Singapore Media Festival spotlights innovative technologies, new media skills

Lê Hương

SINGAPORE — The 10th Singapore Media Festival (SMF) is in full swing, gathering thousands of top media professionals, leaders, talents and consumers in the region and from all over the world.

The event includes the Singaporean International Film Festival, Asia TV Forum & Market, Singapore Comic Con and a new addition, Nas Summit Asia, between November 30 and December 10, hosted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority.

Members of the public can enjoy more than 100 of the region’s top films and experience the best in pop culture, television, and new media.

Participants join the ATF Leaders Dialogue at the Asia TV Forum & Market in Singapore on Tuesday. — VNS Photo Lê Hương

The festival this year has the theme “Make It Here”, rallying the region’s media entrepreneurs, talents, creators, and consumers to explore diverse media innovations, form strategic deals, and discover Singapore’s best.

The SMF has been one of Asia’s leading international media industry events since 2014, gathering more than 274,000 participants from 60 countries over the last 10 years. Up to S$3.04 billion (US$2.23 billion) worth of deals and partnerships have been generated from the festival since its inception.

Notable projects that have emerged from the festival include Hollywood blockbuster Crazy Rich Asians, which grossed close to S$330 million (US$240 million) worldwide.

“The Singapore Media Festival has proudly spent a decade celebrating, discovering and nurturing the best of Asia’s media industry, and we will not stop here,” said Mr Justin Ang, Assistant Chief Executive for Media, Innovation, Communications and Marketing, IMDA.

“The media industry landscape today is shaped by new trends and technologies like virtual production and AI that present exciting creative opportunities. To capitalise on this, the festival’s role as the place where new dreams, content and connections are made becomes ever more crucial as we collaborate with the best of talent in Asia and around the globe to create stories for the world.”

According to Yeow Hui Leng, Group Project Director of Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF), the forum gathers global brands and executives to connect with one of the biggest gatherings of profiles from every Asian market.

“With the thoughtfully curated slew of networking events and content showcases, as well as global partnerships at ATF pitches, we hope to bring people from different backgrounds in the ecosystem to come together to explore possibilities for future collaboration, and also help to foster a more resilient and globally diverse entertainment landscape for the long term,” she said.

Highlights of the SMF

This year, the festival offers a diverse 11-day line-up of programmes and is expected to gather a total of 50,000 participants from more than 60 countries, including over 5,000 media professionals and 700 content creators, entrepreneurs and industry leaders.

The festival will also showcase over 100 films from across 50 countries with 20 world premieres, feature four In-Development lab and pitches, creators’ discussion panels with over 30 speakers, and 16 official pavilions where media professionals and creators gather to share their latest insights and best practices.

Nas Summit Asia, a new addition to the festival, will be held on December 7 and 8. It is organised in partnership with notable global content creator Nas Daily where local content creators can learn from more than 30 speakers like Our Grandfather Story’s Ng Kai Yuan and Maureen from Miss Tam Chiak on how to diversify their storytelling skills and potentially scale their content to regional and global audiences.

The Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) gathers global brands and executives to connect with one of the biggest gatherings of profiles from every Asian market. — VNS Photo Lê Hương

“We are deeply grateful for our partnership with SMF, reflecting our joint dedication to fostering innovation, collaboration, and creativity in the creative media industry,” said NuseirYassin, Chief Executive Officer of Nas Company. “Together, we’re excited to empower future talents and shape the future of media.”

Vietnamese V-logger Trần Khánh Vy will join the summit.

Creators Con, a brand new B2C segment of this year’s Singapore Comic Con, will see new media creators engage with their community and fans. The segment aims to empower creativity, foster innovation, as well as celebrate diversity and inclusivity through meet-and-greets, and creators’ Q&A sessions.

According to Michelle Lim, Founder and CEO of Generation Experience Pte Ltd, Singapore Comic Con has always been a celebration of the vibrant world of comics, pop culture, and everything that makes our community so special.

“This year’s Singapore Comic Con promises to be a true spectacle, filled with passion, creativity, and new excitements such as Creators Con & Transformers: Cybertron Fest,” she said.

Singaporean Film Festival features over 100 films from across 50 countries with 20 world premieres. This year’s SGIFF features a bumper crop of Made-with- Singapore films (27 features and shorts) and IMDA-supported co-productions.

Madam Jennie Chua (second from right), Chair of the Singapore Film Commission, and the commission’s leaders cheer at the 25th anniversary of the commission on Tuesday, which is in the framework of the Singapore Media Festival. — VNS Photo Lê Hương

2023 is an exceptional year for Made-with-Singapore films, with the highest number of films selected in competition by Singaporean directors since 1997. Nominations for the highly prestigious Asian Feature Film Competition include Jow Zhi Wei’s Tomorrow is a Long Time, Nelson Yeo’s Dreaming&Dying, and Nicole Midori Woodford’s Last Shadow at First Light, which are must-watch films for all festival-goers.

Việt Nam has two representatives at the Film Festival, namely the movie titled “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” by director Phạm Thiên Ân and a short film titled “Goodnight Baby” by Lê Quỳnh Anh.

“Filmmakers and producers from Singapore and the region are going from strength to strength, being recognised and awarded at film festivals around the world,” said Emily J Hoe, Executive Director, of the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF). “This global recognition is a testament to the work of SGIFF, in being a pivotal platform for the local and regional film community. With our invaluable partnership as an event of SMF and with the support of IMDA, we remain steadfast in our commitment to creating an environment that fosters connections, creativity and dialogue through the vibrant world of cinema and storytelling.”

A Virtual Production Afternoon at ATF’s Singapore Pavilion will showcase successful VP projects, alongside an insightful sharing session by panelists from Mediacorp and Weiyu Films, who will dive into their eye-opening experiences working with VP.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) leads Singapore’s digital transformation by developing a vibrant digital economy and an inclusive digital society.

As Architects of Singapore’s Digital Future, the authority fosters growth in Infocomm Technology and Media sectors in concert with progressive regulations, harnessing frontier technologies, and developing local talent and digital infrastructure ecosystems to establish Singapore as a digital metropolis. — VNS