Ncell Short Film Competition 2023 Award winners felicitated

Kathmandu, November 28.Ncell Axiata Limited felicitated the winners of the Ncell Short Film Competition that was recently held before Tihar. Winners of this competition organised under the theme ‘Bhai Tika’ were awarded with the prize on Tuesday amidst a special function held at Ncell ICON, Lainchaur.

A film by 18-year-old Sajil Basnet and Team won First Prize of Rs. 100,000 in this competition. Santosh Shakya and Team bagged cash prize of Rs. 75,000 as the First Runner-up, while 16-year-old Prayatna Thapa and Team won cash prize of Rs. 50,000 securing position of Second Runner-up. The films presented were diverse with engaging content that participants brought to life through their unique storytelling and personal stories. Special Mention prize was conferred to Manoj Bhele and Awenis Thapa, while Prakash Nagari and Team won a prize for being ranked among the Top 5. Ncell Short Film Competition provides filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their work and talent to a wider audience to gain invaluable exposure.

Addressing the award handover ceremony, Jabbor Kayumov, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of Ncell shared his excitement and said, “Congratulations to the winners! We thank every individual for taking part in our Short Film Competition, illuminating special bonding between a brother and sister with the theme ‘Here for You’. For every single of you who have got the recognition, I hope you can use this well. I believe storytelling is an important skill to have and can move hearts and minds as we address the social, environmental, and cultural issues.”

Furthermore, Umair Mohsin, Chief Commercial Officer added, “Ncell as a brand, what we stand for is a bigger responsibility to ensure that we support local creative talents.  We are playing a small part, but we are glad to provide space and platform to local emerging creators to do bigger and better in times to come for Nepal.”

This open to all individual and team short film competition was organised to celebrate special bonds through films and was aimed to creating local contents and help local talents grow in their field so they can become a better content creator.  “Thank you Ncell for a wonderful opportunity to youngsters like us. We are very happy to win the first prize in this Ncell organized Short Film Festival. These kinds of platforms motivate film makers like us to showcase their talent and get recognised, irrespective of background,” said Sajil Basnet.

The prize handover ceremony was attended by jury members of the Short Film Competition—Asif Shah (Director/Actor/Producer) and Sahana Bajracharya (Multimedia storyteller, Founding Producer of On the Record Nepal). The winners of the Short Film Competition were announced on Bhai Tika on November 15 and on the same day, the best short films showcasing strong emotional bonding were made public through Ncell’s social media platforms. The judges shared their excitement and said that there is overwhelming response and great creativity in our country. All of you are winners for us.

In this short film competition, participants were required to showcase their storytelling and filmmaking talent by crafting a captivating 3-5 minute short film, beautifully capturing the heartwarming bond between a brother and sister. Participants were asked to submit films with a storyline around ‘Hami Tapaikai Lagi’ (Here for You), infusing one or more elements from Ncell’s surprise campaign, recharge, or data & voice pack usage.