The Singapore International School Film Festival (SISFF) was started by a few teachers in 2009 as a way to bring schools and students together and celebrate the love of film and filmmaking. Now, in it's 6th year (there was no SISFF in 2013), the annual festival brings students together from almost every International school in Singapore and has celebrated dozens of films from students in Primary all the way to High School. One of the organisers of the Singapore International School Film Festival is the CIS Design Subject Lead & Secondary School EdTech Coach, Egmond Boon.

This year’s International Student Film Festival saw a total of 60 entries from students of the Australian International School, Canadian International School, Chatsworth International School, International School Singapore, Nexus International School, Singapore American School, Stamford American International School, United World College SEA, One World, Swiss School and NPS International School. An Oscars style awards ceremony was held to acknowledge and and congratulate award winners on the evening of 6 May at the Singapore American International School.

Let’s meet CIS students Sam Mukherjee, winner for best overall film, and Emilie Higgins, winner in the best acting category.

Tell us about your scripts.

Sam: My script was the result of an intense brainstorming session at about 1am in the morning. After a lot of thought, I decided that I wanted to keep my script simple, yet effective, in the sense that it would make people feel the words, instead of just hearing them. I also wanted to add an inspirational element to the script, and hence decided to structure it in a poetic way.

Emilie: At first, it wasn't a script, it was a story. I got really excited about a movie I wanted to make when we were visiting my uncle in the US. I told him about it, we both liked it. I wrote it down in a book, and he helped me edit it so it would be more appropriate for a movie.

What inspired you to make your films?

Sam: Honestly, my story idea only came to me about two weeks before I started filming. For months, I had been thinking of different ideas for what I wanted to submit this year, collecting every source of inspiration I could find and brainstorming different possibilities night after night. Yet, nothing really seemed to stand out. Every idea I thought of had either been done before, or was unfeasible. I was completely lost, and had no clue as to where I would go from there. I then decided to redo everything completely from scratch, and started to reflect on my own life, which is where the storyline of the film developed from. It's a little cliche, but I used the writer in the film to represent myself, as both him and I, initially stuck in the process of creation, realise that we had it in ourselves all along.

Emilie: I love making movies on holidays and on weekends, and I'm always reading. When I visited my uncle in California, they had a new playhouse. It was such a cool place to hang out that it inspired my scary film.

Tell us about your film making process.

Sam: After coming up with my idea, I decided to write about things I could do if I had the time, as well as common dreams everyone had when they were little, such as flying and stopping time. This process resulted in a kind of free-verse poem, which I later used as the script of my film. After this, I drew out a detailed storyboard that outlined the shots I was going to take and I made sure to begin scouting for my filming locations as soon as possible, as I knew that I was racing against time. I then contacted friends I knew would want to be involved, who turned out to be more than eager to help out with the process, which I was extremely grateful for. This entire aspect of the process took about a week, after which, I filmed and edited the video.

Emilie: Since the movie is about a haunted playhouse, it was filmed at the playhouse that inspired it. Grace and Audrey were perfect actresses for the movie and they did a great job. Audrey is an actress, and Grace acts in movies at home and enjoys making movies too. The one armed witch was played by my Mom, Jaynie Stephenson, and the sailor was my uncle, Charlie Stephenson who wore a mascara mustache and beard. The Playhouse was edited on iMovie and filmed with my Mom's Canon eos 650d and my uncle's camera.

How does it feel to be one of the winners of Singapore International Student Film Festival?

Sam: It's an indescribably amazing feeling, knowing that I have risen to the expectations of my family and friends and have been able to make them proud. It's also given me more confidence to pursue my dream of studying film in university. (Fingers crossed!)

Emilie: Amazing, I'm so happy! My sister Grace and cousin Audrey did an incredible job acting. I was so excited when I waited at the side of the stage while they played my movie.

What is unique about film making in terms of storytelling? What does filming provide that other mediums don’t?

Sam: Somebody once said, "If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million."

To this day, this is one of my favourite quotes. Film is unlike any other art form, because no other medium is able to bring almost every element of an environment to life; be it the everyday hustle and bustle of a busy city, a kingdom in the Victorian era, or a starship in the galaxy. Film is a medium that lets the audience teleport themselves into another world and experience things they otherwise would not have even imagined, which is what gives it its beauty.

Emilie: Filming is everything put together, you get to film, write, edit, test different angles, everything. It's like a big collage of everything amazing you can do to tell a story. It's the perfect way to tell a story.

Sam and Emilie, congratulations on your inspiring work! Keep on being inspired and inspiring others! Congrats to all winners of Singapore International Student Film Festival!

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