During the Q&A sessions with the producers and directors of the short films at The Times Cineplex @ The Empire

As most of you know, I’m a movie buff. This is also the period where I caught many movies but sadly summer movies will be over. The last local film festival I caught was back in 2014 which was the UBD Film Festival.

The UBD TV Short Film Festival is organised by @ubdtv with the Creative Core BN and this is not part of an assignment project of UBD. This is an independent event in help to spur the young talents we have and showcase their capabilities that there is hope in the creative and especially the film industry.

Thank you to the organisers for the invite during the press screening last Wednesday. Present at the screening were the event sponsors, speakers of the Short Film Making Workshop, and casts and producers of the films: Horizon, If Only, Masa, Aku Ada Cerita, The Hero, Selamat Malam, and Al­-Fatihah. The director of the films are Muhd Aznniel Hj Yunus from Nostrils Production, Hakim Salleh from Lensa Muslim, Amirul Jazli from Visionary Production, Hj Yusrizam Hj Abd Tahir from AE Cinema, as well as UBD students, Siti Nurhaziqah Omar, Muhd Zulfadli Mohd Husini and Chung Ming Ru @ Leon. Also in attendance were representatives from Regal Blue Production and Visual Dimensions Production.

Del Goh moderating the panel of producers of the short films

Harlif of Regal Blue Production aspires the young producers to carry on their journey in this industry. Good one, buddy!!

The supporters and sponsors of the event

After the press screening, there was a moderation session for the producers which was moderated by Del Goh, a movie enthusiast just like myself 😀 The producers/directors shared their passion in creating short films and most of the crew and actors are volunteers. One shared that they made use of DSLR cameras to shoot their projects.

Around 3 short films had a similar theme which was horror. I’m quite amazed with their creativity and I’m pretty sure there are plenty more to come from the young talents. The short films were just great teasers and I do agree with Harlif Hj Mohammad of Regal Blue Production as to what will happen next? Will they just stop there? or pursue more into producing more films as he was quite impressed with the outcome of the short films. I do hope such feedback will ignite the passion of the producers but it’s never easy to create a short film, let alone a featured film.

UBD TV Short Films Festival is set to debut to the public this weekend, from 27th till 29th August at The Core Residential College, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) so I do suggest for you to support these films.

The tickets costs BND 5 and you can reserve your seats here. Do follow their official IG @UBDTVSFF or contact Firdaus Ismail for details at 836 5070.

Interview on Visionary Project

Interview on AE Cinema BN

I can see you, Fecks (and also Pranika) :p

The ladies behind the UBD TV Short Film Festival. Congratulations on making this a success. We want more!!

The group photo with all the cast and crew involved in the UBD TV Short Film Festival. Click image to enlarge.

 

The Good, The So-So and The Bad. Ah, Jakarta.. It has been more than 10 years since my last visit to the city. I remember my last trip was with regards to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf trip, meeting potential franchisors in the region. I didn’t have much sentimental value back then but that changed over the course of the weekend during our toastmasters trip to attend the Jakarta Conference 2016.

I’m already feeling the pressure as I have volunteered myself to be responsible in running the Brunei Conference 2016 coming October. Then again, I have a reliable set of team in Brunei and it will also test my leadership skills in managing the event and striking the right chords with my team too.

Kashish Ajit Harjani (3rd from left) won the the Table Topics District Contest in Jakarta last weekend

Denish Vaswani (3rd from left)

Reuben Chin interviewing Pranika Lama

The contestants from the tables topic contest

With Allen, Fen and Pamela during Welcoming Dinner

So the Good… Well, I like the setting of the toastmasters conference. The venue was spot on for the toastmasters delegate and spacious as well (to a certain extent.. explain later). I can learn some pointers for the banner/backdrop that was used during the conference. The hotel we stayed at Santika Hayam Wuruk was pretty cool though the rooms were slightly small and it was about BND 650 for five nights.

The best part of the conference was the re-connecting with old faces and breaking the ice with new ones. Despite the minor friction from different divisions in our District, I made acquaintance with a few toastmasters members from Medan, Jakarta and Kuching. I learnt that I am able to get out of the comfort zone (as in being with my team members) and meet other members outside the Brunei contingent. That’s one way of expanding your horizons instead of imploding. This I have to take note for future conferences.

