MUMBAI: The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) will be leading 36 Singapore media companies to the 20th edition of the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART), with more than 250 hours of film and TV content for Asian audiences. This marks a 40% increase in the number of hours of content, as compared to Singapore’s offerings at the market in 2015.
Among the Singapore content featured at Hong Kong FILMART are 30 original films with a unique blend of Asian and Western influences, across a diverse variety of genres such as romance, thriller, comedy and action. These film titles will be showcased alongside a selection of TV content at the Singapore Pavilion, located at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, from 14 to 17 March.
Hong Kong FILMART is held concurrently with the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). For the past three years, Singapore projects have been selected to participate in HAF, one of Asia’s leading project markets, where filmmakers have opportunities to meet with film financiers and distributors from the region. Every year, HAF presents various awards to selected filmmakers in recognition of the potential of their projects. This year, Singapore presents action film “Warrior of Love”, produced by SIMF Management and directed by Derrick Lui.
mm2 Asia Ltd is the first Singapore movie production company to be listed on the Singapore Exchange. While mm2’s headquarter is in Singapore, the company has expanded its footprint into Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. It is expected to make some announcements on its upcoming movie projects at Hong Kong FILMART.
Another Singapore media company, Clover Films, has gone beyond distributing films for the Singapore and Malaysia markets, to being a content co-producer with regional filmmakers. A recent example is “Let’s Eat!”, a collaboration between Clover Films and its partners from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia.
Singapore company BananaMana Films recently announced a partnership with global TV site Viki. BananaMana’s award-winning web drama “Perfect Girl” (“Outstanding Drama Series” at Toronto WebFest and LA WebFest in 2015) has been added to Viki’s slate of content offerings for international audiences. BananaMana Films will also be showcasing its upcoming action thriller “Bang Bang Club” at Hong Kong FILMART.
Viddsee, a Singapore-based streaming platform, is seeing rapid growth in its community of users and gaining attention from investors. Viddsee is a mobile cinema platform, bringing together Asian filmmakers and curated film content to give millions around the world a new way to showcase and watch films. Set up in 2013 as a platform for Southeast Asian filmmakers to showcase their works, Viddsee’s library of content has grown significantly to include titles from other Asian countries such as Iran and Japan. In recent months, it has also started collaborating with international film festivals to showcase selected works on its site.
Singapore’s filmmaking community is seeing more female representation in the likes of Eva Tang (“The Songs We Sang”) and Tan Ai Leng (“My Love, Sinema”). Eva was a former journalist whose short films have been showcased internationally and “The Songs We Sang” is her first feature documentary. Ai Leng on the other hand, was a recipient of the Singapore Film Commission’s New Talent Feature Grant (NTFG[1]) and “My Love, Sinema” is her first feature-length film.
Xinyao is a local music movement popular among Singaporean youths in the 1980s. “The Songs We Sang” is a vivid and in-depth documentary that explores how Xinyao flourished amongst Singapore’s Mandarin-speaking community, travelled beyond its shores and left an indelible mark on the culture of a young nation. “The Songs We Sang” will be released commercially in Singapore on 24 March.
List of Singapore companies at Hong Kong FILMART 2016 are:
1. Advent Media Group
2. Antares International Media Pte Ltd
3. August Pictures Pte Ltd
4. BananaMana Films Pte Ltd
5. Beam Artistes
6. Bomanbridge Media
7. Brainchild Pictures
8. Brand New Media
9. Can Did Productions Pte Ltd
10. Clover Films Pte Ltd
11. Digital Blowfish Pte Ltd
12. Encore Films Pte Ltd
13. FILMAT36 (S) Pte Ltd
14. FLY Entertainment Pte Ltd
15. Hi-5 Operations
16. Hub Media Group Pte Ltd
17. Idiosyncratic Motion Pictures
18. J Team Productions Pte Ltd
19. Kawi Content
20. MediaCorp TV Singapore Pte Ltd
21. mm2 Entertainment Pte Ltd
22. Monstrou Studio
23. Papahan Films
24. Potocol Pte Ltd
25. Samuel Seow Law Corporation
26. Scout Pictures Pte Ltd
27. SIMF Management Pte Ltd
28. Singapore Cinema Pte Ltd
29. Sitting in Pictures Pte Ltd
30. The Songs We Sang Pte Ltd
31. Viddsee Pte Ltd
32. Videofashion Asia Pacific
33. Vividthree Productions Pte Ltd
34. WaWa Pictures Pte Ltd
35. Widescreen Media Pte Ltd
36. Xtreme Media Pte Ltd