from 15 October to 3 December). In addition, the teaching material used will be compiled into an Education Kit for secondary schools. 

Another important event is ifva+, in which we will invite outstanding creative talent in the media field to share their work with audiences. From December to February next year, we have arranged audio-visual saloons which will allow participants to learn from the masters. In November, multiple ifva Awards’ winner Jessey TSANG Tsui-shan will present her second feature film Big Blue Lake, which has just been accepted to the Vancouver International Film Festival. In addition, IP Yuk-yiu will put on an experimental film and improvisation theatre production Autofictions at the McAuley Studio at the Hong Kong Arts Centre on 30 September. It promises to combine elements of cinema, story-telling, media, acrobatics and performance in what is sure to be a sensational and exciting event.

Not only does ifva showcase seasoned artists but new talent is also given a chance to shine as well. Organised by the Hong Kong Arts Centre and ifva, Animation Lab is giving two of its students, Katherine LUK E-pui and Nancy LAI Hiu-sin, the chance to go to France to attend GOBELINS Summer School. On 26 August, they will share their experiences at “Animation Lab x Art Node”, the Hong Kong Arts School’s online learning platform. At the same event, Toe YUEN Kin-to (director of the McDull series & CJ7: The Cartoon) and Albert YU Ka-ho (who worked as a Senior Technical Director at Bluesky Studio in the United States), will discuss the differences between local and international animation with Katherine and Nancy.
 
Helping Local Works Find International Audience 
ifva greenlab gives aspiring media artists the chance to practice their craft. Following last year’s successful collaboration with 7-Eleven, this year we have formed a partnership with the Council for Sustainable Development to produce four short Films. Participating directors include 16th ifva finalist, CHEUNG King-wai, winner of the 7th ifva Jury Special Prize, CHAN Wing-chiu, 16th ifva Silver Award winner and LO Chun-yip.
 
In order to help local works reach a wider audience, ifva will continue its efforts to seek overseas screening and distribution opportunities. This year we have organised a collection of ifva award-winning animation works to be screened in August and November in Russia and Chongqing respectively. This will give overseas audiences the opportunity to experience the boundless creativity of Hong Kong artists. 
 
ifva Awards
The 17th ifva Awards are now open for submission. The competition features five categories including the Open Category, Youth Category, Animation Category, Interactive Media Category and Asian New Force Category, with bountiful awards in each category. The Gold Award winner in the Open Category will receive a cash prize of HK$100,000 and a trophy, while the Gold Award winners in the Animation and Interactive Media Categories will each receive a HK$50,000 cash prize and a subsidy to attend the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France and the ARS Electronica Festival in Austria. Other award winners will have the chance to receive prizes valued at over HK$15,000, including a Sony HD camera and a set of Adobe software. Moreover, all finalist works will be screened at the 17th ifva Festival next year.

Deadline for entry : 25 October 2011 (Tuesday)
Entry form and details  : www.ifva.com
Enquiries  : ifva@hkac.org.hk, 2824 5329




Annie Ho                 Tel: 2824 5306/9481 8706    e-mail: aho@hkac.org.hk
Roxane Tsui          Tel: 2582 0268/6110 8813    e-mail: rtsui@hkac.org.hk