DUBAI: Video-sharing social media company TikTok has announced a film-making competition called #FilmonTikTok for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, in collaboration with MBC Group’s educational and training arm, MBC Academy.
TikTok has held similar competitions in the past – such as “The Real Short Award” in Los Angeles – but this is its first competition for the MENA region.
“We’re excited to start off the new year with a film-making competition that really digs deep into creativity, enabling our growing pool of users in the MENA region to showcase their production and acting talent,” said Rami Zeidan, Head of Video and Creative at TikTok MENA. “We’ve all been through an uncertain year and, with the majority of filming events being canceled or postponed, the #FilmonTikTok competition will bring the industry together to celebrate the region’s most authentic, unique and creative content.”
Anyone with a TikTok account can participate by producing one or more 60-second original short films and publishing them on the app with the hashtags #FilmOnTikTok and #MBCAcademyME.
The films will be judged across three categories: best film, best actor and best cinematography, with 10 users being shortlisted by content creators from the Tiktok’s Creators Academy. Participants will be shortlisted based on the originality, creativity and high-quality production of their work.
MBC Academy will then choose one winner in each category, which will be announced during a live event hosted on the @MBCacademyME TikTok page. The three winners will get the opportunity to train on an MBC upcoming production that will be later featured on all MBC platforms.
“We are excited about partnering with Tiktok in this competition. We believe there are amazing talents that have taken Tiktok as a platform to showcase their skills. Our job is to offer them also a platform to take their abilities to the next level and in stories they can tell across the group and beyond,” said Jana Yamani, Executive Director of MBC Academy and MBC Talent. “Yes, we have three winners for sure, but if we see other impressive shorts, we might end up seeing many participants in the competition in future MBC projects as trainees or talents.”
In addition to the competition, TikTok is hosting a series of live sessions with experts from the film industry. These sessions will cover topics such as tips on placing music within a film, how to shoot cinematic shots through the phone, and five main elements to create a good short film. The full schedule of sessions can be found here.
