Macao film director Maxim Bessmertnyi surpassed the students from 55-plus worldwide film schools to win the Gold Award in the “2015 KODAK Student Scholarship Programme” with his short film The Tricycle Thief, and was presented the award at the UFVA conference at The University of Washington in United States on 8 August 2015 (United States time).
The 2015 KODAK Student Scholarship Programme is an annual global competition which aims at incubating new filmmakers and encouraging students to engage in film production. This year, the Programme received a record-breaking number of applications nominated by students over 55 worldwide film schools. The Programme comprises five awards – namely, Gold Award, Silver Award, Bronze Award, First Place and Award of Merit, whereas Macao film director Maxim Bessmertnyi wins the Gold Award in this edition with his film The Tricycle Thief. He was awarded with student scholarship and professional video apparatus from the organisation. The Tricycle Thief is an 18-minute short film recorded in Macao, depicting the experience of a tricycle driver at night.
Between 2012 and 2015, Bessmertnyi was subsidised by the Cultural Affairs Bureau to study a post-graduate film programme in New York University’s (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts Asia in Singapore. His production The Tricycle Thief madeduring his second year of film studies, was nominated for Best International Short Film at the 39th Toronto International Film Festival. With these outstanding results he was awarded with scholarship by the school. On this occasion, Bessmertnyi was conferred the Gold Award in the “2015 KODAK Student Scholarship Programme” for The Tricycle Thief. He was surprised and appreciated to receive this award, feeling that his work can get the glory for his motherland. He stated that he will choose to embark his filmmaking career in Macao and Asia in future, hoping to co-operate with Macao directors and film circle for producing Macao films.