MYMINDONFILM Previous Events
Workshops
Beyond The Screen
In Beyond The Screen filmmaking workshop, Megat Sharizal (Malaysia's very own film producer and actor) shares his knowledge and expertise from his experience in the film industry.
The first part of the workshop explores how films are produced - from the birth of an idea to what we see on the movie screen. Following this, we delve into a round of questions and answers with Mr.Megat.
Topics discussed in this workshop include:
Working your way up in the film industry
Filmmaking 101 (How to make a film)
How to cast the right people?
Acting 101 (Acting skills and tips)
About Megat Sharizal
One of Malaysia's well-known talents in the film industry, he has starred in multiple local blockbusters such as Geran, Shadowplay, and Pusaka. He has also won numerous awards for theatre which include the best director for Malaysian Theatre Festival 2004, best director for Short N Sweet Theatre Festival 2009.
In 2010, he, along with a group of like-minded friends formed Playground Productions and produced their first film, Terbaik Dari Langit, which debuted in the Tokyo International Film Festival and went on to win the special Jury award at the Malaysian Film Festival 2015. The film also won the Best Film award at the ASEAN International Film Festival the same year. In that film, he also acted alongside some of Malaysia's best actors such as Bront Palarae, Siti Saleha, and Aziz Satar.
Webinars
My Film: Spreading Mental Health Awareness
Starting the second season of the My Mind On Film Festival with a webinar on mental health in Malaysian films, we invited 6 distinguished guest speakers to explore mental health depiction in films and the role of the Malaysian film industry in addressing the importance of raising mental health awareness.
Moderating the first webinar of the season, we have Farihin Ufiya, fellow HELP psychology graduate, devout cinephile and founding director of NYAWA (a Mental Health Aid Association), who will facilitate the conversation on mental health in the local film industry. Joined with her, we have invited 5 other special guest speakers to bring in their diverse perspectives about media portrayal of mental health:
Tunku Mona Riza, writer-director of the film ‘Redha / Beautiful Pain’ (2016), who will share her experience of producing a film centered around Autism Spectrum Disorder and her journey being in this industry for over 20 years.
Sharifah Aleysha, writer-director of short film ‘Diri’, who will share her passion for writing stories about topics she cares about including spirituality and mental health. Most of her writing come from her own experiences and some come from her fears.
Sharifah Aryana, lead actor of short film ‘Diri’ who will share her insight about the importance of breaking the stigma surrounding mental health. Aryana has been active in the entertainment industry since 2002 with her most notable performance being her role in ‘Mukhsin’ directed by Yasmin Ahmad.
Last but not least, MMOF’s very own finalists, Ahmad Shah and Adam Haiqal, Young Adults Finalists Team in the first season of the festival. Listen to the stories of these two budding filmmakers and their journey creating the finalist film ‘The Unwritten Path’, a short film depicting the struggles of a boy with social anxiety coming to terms with his mental health.
In this webinar, we discussed the process of creating these films and discovered how the filmmaking experience helped both industry professionals and novice filmmakers develop their mental health knowledge along the way!
MMOF 2020-21 Screening & Awards Ceremony
The Online Premiere You Have Been Waiting For
Presenting the finale of the first My Mind On Film youth mental health short film festival! MMOF received dozens of submissions from Malaysian filmmakers and more than twenty have been selected for the festival.
During the Screening & Awards Ceremony, we were joined by our esteemed guest jurors:
HRH Tengku Puteri Raja Tengku Puteri Iman Afzan Al-Sultan Abdullah, International Patron of World Mental Health Day 2020
Dato Dr Andrew Mohanraj, President of Malaysian Mental Health Association and World Federation for Mental Health Board Member
Edward Lim - GRIM Film Producer
Ming Han (aka ‘The Ming Thing’) - Malaysian YouTuber, Writer & Director Core Studios
Highlights of the ceremony include:
Screening of honourable mention and finalists’ films
Interview with Festival filmmakers
Announcement of the winners and presentation of awards
Check out this Borak Minda podcast episode on Mental Health in Film & TV
featuring two of our committee members from My Mind On Film...PAST EVENTS
Pre-Launch Q&A Forums
Webinars
My Wellbeing: How to Identify and Use Your Strengths
The first in a series of festival webinars, My Wellbeing: How to identify and Use Your Strengths, was held on Tuesday evening and attended by over 100 people. During the lively session Dato’ Emeritus Professor Mazlan Othman (Founding Director of the Malaysian National Space Agency), Jeremy Tan (lead on mental health initiative Heads Up!), and Melisha Lin (‘You Are Not Alone’ Ambassador for South East Asia) joined HELP University Associate Professor Dr Eugene Tee to discuss how their experiences and strengths fit into the scientific framework of positive psychology.
Our amazing guests talk about their experiences, successes, and how their unique strengths helped them along the way.
We also share ideas about how strengths can help us through difficult times, how to nurture them, and how they can be beneficial to our mental health and wellbeing.
Creativity, social intelligence, humility, perseverance, leadership, and forgiveness are just some of the unique character strengths. What do you think yours are?