My final say of the juicy part of the conference was the actual speech contest, notably the International Speech category. Of course, we were all in Jakarta to support our Division champion Pranika Lama, a UBD Toastmasters member, and it was her first time reaching this level. I had faith in her speech because of her pure dedication and commitment to bring the best out of her.

To my surprise, the other contestants were equally good or better. They have just raised the bar for District 87 and sometimes it does pay when you have experience under your belt in this level. Dinesh Vaswani and Rebecca were no strangers and they had a 1-2 finish respectively and well-deserved too. As for Pranika, I truly grateful to witness you just being on stage and delivered a masterful delivery and many would be inspired to be a better speaker like you.

Now the so-so. It was cool know the fact that even a turnover of Chairmanship happened three times, things doesn’t necessarily will run smoothly. It means more transference and hand-over deals that could have been avoided before the actual conference. The Annual Conference is the second biggest after the World Conference and we could see teething problems along the way which I hope the organizing committee will bring it up during their post mortem.

Our rooms weren’t handled to a delicate manner and there were a few miscommunication with the logistic person and the front office of the hotel. It took me an hour to settle my room situation upon arrival.

Another teething problem was the actual contest. Yes, I did praise about the good quality speeches but behind the scenes, it was a total mess. There were no specific Organizing Chair for the contest. Nico from Medan was their standby emcee. Even the organizing chairperson asked me halfway during the contest if I could interview the contestants (But we all know that’s the task of the Contest Chair who happened to be Reuben and Pamela).

Among all these setbacks during the contest, I have to applaud Reuben Chin for lifting the energy of the audience when there was an unexpected delay before the prize presentation due to contestants’ protests on some matters. He was purely magical and charismatic in carrying the flow for at least 20 minutes to buy time for the Chief Judge to decide.

Like I said, just some teething problems that could have been avoided with proper communications. Something that we can’t take for granted.

Peter Voon from Bintulu and Gerald Goh

Yay, our area got awarded from Toastmasters International

Area K6, one of the strongest group in Division K, District 87

Now the Bad. Honestly, as a member of our toastmasters District 87, I was hoping for a better leadership from the District. The “Reaching Up, Reaching Out” but it didn’t reach the heights that was quite ambitious by our District Director. Perhaps the lowest point was when the District Director avoided a legit question by our Area K6 Director Allen Ang who raised concerns on the financial aspect of the District 87. A similar question was raised back in October 2015 in Bali but it was brushed off. This time, the District Director and the Finance Manager were put in the spotlight for a few minutes but their replies were fruitless and inconclusive. I felt embarrassed as a member that our leaders are not capable to answer a straight forward question and just be accountable for their actions. I hope the next term will turn things around with the newly elect Ivy Lau as the Division Director 2016-2017.

Another note, I wasn’t impressed with the Gala Dinner. We started quite early and we always know how draggy the Gala Dinner will be because of the award session. This is the time where toastmaster members and clubs will be recognized for their achievements and milestones. This is the time where delegates will sacrifice their personal time and fly to Jakarta at their own expense to receive their award.

However, it didn’t go as planned. The entertainment took bulk of the session over dinner where the awards should have given much importance. In the end, the award ceremony only started after 10pm which is pretty late and the overall experience seemed so rushed. It was probably the fastest award ceremony I’ve experienced as a delegate and it felt it was given less importance. Something for the organizers to look back and analyze on this event. The entertainment was already great on the Welcoming Dinner but to have on both nights, you will need to strike a balance on the Gala Dinner.

Brunei Speakers’ Club were awarded with two accolades

One of the energetic speakers at the Jakarta Conference. Cheeky too.

Our District leaders for Brunei, Indonesia, KK, Kuching and Labuan

During the District Council Meeting last Friday

Allen Ang raised a few valid points that still remains unanswered from District

The panels of District 87 leaders

The flag bearers for the opening ceremony

Some night activities during Welcome Dinner

There are many others that I want to highlight but I shall leave that offline. Overall, I had a splendid time because of the people around that I connected and reconnected with. Thank you, once again, to the organizers but don’t take my feedback personally but as a learning lesson.

Having said all these, it might backfire since I am the next organizing chair. I’m not raising any expectations for my conference either but at least, we as a team want to make everything run as smooth and make the delegates especially the international ones feel like home. That time will come and we will be ready to host all of you.

