SEOUL — Vietnamese filmmaker Cao Thị Hương won the Grand Prix award of the ASEAN-Korea Youth Short Film Festival with her work Hallo World  on Saturday.

The ceremony for the competition and the 2018 ASEAN-Korea Academic Essay Contest, both launched by the ASEAN-Korea Centre, was held at the Seoul Global Culture Centre, South Korea.

“Recognising the importance of the future leaders of ASEAN-Korea relations, the ASEAN-Korea Centre has been carrying out diverse youth exchange programmes,” said Lee Hyuk, Secretary General of the ASEAN-Korea Centre.

“Both the ‘ASEAN-Korea Youth Short Film Festival’ and the ‘ASEAN-Korea Academic Contest’ have been successful youth exchange programmes, gaining attention from both ASEAN and Korea. I hope that the two events will provide a meaningful platform for the young generations of ASEAN and Korea to share their perspectives and insights to make a bright future together,” said Lee.

The two events, which are held annually, attracted 116 films and 169 essay entries from ASEAN youths this year.

The Grand Prix award went to Hallo World (Việt Nam), Golden Film Award for The Paper Plane (Indonesia), Silver Film Award for Feast (the Philippines), Bronze Film Awards for Swing-Duyan (the Philippines) and Voter (South Korea).

Grand Prix and Gold Film award winners get a travel prize to Korea. Other winners were granted US$1,000 (Silver Film) and $700 (two Bronze Films). In addition to the winning entries, Bad Genius, the hit Thai crime film inspired by real-life news, was also shown at the festival.

Ten winners from ASEAN countries and five winners from South Korea were also named in the event.

The winners will have the chance to present their own works and exchange their perspectives with researchers and students at the Youth Academic Workshop, held at Seoul National University.

They will also visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea and various historical and cultural sites. Korean winners won trips to Thailand in January next year to visit research institutions, governments and historical sites. Among the 15 winners, nine selected papers have been printed in a booklet titled, Young Perspectives: The Future of ASEAN-Korea Partnership Vol.3.— VNS