The National Film Board of Canada have brought about fresh new standards for Interactive Documentaries

INTERVIEW

Afghanistan’s Aria TV and ERTV are focused on changing the face of educational television in the country

COMPANY FOCUS

Local films and animations are exploring global new horizons

Malaysian films soar abroad

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I have to confess that working on this issue was bittersweet. It reminded me of my all-time fa-vourite quotes by Oscar Wilde in Lady Windermere’s Fan, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”. For me, it’s a quote that encapsulates optimism, which we all must re-member to instil within ourselves. This issue was an eye opener for me because while there are fan-tastic developments all around the world, there are many who still fight a severe battle daily. This month, one of those struggles is seen in Afghanistan; where a minute glimpse of the harsh reality that has permeated this nation is revealed. Nevertheless, optimism is alive.

Through our Company Focus, which in this issue takes on a new twist, we highlight a sec-tor in Afghanistan that demands global attention; education, and the two significant media play-ers that are striving to change it. Educational television is on the rise in this nation that is struggling to transform almost every sector of the country. Amidst the hostility and horror that war has imposed on Afghanistan, it seems that the children have suffered most. The statistics surrounding illiteracy and the lack of access to education are alarming, as is the fact that “Afghanistan is one of the worst places on earth for children to be born,” according to Ajmal Obaid Abidy of Aria TV. The reality seems glum, yet there are hopefuls such as Aria TV and the Educational Radio and Television of Afghani-stan (ERTV), who are determined to create reform in this sector.

On that optimistic note, we

take you to the thriving film and creative multimedia industry in Malaysia, which is our Country Focus. This comprehensive story highlights three major govern-ment bodies within this sector; The National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS), the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), and the Creative Content Association of Malaysia (CCAM) – all of which collaborate extensively to posi-tion Malaysia firmly on the global stage. The development and outlook of this vibrant industry is nothing short of exhilarating.

The Interview of the Month gives you a peek into the outstand-ing repertoire of interactive documentaries created by the National Film Board of Canada. A cursory glance of their exten-sive interactive documentary catalogue will give you a hint of the diversity in their projects. Loc Dao, the award-winning Execu-tive Producer and Creative Tech-nologist at NFB shares insightful details of their creative process in developing this dynamic genre.

I hope you find these stories every bit as exciting as it was for us working on them. I urge you to give us your feedback and thoughts about anything you find useful or would like to read here in the pages Mediahub Mag. Feel free to drop me a line just to say hello at savadiar@media-hubaccess.com or to any other member of our team listed in the next column.

Good reading! ■Suzane AvadiarEditor-In-Chief

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6 INTERVIEWLoc Dao of the National Film Board of Canada discusses the finer points of Interactive Documentaries.

10 COMPANY FOCUSEducational TV stations in Afghanistan are on the rise to change and develop the country through the advancement of future generations.

16 COUNTRY FOCUSDiscover the film and multimedia landscape of Malaysia, as the industry strives and sets its sight on the global stage.

24 MEDIAHUB MEMBER NEWSDeutsche Welle presents a web documentary on Serengeti. 24 France 24 English version on WYBN and Intelsat-21 satellite. 25 VTV to air Big Brother in Vietnam. 25 TSA distributes BarcaTV in Asia Pacific. 26 Malaysian film Vikingdom hits worldwide cinemas. 26 NFB’s Buying Sex enters US markets. 27 Fiji TV appoints new management team. 27 TV5 Monde opts for Volicon Observer Transport Stream system.

