‘Great storytelling’: PUB’s viral short film on brothers separated when young wins award in Australia

SINGAPORE — A tear-jerking Hari Raya short film by Singapore’s national water agency PUB that went viral earlier this year has picked up an award at the Canberra Short Film Festival in Australia.

The six-minute film, Kinship, about two orphaned brothers being separated 50 years ago, has attracted more than 1.5 million views since it was released by PUB in May to mark Hari Raya. The film promotes the value of water.

In a media statement on Monday (Sept 16), PUB said the film bagged an award under the International Category (Highly Commended). It was the only Singapore film to win an award at the festival.

“An emotive film that likens the unbreakable bonds of brotherhood by drawing a parallel between water and kinship, it was screened twice at the Australia-based festival and was lauded by the film festival judges for its great storytelling and production quality,” the statement added.

The story features two orphaned brothers, Zul and Din, being separated after the latter is adopted on the morning of Hari Raya.

The festival, which has been running for 24 years, screens Australian and international short films in Canberra. Entries vie for awards across nine categories, including national, international, documentary, animation and music video. More than 380 films were submitted for awards.

The results were announced in Canberra on Sunday.

“We are extremely grateful and delighted to receive this international recognition. It is a testament to the creativity and hard work by the teams that created the film, and also the immense support from the public,” said Mrs Cindy Keng, Director of 3P Network at PUB.

“The theme of kinship and the preciousness of water is truly universal and cuts across language and cultures. This recognition will spur us to produce higher quality public communication materials in the future.”

In June, PUB invited members of the public to submit suggestions on how the story about the separated brothers could end.

PUB subsequently released a five-minute audio story sequel in July on how the brothers reunite.

The film was written and produced by creative agency Tribal Worldwide Singapore and directed by Roslee Yusof from film production company Freeflow Productions.