Nas Daily will be back in town for Singapore Media Festival in December
Social media star Nas Daily will be returning to Singapore to speak at the Singapore Media Festival (SMF) Ignite conference and exhibition from 4 to 7 December.
The Facebook vlogger, whose real name is Nuseir Yassin, first visited the country in August to produce a series of his massively popular one-minute videos. However, the 26-year-old Israeli-Palestinian has had to deny online accusations that he was getting paid by corporations or the Singapore Tourism Board to help promote Singapore to the world with his videos.
Nas will be speaking on topics including building digital audiences, digital storytelling for online platforms, and how audience response has shaped his content. He will also select three Singapore content creators to be mentored and produce their own one-minute videos.
His appearance is one of the highlights of the festival, which runs from 28 November to 9 December, and celebrates the best in Asian storytelling. Hosted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority, the SMF consists of the inaugural Asian Academy Creative Awards, the Asia TV Forum and Market, ScreenSingapore, the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) and SMF Ignite.
Another highlight is the free screenings of three popular Singapore films from 1998: The Teenage Textbook Movie, Forever Fever and Money No Enough. These films have been restored by the Asian Film Archive with the support of the Singapore Film Commission (SFC).
The screenings will take place from 1 to 3 November at The Cathay Cineplex, and from 9 to 10 November at The Gallery Theatre at National Museum of Singapore, and will be accompanied with talks featuring reunions with the films’ cast and crew.
In conjunction with the SFC’s 20th Anniversary, a documentary commemorating the evolution and milestones of Singapore’s cinema will premiere at SGIFF on 1 December at the National Museum of Singapore. The free screening will be accompanied by a panel discussion with filmmakers Eric Khoo, Kirsten Tan, Sanif Olek and SFC director Joachim Ng.
The public can also enjoy Singapore films such as Kallang Roar The Movie, Ilo Ilo, 7 Letters and Wonder Boy on Mediacorp Channel 5, as part of SFC’s anniversary celebrations.
Also, award-winning local filmmaker Yeo Siew Hua’s film, A Land Imagined, has been selected to compete at the SGIFF’s Silver Screen Awards in the Asian Feature Film Competition category. This follows the film’s top prize win at the Locarno Film Festival and Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival.
The Philippines is the SMF’s Country-of-Focus this year, as it celebrates 100 years of Philippine cinema. The SGIFF will feature a strong line-up of Philippine films such as The Ashes and Ghosts of Tayug 1931 by Christopher Gozum, Season of the Devil by Lav Diaz and Shireen Seno’s Nervous Translation, which won the Rotterdam 2018 NETPAC award for best Asian film.
Robert Gilby, Chairman of the SMF Advisory Board, said, “Asian stories and storytellers matter to the world. There has never been a better time for Asian stories and talent to shine bright on the global stage.”
For more details of the Singapore Media Festival, visit www.sgmediafestival.com.
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Nas Daily denies getting paid to shoot positive videos about Singapore