Knowing, and using your character strengths increases feelings of authenticity, allowing you to express yourself in ways that benefit you and the people around you.
My Mental Health: How To Take Care Of It
The second in a series of festival webinars, My Mental Health: How To Take Care of It, was attended by over 80 people from all over the world – pretty amazing for a Saturday morning Kuala Lumpur time! Malaysian Mental Health Association Clinical Psychologist Tamar Chang hosted the session with guests bringing diverse perspectives on how we define and experience mental health individually, as well as a society, and how that might shape what we can do to make it better.
Prof. Dato’ Dr Andrew Mohanraj, president of the Malaysian Mental Health Association and Board Member of the World Federation for Mental Health will share insights from the local and global perspectives.
Datuk Munirah Abdul Hamid, President of Pertubuhan Tindakan Wanita Islam Malaysia (PERTIWI), has combined a dual career of entrepreneurship and social work for almost five decades. Datuk Munirah will share her experience and passion for engagement with the homeless and urban poor, including those struggling to cope with mental illness.
Salahaddin Pordel, a psychology student at HELP University, is committed to normalising and mainstreaming our conversations around mental health. Talking about his role as a My Mind On Film festival committee member he says: “To be a part of something that helps bring mental to individuals’ dining tables, to their casual everyday talk with a mate, to their here and now feelings and thoughts… leaves me with but the most heartfelt gratitude! Because that’s where mental health belongs, within the individual and among the people, not in universities or in lecture halls.”
My People: Our Friends, Family and Society
For the third of our My Mind On Film festival webinars, we were honoured to welcome Her Royal Highness Tengku Puteri Raja Tengku Puteri Iman Afzan Al-Sultan Abdullah, International Patron of World Mental Health Day 2020. YAM Tengku Puteri is also one of the MMOF festival jurors and you can read a little more about that here.
Our very own Dato Dr Andrew Mohanraj, President of Malayian Mental Health Association and World Federation for Mental Health Board Member was co-host for the discussion which covered the many ways in which our relationships and communities are intertwined with our mental health.
The session built on the themes of relationships, social connection, concern for and from loved ones, and community that emerged clearly during webinars one and two (‘My Wellbeing’ and ‘My Mental Health’, available on our channel or along with other events on our website here). Our esteemed guests brought their expertise, energy, and experience from our own communities as well as those in other parts of the world.
Dato’ Bindi Rajasegaran has been a Rotarian for over two decades and is currently Rotary District Governor Elect. She is the managing partner and administrator of Raja Segaran Consultants, a leading industrial relations and human resource management advisory practice. Dato’ Bindi is also a driving force in the coordination of the National Coalition for Mental Health Initiatives to improve understanding and resources at a societal level.
Dr Khor Swee Kheng is a Malaysian physician with international experience in public, private, non-profit, academic and think-tank sectors across 90 countries. Currently, he specialises in health policies and global health, holding visiting fellowships at the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH) and ISIS Malaysia. He holds postgraduate degrees in internal medicine (Royal College of Physicians), public health (Berkeley) and public policy (Oxford).
Darren Leong was born and raised in Ipoh and is currently a second-year university undergraduate studying economics at UCL (University College London). He is also a committee member of the UK Malaysian Student Film Festival which is the 2020/21 (pandemic contingency!) replacement for the UK-wide ‘Malaysia Night’ that annually brings together thousands of students to celebrate Malaysian traditional culture. We are indeed stronger together, and MSFF is collaborating with MMOF to bring together experiences and ideas around mental health. Darren is keen to contribute to the awareness revolving around this.
Filmmaking Workshops
How to Shoot (My Mind On Film Filmmaking Workshop One)
In our first filmmaking workshop, we were joined by Harn Teh, a product specialist from SONY Malaysia. He discussed the basic set-up and camera settings on Sony cameras to start off the filmmaking journey.
How to Edit (My Mind On Film Filmmaking Workshop Two)
In our second filmmaking workshop, we were joined by Shaiful Baker, a camera product specialist from SONY Malaysia who shared some of his editing tips using Davinci Resolve. He covered the basics of using this free software from how to upload, how to snip to sound alignment, adding titles and subtitles, ending with a quick introduction to colour grading.
Producing A Low Budget Short Film 101
For our third filmmaking workshop in collaboration with the Malaysian Student Film Festival (MSFF), we invited one of our judges from My Mind On Film festival, Edward Lim, to introduce the basics of producing a low budget short film.
Edward started off by focusing on the differences between short films with a low budget vs a high budget production with examples from his previous work (links to the films below).
The session continues on with Edward giving some useful tips on producing a good short film alongside a step-by-step guide to filmmaking all while keeping your budget in mind. We end with an interactive session where Edward reviewed and gave helpful pointers for all submitted log lines* from participants.
This practical workshop was capped off along a Q&A session, answering all questions that were submitted prior by attendees.
*Log line: A one-sentence summary or description of a film production whereby it consists of important elements of your script—characters, setup, central conflict, antagonist—into a clear, concise teaser.
Short films mentioned:
LOW BUDGET
HIGH BUDGET
