The Brunei Content Festival (BCF) 2023 Awards, a highly-anticipated event was held on Tuesday for its second year, organised by the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI).
Minister of Transport and Infocommunications and Chairman of AITI Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Shamhary bin Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Mustapha was the special guest at the event held at Tarindak D’Seni in the capital.
The BCF 2023 Awards is a competition platform to recognise local content as an effort to stimulate innovation and creativity in content creation. It also aims to encourage the development and production of high quality content with commercial potential that can be distributed and broadcast on television platforms or over-the-top (OTT) services.
The ceremony began with a welcoming speech by Chief Executive of AITI Ir Haji Jailani bin Haji Buntar, followed by the judgement report by Head of Jury Nurain binti Abdullah.
Out of 131 entries received in this year’s competition, 96 were selected.
The winners for the BCF 2023 awards in the Industry Category saw Lailatul Shazanas Studio’s I want to Be #Femes winning the Best Drama, followed by The Headliners by Bruhaha Comedy Productions in the Best Comedy, Selamat Malam 2022 by Visionary Project Film in the Best Horror and Triple Cheeseburger by Nadzri Presents Enterprise in the Best Advertisement.
Meanwhile, in the Open Category, the Best Brunei Identity was awarded to Merdeka by A’aqiil Ahmad, followed by Cinta dan Harapan by Wardah Hakimah binti Haji Gulihana in the Best Short Film, Leka by Fauzan and Fathin AMJ Muhammad Adam Chong in the Best Music Video and the Best Short Film Under institute of higher learning went to Nilai Part 1 by Dzul Shamsol from Universiti Brunei Darussalam. All winners from both Industry and Open categories each received a trophy, certificate of appreciation and cash of BND2,000. As for the Jury Award, the Best Cinematography went to Sampul from New Wave Films, followed by Best Editing for Fasa by Nur Faralisa Nabilah Zulfikri, Best Actor for Shafiee Mostar, Best Actress to Nabilah Hamid and Best Direction to Alamat Hati music video by Mui’z Bakar.
Meanwhile, the Best Concept winner was Mari Iski Bercerita by Adam Syed, while Best Social Media Content was won by Azim Ghani Mercedes – Swanz and Troqy by A Mancientry Original Company.
The Best Performance category was won by Masita Tamil from Juan Madial with the Gurindam music video. All winners of the Jury Awards received a trophy, certificate of appreciation and cash of BND500.
All competing entries were judged by a jury panel comprising local and foreign industry experts, teaching staff of higher education institutes and representatives from government agencies. Entries are evaluated according to the criteria that have been set, including in terms of technicality, creativity and innovation.
More than 80 entries from BCF Awards participants were also screened at the BCF Screening and Exhibition held at the Atrium, The Mall, Gadong from September 8 to 10. – Azlan Othman