28 MIPCOM 2013 SPECIALThe New Golden Age of Television.

32 AGENDA12th Sichuan TV Festival / Broadcast India / Inter BEE / MIPCOM / SCaT India / World Content Market.

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CONTENTS

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http://en.sctvf.com.cnhttp://www.broadcastindiashow.com/http://www.inter-bee.com/en/http://www.mipcom.com/http://www.scatmag.com/scatindia/http://www.worldcontentmarket.com/venice/index.htm

“If you look backward from any single point in time, everything seems to lead up to that mo-ment…” (Bear 71; 2012)

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is an agency under the heritage depart-ment, funded 100% by taxpay-ers. They serve as Canada’s public producer and distributor of socially relevant audio and visual works. NFB has been very active in the production of inter-active documentaries, serving not only as a producer but co-creator of this dynamic genre.Loc Dao, a renowned, award-winning Executive Producer and

Creative Technologist for Digital Content and Strategy explained that four years ago NFB created a working guideline for new media projects which, is the creative application of technol-ogy to story and form. Recently however, they have begun to update that guideline with digi-tal strategies – adapting it to the creative application of platforms and technology to story and form. Their approach and philos-ophy is to first come up with the story and content, figure out the treatment, then decide upon the technology and the platform at the same time. “From the on-set, a project is conceived to be

potentially multi-platform but it is dependant on the story and the audience you want to reach. However, the cost becomes pro-hibitive when you start thinking that way,” Dao added.

“When the internet shifted to Web 2.0 around the year 2000, we shifted what we did back in the Canadian Broadcasting Cor-poration from telling short form stories online and we created the first Interactive 1.0 and a digital magazine that told stories every week in some kind of com-bination of linear and non-linear form of story telling,” Dao said. The team “cut their teeth on very

The new age of documentariesInteractive documentaries present a phenomenal new way of sharing ones thoughts, ideas, and vision with another. Mediahub Mag talks to Loc Dao of the National Film Board Of Canada about the finer points of interactive documentaries.

Scene from Waterlife

INTERVIEW

6

small bits”, having all come from a journalism background – from entertainment, arts and current affairs. Enfolding all those ele-ments into bite-sized stories, it eventually evolved into the lon-ger form to what is now termed ‘interactive documentaries’. “Seven years ago we produced the first interactive documen-tary for NFB called, Filmmaker in Residence and four years ago we started a whole string of interactive projects for the NFB from Waterlife (2009) to Bear 71 (2012),” he added.

According to Dao, NFB has flipped the whole model on its head. “In a traditional film you have a producer, director, DOP, and crew, and you go through the process of development, production, launch, and market-ing. We’ve combined the edito-rial process of journalism, film-making, and making websites from web studios and ad agen-cies, and developed that into a project with a creative team but no longer with a single director,” he said.

Taking a seed of an idea, which often comes from the filmmaker, paired with an interactive co-creator, such as a designer, creative director, programmer or anyone who is interested in story, NFB’s team collaborates on a project that takes it through to the next stages of production. “Most of our film documentaries take the approach of coming up with an idea, exploring the idea to a certain point until you are confident that there’s something there, go into production shoot, and then work the magic at the editing suite. That’s the typical process,” Dao added.

Interactive documentaries are similar to the approach used in a fictional film or drama with an

interactive plan and a script, all which needs to be in place before the project can move forward. “After that, we move into considerations such as, are we pushing the boundaries and trying something that may not work? If so, then we’ll do a technical prototype. Then, we move into the more traditional web world phases – such as information architecture, wire frames mood boards, and start the designing and programming process,” he said. These stages update as the project moves forward, working from the core premise but allowing various fac-tors surrounding the project to be determined as it progresses.

NEW INNOVATIONS

“We have started doing interac-tive installations and it is a com-pletely brand new field that is open for every project. For Bear 71, we built an augmented real-ity iPad app for the installation and a surveillance unit that used a combination of an iPad app with robotics technology. We are constantly exploring new ways of using technology to tell a story, and in Bear 71, that augmented reality app was a device for the story,” Dao said. Dao described that one of the layers of the story is about how we live our lives through technology; when people go on holidays, they live behind the lens of the camera – taking pictures and hardly put-ting the camera down and living life. “So, we used that as a meta-phor in the installation. By picking up the iPad and looking at the world projected in front of you, you create a barrier between yourself and the real situation be-cause of technology,” he added.

Another NFB project in develop-ment is with Vancouver based

“Most of our film documentaries takes the approach of coming up with an idea, exploring the idea to a certain point until you are confident that there’s something there, go into production shoot, and then work the magic at the editing suite.”

