SINGAPORE — Two Saturdays ago, Shammini Gunasegaran and Jonathan Choo nabbed the top awards of DBS Best Picture Award and Best Direction Award at the sophomore National Youth Film Awards (NYFA). Their film, titled Han, follows a man who travels to Korea to meet the parents of a girl whom his son killed in a hit-and-run accident back in Singapore.

The road is bright for these budding filmmakers, if the success of Awards’ alumni batch is anything to go by.

For Martin Hong, 26, his nomination for the Best Direction Award last year has paved the way for his filmmaking career. Since his nomination, Hong was selected for the Asian Film Academy as part of Busan International Film Festival 2015.

He also conceptualised and produced a popular YouTube web series, Geeks VS Bloggers and was part of the team who produced homegrown indie band The Sam Willows’ music video, For Love. He is also one of several NYFA alumni engaged to work on Utter 2016 – a special Singapore Writers Festival initiative showcasing the best of Singapore writing and celebrating its potential to be adapted into different media and across languages.

The NYFA, said Hong, “provides a form of encouragement that recognised the efforts of aspiring filmmakers in Singapore, and helped us to not just showcase our works, but to form a community that celebrated young artistic endeavours”.

Andre Quek, 30, who won Best Animation for last year’s NYFA, has since gone on to win Gold for 2D Animation and the Best Animation Award at Crowbars, as well as the Special Jury Award at the 48Hour Film Project.

Quek, who graduated with honours at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) School of Art, Design and Media (ADM), is also working on Utter 2016.

“The film industry in Singapore, is somehow still quite exclusive to live-action film. Mainly because animation is relatively new and therefore less matured as a whole in Singapore. The National Youth Film Awards has helped to introduce me to some of the key players that is driving the film and media industry,” Quek told TODAY.

He added that the people behind NYFA, for example its director Nicholas Chee, is very supportive in nurturing the young talents, and they have created a sense of community among the aspiriing filmmakers. “Through him, I’m honoured to be involved in Utter 2016, together with Mark Wee, a fellow animator, who is a close friend and one of the nominees of NYFA 2015.”

Meanwhile, Hong has plans to produce his own feature film in the future, but is currently pursuing a career in the commercial film industry through the production of commercials and other lifestyle videos on both traditional and digital media platforms. He believes that this will allow him to acquire skill sets that he would otherwise not be able to learn, should he continue as an independent freelancer.

When asked what advice he would give to the new batch of nominees from NYFA 2016, Hong said: “I think just being nominated means people in the community already recognise and appreciate your craft, which is something to be thankful for. Regardless of the results, keep focusing on honing your art to produce something that is uniquely yours.”

“This is not the end of the journey. If you are really keen in wanting to make films, then persevere and continue honing your craft, using platforms like this as a stepping stone to a greater heights.” Quek added.