Asia TV Forum & Market and ScreenSingapore Opens with New Highlights

(04/12/2013) The 14th Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) held in conjunction with ScreenSingapore 2013 was officially opened today by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for Communications and Information. The seamless TV and film content market for the entertainment industry is being held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, from 4 to 6 December with an exciting line-up of 69 eminent TV and film speakers over 28 conference sessions. More than 4,000 buyers, sellers and participants from over 60 countries are expected at this annual gathering.

New Highlights: ATF Animation Lab and MIPACADEMY

The two new initiatives ATF Animation Lab and MIPACADEMY were conceptualised to create opportunities for collaborations as well as provide fresh perspectives through best practices and case-studies.

ATF Animation Lab is a match making platform between Asian animation producers and international commissioners. Designed to bring producers and commissioners together, the event aims to facilitate co-production and funding, as well as networking and exchange of ideas. Of 45 submissions, 35 of them have been shortlisted. Producers of the shortlisted projects will pitch to commissioners from Australian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC Worldwide, The Walt Disney Company, Turner International Asia Pacific Limited, Viacom International Media Networks, ZDFE.junior and ZDF German Television.

MIPACADEMY, produced by Reed Midem (producer of MIPCOM and MIPTV), Reed Exhibitions Singapore, in collaboration with The Entertainment Master Class, is full day of master classes targeted at TV producers and executives. With everything from concept creation to pitching and selling to brand building, global distribution and rights protection, attendees will benefit from fresh insights from a roster of international industry experts, such as Rob Clark, Director of Global Entertainment Development, FremantleMedia, Michael McKay, President, activeTV, Virginia Mouseler, CEO, The WIT, Na Young Suk, Producer, tvN, CJ E&M and Beryl Yan, Head of Programme Strategy Department, Hunan Satellite TV all leading practitioners in the fields of non-scripted formats and factual programming.

A Bigger Market With Strengthened Content Offerings

Over the past 14 years, ATF and ScreenSingapore has seen a year-on-year increase in participation numbers locally, regionally and internationally, with a record breaking number of 16 international pavilions including debuts from Indonesia, Russia and South Korea. There is also significant increase in buyer activity from South Korea, Hong Kong and China, along with first-time buyer participation from Brazil, Canada, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Myanmar, Netherlands and Norway.

The participation growth reaffirms ATF and ScreenSingapore as the preferred market and it signals Asia's important role in the global content market, enabling international, regional and local sellers and buyers to meet, network and trade. The presence of international players CBS Studios, CJ Entertainment, CCTV, FremantleMedia, Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures, MGM Worldwide Television, Miramax Films, Shanghai Media Group and The Walt Disney Company is an indicator of the breadth and quality of content expected.

Michelle Lim, Managing Director, Reed Exhibitions Singapore commented at the opening ceremony, Each edition of ATF and ScreenSingapore has continuously evolved with the industry to meet the needs of international and regional media companies. And indeed, the combined offering of TV and film under one market has brought about stronger content this year.

Insights from TV and Film Industry Movers and Shakers

Evolving beyond a successful trading market, the comprehensive conference line-up provides market participants excellent opportunities to gain insights from TV and film industry movers and shakers.

Koh Lin-Net, CEO of Media Development Authority (MDA) gave her welcome address and Sunny Xiangyang Zhu, Chief Content Officer of Youku Tudou Inc., the keynote speaker, highlighted the changing future of online content in his address yesterday at the pre-market conference. The Korean format session on original content productions featured a panel of Korean producers and panels such as Asia's Most Desirable Buyers' and Asia's Leading Documentary Commissioners and Buyers Panel' had notables such as StarHub's Lee Soo Hui, Samsung's Shenthil Ranie, National Geographic's Maggie Rhodes and A+E Networks Asia's Michele Schofield.

Yu Dong, CEO & Founder of Bona Film Group, presented today's keynote, What Makes Chinas Film Industry Tick: To Understanding Its Structure and Optimizing the Opportunities . Today's conference line-up also features Anthony Chen, Singapore's home-grown director whose debut film Ilo Ilo is the nation's first to win Best Feature Film at the Golden Horse Awards; Shekhar Kapur, who is behind award-winning film Elizabeth; and other prominent directors and producers of Asian box-office successes.

Ellen Eliasoph, President & CEO of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group Asia (VREGA) sponsor of tomorrow's conference sessions will present the opening address for the day. Topics will cover everything from project selection to script development and financing to production management, and distribution of Chinese films for the Mainland China market.

(Please refer to the Conference Synopsis for the full line-up of panel speakers)

Premieres at ScreenSingapore

The world premiere of Firestorm will kick off with red carpet festivities at Resorts World Theatre, Resorts World Sentosa, along with its star-studded cast of Andy Lau and Lam Ka Tung . The Chinese action drama produced by Edko Films, is co-distributed by Clover Films, Golden Village and StarHub.

Tomorrow night, the 3rd Rendezvous of French Cinema in conjun

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