Congratulations to two students from Film major, School of Digital Media and Cinematic Arts, who received the Short Film Shortcut Award at the Isan Creative Festival 2024. This festival reflects the abilities, creativity, and inspiration for young people who dream of creating valuable films that reflect society. This is considered an important small step for the new generation of youth.

Knot Pakasit  Sodsri won the Best Isan Short Film Award for his work "Drought-WATSAKAN", which presents the story of a community in Yasothon province facing drought and local beliefs. This short film not only reflects environmental issues but also presents the way of life and beliefs of Isan people.

This short film tells the story of a village headman who is disappointed by the lack of government assistance in dealing with the drought problem. He organizes a merit-making ceremony with a bung fai (fire balloon) ritual to ask for rain from the Phaya Ther spirit.

"This short film is a project that talks about environmental issues and matches the concept of the Isan Creative Festival, reflecting the stories of Isan people in terms of traditional beliefs in asking for rain. It conveys how Isan people solve problems when facing long-term drought conditions."

Ping Koraphat  Cheeradit won the Best National Short Film Screenplay Award for his work "Landscape Of Us On Fire", which questions status and roles in society through completely different characters.

"The short film 'Landscape Of Us On Fire' that I submitted for the contest was a Final Project in the Cinematography course, a class about film production. The film questions society about status or roles in society. There are two main characters: a novice monk and a prostitute. Most people in society stereotype the status of these people in the same direction, that they must do this, must be like this. By bringing the stories of these two people together, it reflects on social roles."

"Before starting to make the film, I chose to pick up issues that I was interested in or feeling passionate about, then reinterpret that story. I tried to reduce my own perspective and open my mind to use the perspective of humanity, reflecting another aspect of the true meaning of status and roles."

Both of them talked about the importance of teamwork. Not said, "Of course, making a film cannot be done by one person alone. We had the opportunity to work with friends with various abilities. Some we had worked with before and got to work with again, seeing how they have developed themselves. This includes ourselves, who must develop to be better as well." Ping continued, "I learned the skills of teamwork, learned how to communicate with friends in the team so that our work can proceed smoothly. And importantly, I learned problem-solving skills on the spot."

The Isan Creative Festival is a platform that promotes the use of creativity to develop distinctive and interesting products and services in the Isan region under the concept of "Sa-on-de" Proud of ISAN, mixing Isan, building upon, and growing. It is a collaboration between CEA Khon Kaen, creative entrepreneurs, creative networks, government sector, private sector, and civil society.