Japanese production company Entertainment Farm has established a Singapore-based film fund to underwrite features in America and Asia, it announced today.

Entertainment Farm established Entertainment Farm Pte Ltd in Singapore at the end of last year.

Under director Satoru Yano, the hub will manage the fund, which looks to
acquire between $30m-$50m from corporate and private investors across Asia.

'Singapore will be the holding company of Japan 's EF. Having headquarters outside the country is totally new to Japan, but this is going to be a trend,' said Yano, who is a long-term friend of EF CEO Yasushi Kotani. Both have strong investment banking background.

The money will be used to underwrite between 10-15 features in America and Asia over the next three years.

Potential projects will be brought to the fund through Entertainment Farm producer and international division managing director Yukie Kito.

'We aim to make more Asian related films, mainly in English-language or Japanese-language with international appeal,' said Kito.

A couple of projects are in the pipeline, including the screenplay for a Second World War story in Japan by Iris Yamashita, Oscar-nominee for Letters from Iwo Jima, and as Screen previously reported, Kiyoshi Kurosawa's first stateside project, set in San Francisco.

Most recently EF partnered with Fortissimo Films to produce Kurosawa's latest film, Tokyo Sonata which is tipped for Cannes.

EF already has offices in Los Angeles, with the Singapore expansion looking to further EF 's position in Asia.

Established in 2002 and incorporated in 2003, EF has a track record of investing in non-Japanese projects such as Mira Nair 's The Namesake, Ethan Hawke's The Hottest State and the latest two films of Chinese-American director Wayne Wang: The Princess of Nebraska and A Thousand Years Of Good Prayers, both of which screen at this week's Singapore International Film Festival (April 4-14).

Wang and Kito are currently in Singapore for the festival which opens with The Princess of Nebraska.

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