Loc Dao, Executive Producer & Creative Technologist at the

National Film Board Of Canada

7

Stan Douglas, one of the most renowned visual artists. Circa 1948 is a historical app that takes you back to Vancouver Post-WW II in 1948 and explores two parts of Vancouver; East and the West, rich and the poor, and corruption at that time through this non-lin-ear world that exists on your iPad and your phone. “It is a photo-realistic augmented reality app, where the space is recreated in the app in 3D,” Dao said.

Going beyond borders with their existing expertise, NFB also considers collaborations, having recently co-produced a film with NHK. “We also started some co-development exploration with NHK on an interactive project, so we are definitely open to co-productions and partner-ship agreements, the latter of which, seems to be a better fit for interactive projects,” Dao said. Simply put, NFB is “open to different models of collabora-tions because this is such a new industry”.

NFB also shares their innova-tions with others in the industry. “We have a curriculum that we developed based on our pro-cesses and we used it to train all the producers at the NFB, as well as some executives and marketing professionals in digital story telling,” Dao added. The programme is called DigiCamp, which was rolled out across the NFB a couple of years ago. They are now assisting several French producers through this programme, as well as explor-ing what opportunities exist in Asia in this area. According to Dao, the response to interactive documentaries so far has been really positive and encouraging, especially in Canada.

Almost all of NFB’s productions now have an online or app

component. There has also been a clear shift among traditional documentary filmmakers to get on-board with interactive docu-mentaries. Almost everyone con-siders whether they are creating something for several platforms. “Many traditional documen-tary makers have come to us with just interactive ideas. I’d say the same is true for France, Germany, Netherlands, and even Sweden. They are embrac-ing the change; as the shelf life for interactive documentary is also definitely much longer,” he added.

In terms of the audience, NFB’s interactive documentaries are reaching more audience than

their traditional documentaries ever reached before. Generally, their target core audience is a younger group; for Bear 71, they targeted 20 – 35 year olds, al-though in no way does that imply that the project will not appeal to an older audience. “We are working in partnership with The Guardian and they have a very interesting definition of this audi-ence, which they term as “The Progressives” – a younger audi-ence that is progressive-minded in some capacity,” Dao said.

Traditionally, the bulk of NFB’s film audience are Canadians, and then global but their in-teractive audience are a little different. “We still have the same mandate but we find that al-though our Canadian audience and taxpayers are our core audience, we also reach a lot of Americans, Europeans, and Asians as well. I think part of that is due to our content,” he said.

NFB also has specific targets for specific projects. When a project is being developed, they de-cide on their target audience, before moving on to a larger programming consideration. At that stage, NFB ensures that they have enough projects that target Canada, North America, and beyond, as well as other partnership projects that target a very niche audience. ■

“Many traditional documentary makers have come to us with just interactive ideas now... They are embracing the change; as the shelf life for interactive documentary is also definitely much longer”

Scene from Bear 71

INTERVIEW

8

http://www.novovision.tv

Educational Televisionin Afghanistan

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COMPANY FOCUS

10

Regardless of where we live, the plight of children makes us sit up and take notice. When it is a plight that concerns fundamental needs or basic rights, it demands our attention all the more. In this day and age, the rights of children to education should always be deemed a priority. However, when the children in question live in a war torn country, pri-oritising education seem point-less, especially when survival is a struggle that rules the day. For far too long, the people in Afghanistan have fought this battle.

Ravaged by war, political insta-bility, poverty, and countless oth-er pressing issues, Afghanistan has seen more than its share of horror, bloodshed, and anguish – especially the children. Despite that, in the last few years, there has been a vital focus on Afghan children and educational reform by those who have the means and expertise to make a differ-ence; television broadcasters such as, Aria TV and the Educa-tional Radio and Television of Afghanistan (ERTV).

