Hanoi, August 25 – Panasonic Vietnam has held the awarding ceremony for the Kid Witness News 2023 program with participation of more than 200 students, parents, and teachers. There were 16 films made by young filmmaking teams honored in the ceremony, 06 of which were awarded as Top prizes. Two winning teams will participate in the online Kid Witness News Global Summit, to compete with top young filmmakers around the world at the end of this year.

Kid Witness News (KWN) is a totally free filmmaking program initiated globally by Panasonic for students from the age of 10 to 18; and it has become one of the most awaited annual activities in the summer by students, after 16 years being conducted in Vietnam.

This year, 16 films were produced by more than 80 young filmmakers whose most impressive scripts had been selected through hundreds of applications from children, not only from Hanoi but from many other provinces and cities nationwide. The program had extended its reaches to more local schools and students, as taking KWN as a scope under the framework Panasonic Sustainable Schools program, which is an CSR initiative of Panasonic Vietnam for the next generation towards realizing the vision of Wellness and Sustainability for society.

Young filmmaking teams had learned from famous Vietnamese directors and actors, from the initial step to final artwork, including writing scripts, acting, filming with Panasonic’s professional equipment to post-production. Additionally, they participated in outdoor activities and field trips that helped to improve their soft skills in communication, problem solving, and learn from observing.

Specially, KWN 2023 has been honorably selected as one of the official activities and programs designed to celebrate the historic 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam. On this significant milestone, besides the main activities of the filming course, KWN students have been offered a fresh culture exchanging opportunity to understand more about Japanese culture.

Mr. Oka Hiroyuki, Director of Panasonic Vietnam delivered the speech to open the Award Ceremony

Mr. Oka Hiroyuki, Director of Panasonic Vietnam shared: “We would like to bring KWN to more students in Vietnam, that’s why we carry out it as a part Panasonic Sustainable school. I was truly impressed by the way they tell their stories with deep care about environment, families, friends, and various matters. Throughout the film making journey, we hope the next generation can develop a deeper understanding of what matters the most to them and society; and they will be inspired to take initiatives for a better future”.

During the journey of Kid Witness News 2023, beside participating in film-making course, 16 young film-making teams had been offered opportunities to learn, experience and meet-up with exciting experts to gain more knowledge and inspiration in creativity, including:

- Enjoyed together the “Children of the Mist” movie and listened to the inspirational sharing from director Ha Le Diem on how a young Vietnamese filmmaker could make excellent and International-recognized movie
- Practice acting skills through many exciting interactive games in a memorable session with famous Japanese director, Tsuyoshi Sugiyama
- Visited the production studio of Vietnam National Television (VTV) to observe the importance of effective teamwork at professional studio

Furthermore, the cultural exchange event, conducted under the collaboration between Panasonic and Japan Foundation (JPF), where they had learned and experienced the culture of “Land of the rising sun” through interesting activities including Shodo – Japanese calligraphy, and the traditional game named Kendama.

The program has brought interesting and memorable journey to many students

Particularly, the film entitled “Mirror” of the team “The Flammable” from Pascal secondary school has been honored with first prize in the 13- to 18-year-old category. It is a story about family violence suffered by a kid, but he decided not to make the same mistake as his father when he became a man of family.

Meanwhile, the first prize for 10- to 12-year-old students belong to the film “The silence life of Goldy” made by “Strange Ohio” team, talking about how a quiet schoolgirl just starting secondary level and overcoming her anxiety to get more sociable with brand new friends at school. 

The winning teams will participate in the online KWN Global Summit

"Know how to use professional cameras and learn acting are the most memorable experiences for me in this summer. Moreover, we learn how to utilize teamwork skills to solve the challenges together with my teammates." shared Pho Duc Nam Duong, student at Vietnam Australia Inter-school Hanoi.

The young film maker shared about the interesting experience when participating in the program

The films were scored by high reputation jury board of famous Vietnamese and Japanese directors, to select the best films to honor at the award ceremony.

People’s Artist Lan Huong (Bông), a member of the jury board shared: "Through all the films made by students, I highly appreciate the fact that children today speak up their perspective on many social issues with sincere and emotional expressions through lens of cinematic. With these initial experiences learned by participating in this program, I hope to see the future generation of talented filmmakers, directors, actors ... "

Famous Actress Lan Huong - member of the jury, was really impressed by the way children told their stories

The two winning teams will be offered the opportunity to exchange their movies with other teams around the world by participating at the KWN Global Summit online event this October.

Overview of the award ceremony

About KWN:

First held in the US since 1989, the KWN program has been implemented by Panasonic Corporation organizing for students aged from 10-18 years old and is completely free of charge worldwide. In Vietnam, after 15 successful seasons, the KWN program has recorded many impressive numbers: more than 3000 students participated with nearly 150 videos were produced, 14 times the top films were sent to attend the KWN Global summit.

Starting from 2022, KWN is carried out as a part of “Panasonic for Sustainable Schools” program which includes: STEM and STEAM Education, Environmental class, and the KWN Filmmaking Program. The "Panasonic for Sustainable Schools" is the evolution and inheritance of Panasonic Risupia Center Vietnam, with the new direction and approach, by shifting from Facility-base to Online and On-site base activities.