Singapore Media Companies Announce Content Deals at Asia TV Forum & Market | ScreenSingapore 2012

SINGAPORE, Dec. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) hosted Asia's leading  converged media entertainment market, the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) | ScreenSingapore (SS) where 4,000 film and television trade delegates from 60 countries came together to trade, finance, produce and distribute content, at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre from 4 - 7 December 2012.

Singapore took part in ATF|SS with its largest-ever delegation of over 100 companies, showcasing more than 600 hours of locally-produced content. These include original TV formats, such as the International Emmy Award-nominated musical drama The Kitchen Musical; and transmedia TV show Angel's Gate, Asia's first reality TV series on business and entrepreneurship, where startups raise funds via crowd sourcing and TV viewers go online to connect with entrepreneurs on-the-move.

SOME KEY SINGAPORE FILM AND TV MARKET ROUND-UP AT ATF|SS 2012:

1. STAR Chinese Movies buys over regional pay TV rights for top-grossing Singapore film

• The regional rights to Singapore films Ah Boys To Men and Ah Boys To Men 2 have been licensed to STAR Chinese Movies of Fox International Channels. The deal covers Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Philippines and Taiwan.  It is the highest licence fee STAR Chinese Movies has ever paid for a Singapore produced movie. Both films are directed by prolific Singapore director, Jack Neo, whose movies have travelled to mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia.

2. Australia's ABC Commercial puts in letter of offer for global distribution rights to One Animation's children's TV series

• Singapore animation house One Animation has received a letter of offer from ABC Commercial, the commercial arm of Australian Broadcasting Corporation, for the global distribution rights to its original 52 x 11 minute children's TV series. The series, which is currently in development, is scheduled for release in summer of 2014. Mr Jeremy Hall, Director and Executive Producer at One Animation, said, "It's extremely exciting to have our property recognised at such an early stage of its development and to capitalise on the wealth of experience brought by the ABC Commercial team in building the revenue and success of our show". ABC for kids currently airs Rob the Robot, a CG animated pre-school series co-produced by One Animation with the support of MDA.  

3. Singapore's M2B World and Vietnam telco subsidiary strike deal to share content, reaching 130 countries

• Singapore's M2B World Asia Pacific, a major provider of interactive on-demand-entertainment content, has entered into a deal with VASC Software and Media Company (VASC), a subsidiary of Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VPNT), to jointly carry content on their respective platforms. This means that VASC's content will reach out to potentially 130 countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, on M2B's platform.  In return, VASC will be the carrier of M2B content on its platform. Mr Percy Chua, M2B's Chief Executive Officer, said that this partnership with VASC fulfils a need in the global content market, where there is demand by expatriate populations for native-based content.  

4. Beach House Pictures partners Northern Pictures, ABC TV and Screen Australia to explore the wilderness of Kakadu National Park in a Singapore-Australia documentary, Kakadu

• A four part one-hour documentary series on Australia's ecological jewel, Kakadu National Park, is a dramatic reveal of the exhilarating seasonal change, amazing wildlife and adventures of a small group of park rangers protecting Australia's most fascinating untamed wilderness, which is also a World Heritage Area and UNESCO Site. The series is co-produced by Singapore's Beach House Pictures and Australia's Northern Pictures, for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It is due for release in early 2014 in Australia and will be distributed worldwide by Cineflix Rights. This project is supported by MDA and Screen Australia.

5. Singapore's MyChinaChannel and Shanghai Media Group's Toonmax to aggregate and distribute first Chinese kids channel in collaboration with GlobeCast

• Singapore-based MyChinaChannel and Shanghai Media Group's Toonmax have announced a partnership to aggregate, produce and distribute Southeast Asia's first Mandarin kids channel in collaboration with GlobeCast. The channel is due to be launched in 2013.
• It will feature over 1,000 hours of Toonmax's high-quality animation content, and will be available for multiscreen distribution to audiences via pay television operators.

6. First Singapore-Cambodia co-production 3.50 by 2011 Asian Film Academy Best Fellowship winner and Singapore director Eysham Ali and Cambodian co-director Chhay Bora

• Asian Film Academy alumnus Eysham Ali's first feature film 3.50, will explore the time-honored question of the value of life set against the backdrop of Phnom Penh's sex trafficking industry. This multi-layered story crosses the narrative threads of a disgraced doctor, a foreign journalist, a taxi-driver, a street peddler and a prostitute, as they navigate the socio-economic tensions that allow poverty and its problems to flourish.  The film stars former Miss Singapore Universe Eunice Olsen, and draws upon a cast from both Singapore and Cambodia.
• At just 26 years old, Eysham Ali has already won several awards, including the Special Achievement Award in the 2008 Singapore International Film Festival for his first short film Rumahku, Syurgaku (My Home, My Heaven). Cambodian co-director Chhay Bora's recent film Lost Loves is Cambodia's official Oscar entry for the Best Foreign Film at the 2013 Academy Awards.

7. Singapore film company Wave Films to produce two psychological thrillers directed by  American director Douglas DeMarco

• The first, a US$5 million film titled Facades, is a thriller revolving around a young and successful architect with a dark secret, and stars Dutch-Chinese actor Jourdan Lee.
• The second film, Broken and Entered, centers around a retired teacher who has not been able to leave the house since his wife died. However something unexpected happens when two runaway kids try to rob his house. Written by American writer William B. Keller, the script won the best feature drama script award at the Indie Gathering Film Festival 2012.

8. Red Numbers by award-winning Singapore director Dom Ow

• Slated for release in Singapore on 22 Feb 2013, Red Numbers revolves around a guy, who according to a Chinese geomancer only has three lucky minutes in his miserable life. His fortune is wrapped up with a greedy family whose grandfather holds the key to the winning combination in the 4D lottery.  
• Director Dom Ow is a first-time director whose senior year film Nowhere Town won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1996 Worldfest (Charlestown). He is also the creator, producer and director of Singapore's popular web and cable reality series on the military, Every Singaporean Son, which is now in its second season.

9. Horror omnibus Afterimages to release in Singapore in August 2013

• Afterimages, a collection of short horror stories by Mythopolis Pictures, won the 2012 Network of Asian Fantastic Films Award (NAFF) for Most Outstanding Film Project. NAFF is described as Asia's largest genre film festival and is held in South Korea.
• The film revolves around a group of artists who burn cameras as offerings to the dead, and in return receive a collection of footages from hell in the form of five short horror movies -- Ghost Pool Leg, Xiao Bao Bao, Skin Deep, Rekindling and Burnt Offerings.
• It is scheduled for theatrical release in Singapore in August 2013.

10. Singapore film Already Famous, as well as popular television programme Cooking Without Clothes have been sold to Taiwan's Public Television Service (PTS). Both will be aired to Taiwan audience over the Lunar New Year, in February 2013.

About Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA)
The Media Development Authority of Singapore (www.mda.gov.sg) promotes the growth of globally competitive film, television, radio, publishing, music, games, animation and interactive digital media industries. It also regulates the media sector to safeguard the interests of consumers, and promotes a connected society. MDA is a statutory board under the Ministry of Communications and Information (www.mci.gov.sg).

SOURCE Media Development Authority of Singapore