Back to All News
Supporting APAC Creators: Netflix Hosts Next-Gen Filmmakers for Creative Asia Forum at BIFF 2024
Entertainment
08 October 2024
GlobalSouth Korea
Link copied to clipboard
The first Creative Asia Forum took place during the 2024 Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) this week, with over 130 up-and-coming filmmakers from across Asia in attendance. The event connected the festival's rising talent with APAC's creative leaders, featuring masterclass conversations with top creators and workshops with Netflix's content and production teams.
The Forum marked the first partnership between Netflix and BIFF, with Chief Programmer Nam Dong-chul opening the event, saying I hope that we get to hear voices that weve never heard before, hear stories that have never been told before, and pave the way for new films and stories to find their voice. I truly hope that forums like this will continue to prosper, so that it will serve as a great opportunity for us to discover new talent and new voices and new storytellers.
Minyoung Kim, Netflix's VP of Content for APAC (ex-India), gave a keynote address celebrating the creative potential across Asia Pacific. When we collaborate as an overall region, I believe that APAC as a content hub has potential comparable to Hollywood. Talent from different countries can come together and create their own unique take on a story. At Netflix, we already have existing teams and infrastructure in all of these different markets. So, whether its above the line or below the line, we believe that we can bring together the strengths of different countries so that greater creative visions can come to life, and we can tell great stories.
Kim noted that Korean and Japanese language titles are in the Top 3 most viewed non-English content on Netflix globally. With Netflix bringing local stories to 280 million people around the world, the way stories are told has completely changed. However, that's not to say that we set out to make global hits. Because when you try to make a show for everyone, you end up making a show for no one. At Netflix, we focus on finding local authenticity that has the potential to travel globally. We truly believe that it is this local authenticity that allows us to find great content.
The event featured masterclass conversations with established creators from across Asia Pacific. Acclaimed Japanese director Hiroshi Kurosaki discussed how real experiences inspired the upcoming series Beyond Goodbye. We wanted to create a world thats five centimeters above reality. But even though the story is a little lifted from reality, its set in the real world. And so when we were putting together the art and sets, we wanted to invest a lot of resources and time in preparing this production. Netflix allowed that. And so for me, and all the team staff, we were very, very appreciative of Netflix.
The creators behind forthcoming Chinese-language series Born For The Spotlight, which had its world premiere at BIFF this week, discussed how great storytelling transcends language. Producer Olive Ting noted: To be invited to Busan to premiere, we were a bit worried whether the international viewers would understand the local context of the series. But surprisingly, people from United States or viewers from Korea have given us positive feedback. They can relate to these characters as a mother, as a daughter. And they are crying or laughing with certain scenes in the story. So I think humanity can cross cultural and language barriers.
The series' director Yi-Wen Yen remarked how roles for women in Asian storytelling were evolving, recalling: When I was an actress, there was not a streaming platform like Netflix in Taiwan, and many of our stories at that time focused on the male lead. As a female actress, I was mostly functional or decorative. I started to play a mom since I was 20 years old - so I have a lot of children in show business over the years! But I find it quite interesting that in recent years, after Netflix and other streaming services joined the market, we are seeing some changes in the local industries. In the past, actresses did not have many options. But now it seems that we have more genres, more characters, and more options. Even if Im going to play a mom now, the performance and delivery will be different. Im very happy to see these changes in Taiwan. We can tell the stories I really want to tell.
Indonesian creators Kamila Andini and Ifa Isfansyah, who won Best Directors at the Asian Content Awards during BIFF this week for Cigarette Girl, discussed the themes that global audiences resonated with in their hit show. This story is all about female strength. In a time where female projects and dreams don't have that much room and opportunity, we make a stage and spotlight for that strength and those voices that needed to be acknowledged. And this is the time for that. This is a time to acknowledge many things that have been untold and forgotten. Now its possible, and we have to celebrate that possibility, said Andini.
The event also featured a production workshop to inspire young filmmakers on how to bring their ideas to life using a mix of creativity, collaboration, and simple, accessible technology, led by Netflix's Head of APAC Production, Sung Q Lee and Head of Korean Production, Jungsu Ha.
Netflix's content leaders from across Asia Pacific took to the stage for an open Q&A with the emerging creators in the audience, with Don Kang (VP of Content, Korea), Kaata Sakamoto (VP of Content, Japan), Maya Huang (Head of Chinese Language Content), Malobika Banerji (Head of Southeast Asia Content) and Minyoung Kim fielding questions on working with Netflix, creating authentic stories, casting, local production, and reaching global audiences.
The Creative Asia Forum is part of Netflix's g
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
Back to All News
