The 2019 ciNE65 short-film competition came to a close today with Senior Minister of State for Defence Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman presenting the awards to the winners at a ceremony held at Joyden Hall, Bugis+. Of the 113 entries, My Homeland: A Photography Project by Grandpa Chen took home the top honours for the ciNE65 Movie Makers Award and the Overall Best Film (Student Category) for its moving story on what makes Singapore our home. Its director, Jastine Tan, a student from Temasek Polytechnic, also clinched a feature film deal with mm2 Entertainment. Temasek Polytechnic also received the Inter-School Challenge Trophy for submitting the highest number of quality entries under the Student Category. 

The Overall Best Film for the Open Category went to $ingapura, which also won Best Screenplay. Winners of the Overall Best Film Award also walked away with an overseas learning trip to the Busan International Film Festival 2019, in addition to cash prizes and Panasonic cameras. After five days of public film screening, Echoes of 1965 was voted Favourite Film for the ciNE65 Festival Audience Choice Awards. 

Organised by Nexus, Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and leading media entertainment company, mm2 Entertainment, the competition carried the theme Singapura. "This year is the Singapore Bicentennial. It is appropriate that ciNE65 contributes to the national effort to look back into our history and reflect on how our nation came to be, how far we have come, and how we can go forward together," said Dr Maliki. Dr Maliki also added that he was happy to see the Bicentennial's themes carried in the films and reminded the filmmakers that "… (they) play an important role in bringing Singapore's story to life and shaping our Singaporean identity."

Director Nexus Colonel Joseph Tan, one of the ciNE65 judges, said, "It is indeed heartening to see a generation of youths, some even as young as secondary school students, come forth to tell Singapore stories of yesteryears. The awards ceremony today is a fitting finale to the ciNE65 season this year, which included our first ciNE65 Festival where a selection of our best films was screened for the public. I hope that Singaporeans have enjoyed watching the heart-warming ciNE65 short films and be inspired to tell their own stories."