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HONG KONG, 18 November 2012 —In celeation of Universal Children’s Day on 20 November, Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF HK) organised the“Believe In Zero, Make A Video” Competition to mobilise young people to create videos about children’s right to survival. The two winning videos focus on local child survival challenges. Zero Violence, the champion of Open Category reveals the common yet hidden problem in many Hong Kong families– domestic violence, while the one of Secondary School Category, The Angel, highlights the inequality of local policy towards children’s protection. Mr Poon Hang-sang, the winner of Best Cinematography in the Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) and Ms Heiward Mak Hei Yan, a famous young director who won the Best Screenplay in the HKFA attended to support the event by sharing their views on child-related issues with around 400 audiences.

Universal Children's Day on 20 November marks the day on which the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989. To commemorate this important day of the development of children’s rights, this year, UNICEF HK co-organised the and-new “Believe In Zero, Make A Video” Competition with Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). It received overwhelming response, nearly 60 videos were submitted by secondary students and young people under the age of 24 within just two months.

Today, the award presentation ceremony was held to announce winning videos. For Open Category, Champion goes to Zero Violencefilmed by Wu Tsz-kin, Man Tin-lung, Sung Sin-wai and Chan Wai-yi, which features a student who is fond of watching Superman finally became “superman” himself by stopping a case of domestic violence. The winners conclude by encouraging everyone to be children’s “superman”. Discover．Love, featuring father and his son infected with HIV, won First Runner Up; while The End of the World?, which contrasts children’s suffering every day with the end of the world, was awarded Second Runner Up.

For Secondary School Category, the champion goes to the inspiring video The Angel. Featuring a vigorous youth who becomes a superhero, awardee Ivan Li Wai-ching studying in HKUGA College shows the inequality of local child protection policy. Awarded the first runner up, Duplicated Mission filmed by students from Ma On Shan Tsung Tsin Secondary School conveys the important message of the continuous support towards children, while the second runner up, Hunger in Life filmed by students from Ko Lui School, calls for public attention on children suffering from hunger.

Besides, the “Online Most Popular Video Award” goes to the most-viewed video from the “one view, one vote” public activity. The award of Open Category belongs to The End of the World? , which is also the second runner up of the Category; while The Justice of the Evilfilmed by students studying in Kit Sam Lam Bing Yim Secondary School was given the award of Secondary School Category. These two videos have been widely shared at the internet with over 3,700 views recorded each, helping UNICEF to ing more people’s attention to child survival issues.

The winning videos show not only youth’s creativity, but also their participation to realise children’s rights. During the award presentation ceremony, Ms Leonie Ki, Vice Chairman of UNICEF HK said, “Considering to the advanced technology and the rise of online media, the influence of advocating for children’s rights through a good video might be as strong as organising a large scale promotion event. We hope through the ‘Believe In Zero, Make A Video’ Competition, we could engage more youths and people to care about children’s rights on their own initiative.”

The Competition was supported by local well-known filmmakers. Mr Poon Hang Sang, Lecturer of the Academy of Film, HKBU, outstanding local cinematographer and the three-time winner of Best Cinematography in the HKFA and the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, was the advisor and final judge of the Competition. Also, local young film director Ms Heiward Mak Hei Yan, who won the Best Screenplay in the HKFA, attended the ceremony to show her encouragement to winners as the special award presenter.

Mr Poon said, “Videos from secondary school are more astonishing, although the skills applied may not be comparable to the ones from Open Category. Some of the ideas are very innovative.” He added, “The topics of the entries from Open Category are comparatively conservative. It may be attributable to their livelihood pressure such as buying a flat, pressurised work, life that constraint their creativity–this reflects a social problem nowadays in certain degree.”

To give the public a more holistic picture of challenges that children worldwide are facing, UNICEF HK screened Not My Life, a child trafficking documentary supported by UNICEF. Written, directed and produced by Oscar-nominated director Robert Bilheimer, the documentary genuinely portrays the cruelty of human trafficking and reveals the inhumane and slavery situation victims are facing, through the live footages and interviews of child traffickers and the victims. After the screening, guests, participants and audiences stamped a “Believe in Zero” mark on themselves to support ZERO SUFFERING for children, promising to save children’s lives with UNICEF!

To view the awarded videos, please visit: /makeavideo

Please click here to download the photos in the press release

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