A short documentary by filmmaker Raymond Delon Poh is making its mark on film festivals around the world.
Contributed By Yong Yung Shin
Singaporean filmmaker Raymond Delon Poh chalked up yet another win for his documentary Haiti Earthquake 2010, which was awarded “Best Documentary Short” at the recent Los Angeles Film and Script Festival 2011. The documentary will be screened at The Promenade Playhouse in Santa Monica, California on April 23.
The four-minute documentary captures the horrifying aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the already impoverished nation in January 2010. “I used footage to tell the story instead of voiceovers, to let viewers glean their own emotions from what they see,” explains Poh.
Pitted against international directors such as Angela Hinton, Alice Elizabeth Hunter and Simon Quiroz, Poh didn’t think he stood much of a chance. Besides, the documentary had already won another award, the “Best Documentary Short” at the Metropolitan Film Festival 2010 in December last year. “I was shocked; I expected at most an ‘Honorable Mention’ because the odds of a piece of work winning twice in the same country are slim,” he said. A representative from the LAFSF commented, “Raymond Delon Poh did a remarkable job directing the vivid and highly informative documentary Haiti Earthquake 2011.”
Haiti Earthquake 2010 also scooped up “Best Documentary Short” and “Best Director” at the American International Film Festival 2010. The documentary is also an official selection for the 7th International Short Film Festival Detmold 2011 in Germany as well as the WorldKids International Film Festival 2011 in India, where it will be used for educational purposes.
His most recent works include two short films, Everyone Has A Christmas Dream (shot in New York City) and Sweet Secret (shot in Hong Kong), which have been submitted to various film festivals for selection. “I’m hoping to see more results coming in over the next few months,” says Poh. He will be producing more narrative short films in the later part of the year; the films will ultimately be compiled into a DVD collection series.
Log on to http://rdp.sg/film/haiti/ to watch “Haiti Earthquake 2010”.
