V I D E O • A G E JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 9 16 A s i a T V F o r u m R e p o r t Singapore can best be described as a huge, clean, rich city-state shopping mall. In this former British colony, business is a way of life. People’s lives are orderly, organized as to facilitate shopping, with the various commercial centers all interconnected with underground and aboveground alleys to shield from the tropical heat. During the winter months the walkways also protect from the rainy season, although during the Asia TV Forum (ATF) it only rained once. Business in Singapore is revered as a religion and all public places, such as the airports, are geared to facilitate it with free Internet services, quick bureaucratic procedures and inexpensive mass transit. Even though there are four unrelated official languages (Mandarin, English, Malay and Tamil), English –– and American English at that, not British –– is the language that unifies the close to five million residents, 75 percent of whom are of Chinese origins. “Singlish,” a blend of many languages, is also becoming popular among young people. Parade, the weekly magazine that reaches 32.4 million U.S. families, listed former Singapore prime minister and current minister mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, as one of the world’s five most influential politicians because he first oversaw the separation of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965 and, subsequently, transformed Singapore into a state with a developed capitalist economy. Another vital element of Singapore, in addition being Asia’s media hub, is the influential role played by the Media Development Authority (MDA), the government agency created to stimulate film and TV production, co-production and media investments in general, both on the island and internationally. Last May, MDA boss Christopher Chia said that there is some SGD500 million (U.S.$385 million) available for film, TV and games development across 13 funds based in Singapore. According to official reports, Singapore now has ambitions of becoming a global media hub by 2015. Naturally, MDA also plays an important part within ATF, with a large presence in the form of both the numerous amount of people attending and large size of its stand. It is in this environment that ATF is starting to prosper after nine editions, all organized by Reed Exhibitions, which maintains its Asian base right in Singapore. ATF 2008 took place last December 10-12, and was held for the first time at the Suntec Convention Centre, a large complex conveniently located near all major hotels. In 2007, the market took place at the Shangri-La hotel and used suites as offices. This time at Suntec the TV trade show changed into a standbased market, which increased cost by an average of 30 percent, but, at the same time, increased traffic for exhibitors. On the market floor there were some 112 individual stands and six umbrella stands, including the ones that grouped French, Korean, Spanish and Taiwanese TV distribution companies. The French Ambassador to Singapore toured the French pavilion organized by TV France International and, later, he sponsored a buffet and champagne luncheon for French distributors, buyers and international press. Other distributors came from places such as Italy, Argentina and as far as the state of Virginia, in the case of TPI. During the opening ceremonies, Michelle Lim, general manager of Reed Exhibitions Singapore and Malaysia, indicated that there were close to 700 participating companies from 50 countries, representing 15 percent growth from last year’s event. According to official figures, there were 321 sales companies from 39 countries. Of these, the ATF’s official guide listed 210 as exhibitors, mostly housed under the umbrellas of the France, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain and Taiwan pavilions. Officially there were also 298 buying organizations from 31 countries. The total number of attendees was estimated at 1,400 people. An informal survey among a small group of exhibitors revealed a good number of active buyers from territories such as Vietnam, Korea, Hong Kong and even Japan. Racquel Mesina of Canadian exhibitor Cinemavault reported that the majority of her buyers were from Singapore, followed by Indonesia and India, and that the majority of meetings were directly with broadcasters “The market proved quite conducive for initiating deals,” she commented. “I found there was a fairly even split between buyers seeking family friendly programming and those wanting action and adventure films.” Singapore Takes Its Film And TV Media Seriously Florida-based Dori Media’s Jose Escalante, l., and Andres Santos Buyer Masa Omiya from Japan’s TWA French Ambassador to Singapore, Pierre Buhler, l., during a visit to the ATF, next to TV France International’s president Jean-Louis Guillaud and executive director Mathieu Béjot (Continued on Page 18) Qatar-based Al Jazeera Children’s Channel’s Mahmoud Bouned and Christiane Salem
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