An international rendezvous

As part of Singapore’s bid to become a media hub handling traffic between Asia and the rest of the world, ScreenSingapore is a film industry event that features a market, red-carpet premieres, conferences and networking sessions. In its second year, the event has moved six months later to run Dec 4-7 alongside the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in the Marina Bay Sands hotel.

ScreenSingapore will open this year with the world premiere of gangster film The Last Tycoon [pictured] starring Chow Yun-Fat. Directed by Wong Jing and produced by Andrew Lau, the film was backed by China’s Bona Film Group. The event closes with the world premiere of Singaporean-Malaysian co-production The Wedding Diary II, the sequel to hit original The Wedding Diary.

Hosted by Singapore’s Media Development Authority, the event is co-organised by Reed Exhibitions, which has been operating the ATF since 2000. Last year’s inaugural ScreenSingapore, which was co-organised with Experia Events, opened with the world premiere of The Devil Inside Me and closed with Larry Crowne with Tom Hanks, Zhang Ziyi and Lee Byung-hun among the stars on the red carpet. Organisers reported 6,000 attendees at the screenings and events, with 700 trade attendees packing conferences — reflective of the thirst for this sort of event in the region.

“I see Singapore as the key territory where the film industries of Hollywood, Bollywood, China and the rest of Asia meet and flourish, with ScreenSingapore serving as the gateway to and from that vibrant marketplace,” says ScreenSingapore ambassador and Village Roadshow Entertainment Group CEO Greg Basser.

While last year’s event focus was bringing US business to the region, this year it concentrates on attracting the Asian industry. Six executives from Asia were appointed to the board earlier this year including Bona Film Group CEO Yu Dong, Distribution Workshop chairman Nansun Shi and Clover Films managing director Lim Teck.

With its board and ambassadors, ScreenSingapore has gathered a strong line-up of industry players who will attend and support the event, including award-winning director and producer Shekhar Kapur, Fortissimo chairman Michael J Werner, Latitude Entertainment chairman Greg Coote and Legendary East CEO Peter Loehr.

‘I see Singapore as a key territory where film industries meet and flourish’

Greg Basser, Village Roadshow Entertainment Group

ScreenSingapore and ATF are also partnering with Rendezvous With French Cinema, a film festival-cum-trade platform, and will be sharing the red carpet screening of rom-com Happiness Never Comes Alone, starring Sophie Marceau. The actress will be attending with a delegation including Christopher Lambert, Charles Berling, director Lorraine Levy, and producers Jérome Seydoux and Marc-Antoine Robert.

ScreenSingapore and ATF will play host to delegations from China, France, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, with new attendees from Australia and the UK.

“We have received positive feedback and commitment from the market and are expecting on our show floor an estimated 4,000 participants from the region and beyond,” says Yeow Hui Leng, project director, Reed Exhibitions. “We are seeing significant increase in buyer participation from South Korea, Hong Kong and China, and have attracted buyers from new markets like Kazakhstan and Mongolia.”

Participants include A+E Networks, Hasbro Europe, Miramax, MGM Worldwide Television, Turner International, Telemundo Internacional, Viacom International Media Networks, Cathay Organisation Holdings, Golden Village, Hyde Park Entertainment, Motion Picture Association of America, Shaw Organisation and United Home Entertainment.

Asia TV Forum & Market

Partnering with ScreenSingapore for the first time, the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) is expanding its television-focused content to include digital innovations, film and new media.

After a pre-market conference and premiere on Dec 4, ATF runs Dec 5-7, sharing the same venue as ScreenSingapore as well as jointly presenting ContentNow conferences, networking sessions and screenings. The ContentNow programme includes sessions such as The Ultimate Content Creator: the Heroes Behind the Super Heroes with Marvel’s creator & content development senior vice-president CB Cebulski, looking at how the company behind The Avengers and other franchises works across multiple platforms including social media.

ContentNow also offers focuses on new money in South-East Asia, film business in China, animation co-productions, documentary pitching and financing, co-production and financing in the US and Europe, and a broadcaster series including the rise of Korean TV content and distribution.

Also, ATF will present a showcase of the 2012 International Emmy award nominees from Asia. International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences executive director Camille Bidermann-Roizen will show excerpts from 15 nominated programmes from Asia.