With the beautiful Pranika

Dinesh one of the most experienced public speaker. He will fly to Washington to compete in the World Conference this August. Good luck 😀

One of the table topics speaker

I was pitching for the delegates to come over to Brunie

Team KK are well ahead as they have secured 100 paying registrants for their convention next year

 

Gerald Goh (Contest Chair aka emcee), Rahul Breh (Organizing Chair of Area K6 Contest), Pranika Lama (1st place Evaluation, 2nd place Humourous), Rozana Yunos (1st place Humourous, 2nd place Evaluation), Farhan Jaafar Ali (3rd place Evaluation), Supatra Lee (3rd place Humourous) and Allen Ang (Area Director, in charge of Brunei Toastmasters) during the prize presentation of the Area K6 Humourous Speech and Speech Evaluation Contest at OGDC yesterday

Whooaa!! After a few years of hiatus, Rozana Yunos showed she ain’t rusty after dominating the Area K6 Toastmasters Humourous Speech and Evaluation Speech Contest held at the Oil and Discovery Centre (OGDC) yesterday. She’s no stranger to the Toastmasters scene as captured the hearts of other members of Brunei toastmasters where she came runner-up twice in District Level for Speech Evaluation Contest.

Yes, the terminology might be confusing for many as what do you mean by District Level. Ok, let me explain briefly in a simplified manner. Brunei Toastmasters is under Area K6 and we are privileged to have four clubs in Brunei – 1) Brunei Speakers’ Club 2) Brunei Advanced Speakers’ Club 3) Oil Town Talkers (OTTERS) at Seria 4) UBD Toastmasters Club. So the winners of the contest will proceed to Division Level (Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak) and then the winner will proceed to District Level (Brunei, Sabah, Sarawak, Indonesia).

Ironically, Rozana will be contesting in the Humourous Speech contest in Division Level (early October in KK). The 1st Runner-up of the Brunei Area K6 went to Pranika Lama and 2nd Runner-up went to Supatra Lee. This is for the Humourous Speech Contest.

Rozana holding Challenge Trophy endorsed by Stuart Lee (District Champion 2013 in Humourous)

Rozana and Pranika will be representing Brunei in early October 😀

The role players yesterday with their poses

A special day for the audience. A double shot indeed. Thanks JK.

The colourful feather duster is so eye catchy. Nice speech, Elaine 😀

As for the Speech Evaluation Contest, it was a reverse of the other contest as Pranika Lama bagged first place and Rozana settled for second place. The youngest competitor Farhan Jaafar Ali came third. The test speaker for the day was Chan Seng Yee.

The contest was full of laughters especially during the Humourous Speech contest. Rozana stole the headline when she teased the audience with her speech title “The F.. Word” and set the bench mark for the rest of the speakers. Totally fun and yes, she is very animated as well. A well-deserved winner.

My personal favourite will be Pranika’s speech about her journey as a Nepalese living in Brunei. I am amazed with her fluidity as a speaker. She is a very composed speaker and her delivery especially with her pacing is something to be amazed about.

In other matters, the confessions (in their speeches) between our two toastmasters members (no names to be mentioned hehe) ruled the Club Contest two weeks ago. However, their similar repeated performance yesterday couldn’t earned enough points from the judges. But at least, we learnt some new information between the two 😀

I was also contesting for both categories but I entered with a different mentality – to enjoy and have fun. Yes, I was sharing my “crying episodes” and my love for my mom. The best thing out of this contest that I love is the growth of the speakers especially the newbies (Sandy, Phillip, Jidun, Aziman, Rahul, the Liyanas, Saiful, Val, Dalton, Hilman and many more).

So I will be heading to KK sometime next month to support our toastmasters members Rozana Yunos (Humourous) and Pranika Lama (Evaluation). Let’s hope for the best of our Brunei toastmasters representatives.

Jati Transport treated more than 90 of their employees together with their families to the Durian Festival held at Bintudoh Greenspring Resort in Kg Lamunin recently. Yes, it’s the Durian season and I ain’t a big fan 😀

The outing event was organised through Jati Social Club with the initiative to support the local farmers as well as to encourange social activities among colleagues outside the work place. Looks like they had a very fruitful time indeed.