FreedomFilmFest 2016 ‘What Lies Beneath’ : Launch and Call for Entries

FreedomFilmFest (FFF), an international human rights documentary film festival, is calling for film submissions in line with this year’s theme ‘What Lies Beneath’. The festival will be held from 20 – 28 August 2016 at PJ Live Arts, Jaya One, Petaling Jaya.
In conjunction with the launch, a screening of twelve time award winning documentary ‘Frame by Frame’ will be screened on the 31st of March 2016 at PJ Live Arts at Jaya One, Petaling Jaya.
The theme ‘What Lies Beneath’ reflects this homegrown festival’s ongoing mission to cast the spotlight on underrepresented human rights and public interest issues through the powerful medium of film. It is a call for everyone to dig deeper into the many urgent issues that individuals, groups, society and humanity are facing today.
Documentaries of up to 60 mins and short films of up to 20 mins completed after 2014 are eligible for submission. Films selected will go through a special jury selection to be nominated for the local, regional and international awards.
Besides submitting entries for the film screening, amateur filmmakers, first time filmmakers and veterans from Malaysia and Singapore are encouraged to apply for the FFF Film Grant Program which offers grants of up to MYR 20,000 and SGD 5,000 for fresh or unfinished documentary films.
The event lineup for FFF 2016 includes film festival screening in both local and international circuits, awards, masterclasses and discussions by renown filmmakers. Festival goers can also look forward to Moving Voices, a series of animated stories inspired by urban poor communities in Kuala Lumpur. Wayang Piknik showcases a selection of local and international films made available for free to individuals or groups who want to organise small screenings in their community.
To kickstart the festival this year, 3 films from the grant winners of FFF 2015 will make their debut online from 21st March onwards. These films which cast a spotlight on Malaysian sociopolitical issues can be viewed for free at the FFF website.
FFF is an annual international documentary film festival that is known for showcasing powerful and moving content around human rights and public interest issues that affect the world. Over the past 13 years, FFF has produced over 40 local Malaysian human rights documentaries and has reached out to over 100,000 people from all walks of life annually. FFF’s tagline “Dare to Document” points to a mission to encourage filmmakers and activists to document and share their stories without fear or hesitation.
Function 8 is Freedom Film Fest’s partner for Singapore. Last year’s FFF 2015 was held at the Projector on Nov 14 & 15. FFF screened 14 films over the two days to a record of more than 1500 audience in total.
A grant of $5000 was also given out for the first time last year for the making of the documentary “Untracing the Conspiracy” by a Singaporean filmmaker, Jason Soo. The documentary besides winning the grant, also won the Best of South East Asia Feature Award in Kuala Lumpur.
For more information, go to freedomfilmfest.komas.org.