According to Ajmal Obaid Abidy, the CEO of Aria TV, “Afghanistan is one of the worst places on earth for children to be born” and the 2011 report of Stop the War Coalition on “Children of Afghanistan” also confirmed this. Children are at extreme risk of violence, abuse, exploitation, and neglect. In 2009, the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disables (MoLSAMD) indi-cated the number of children at the extreme risk as 4.5 million. The basic rights of children to life and development are seriously com-promised at various levels.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Educa-tion has stated that there are close to 3 million children who do not have access to educa-tion. However, it would not be surprising if the actual number of children in this predicament is much higher than estimated, given the on going crisis in the country. With this alarm-ing reality in mind, Aria TV was launched as an exclusive chan-nel for children and teenagers in early 2011, with the primary goal of educating the children and young people of Afghani-

stan about their civic rights, and also facilitating a sort of be-havioural change. ARIA TV was initially launched in Kabul and is about to be expanded to Balkh. There are also expansion plans to cover Herat and Nangarhar before the end of 2013.

ERTV has had a longer presence in Afghanistan. Founded in 1969, their priorities were in the areas of teacher training, adult educa-tion, and programmes for school children through the use of radio and television. The station ex-perienced a major overhaul in 2003 when the government of Italy funded the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cul-tural Organization (UNESCO) to revitalise ERTV’s technical capa-bilities, rehabilitate the infrastruc-ture, and refurbish the channel’s premises and equipment.

UNESCO also assisted in providing technical expertise and advice to ERTV, as well as to the Min-istry of Education, and trained a new generation of Afghan broadcasters and teachers to supply high quality educational programming and materials. This

Despite the endless gloom of conflicts and sufferings Afghanistan has endured over the years, Mediahub Mag discovers that there is still a ray of optimism on the rise – especially concerning education for its children.

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has greatly helped ERTV to ac-complish their newer mandate to bring education to remote parts of the country and to vulnerable groups of people who have no access to formal schooling.

According to UNESCO, Afghani-stan’s education authorities struggle to address the 74% of the population who live in rural areas, where up to 90% of women and over 60% of men are illiterate, while almost 50% of school-age children are out of school. To address these specific issues, ERTV also provides con-tent that is focused on distance learning and public awareness.

THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE

For Aria TV, one key challenge is to simultaneously address the myriad of issues surrounding education for children, as every issue is equally important. Sus-tainability is another challenge. “When Aria TV was launched

two years ago as an exclusive channel for children and teen-agers, the very first feedback was “it won’t work”. The belief was that the social structure of Afghans would create a huge hurdle for Aria TV to grow and become the favourite channel for children,” said Abidy. How-ever, the circumstances have changed a little.

According to Abidy, Aria TV quickly proved that the conser-vative narration of Afghan social structure wrong. Within the first few days of its launch, parents were compelled to either buy an-other television set for their chil-dren or sit together as a family with their children to watch Aria TV programmes. This was mainly due to the nature of content aired. Aria TV showed an unseen angle of social and family life. It revealed that children could have a voice and be agents of change in their families and communities. Parents soon ob-

“There is a huge lack

of schooling system in

remote provinces so

there is much need of distance

learning through

television”

COMPANY FOCUS

12

served that their children could guide them on various issues.

“Very recently, a video clip went on-air, promoting an event to celebrate the second anniver-sary of Aria TV. The very next day, there was a huge crowed of people in front of the Aria TV’s office requesting entry slips for their children. One disabled parent journeyed from a rural area to obtain entry slips for his children. While waiting his turn patiently in his wheelchair, he explained to another par-ent how far he travelled and how much his children love Aria TV,” Abidy said. “I believe that Aria TV has introduced a very different and an unbelievable aspect of Afghan society. It has proved that people are eagerly welcoming new ideas and new ways to their lives,” he added.

ERTV’s challenge on the other hand, is enticing their target audience towards educational

programmes over entertainment. According to Zeer Safiullah, Director of ERTV most homes are equipped with only one TV set and the elders prefer watching entertainment channels, which means the children have no choice but to watch them too. Currently, ERTV operates only in the Kabul Province, but the plan is to extend to other provinces, where there is more need for educational programmes.

“There is a huge lack of school-ing system in remote provinces so there is much need of dis-tance learning through televi-sion,” Safiullah said. With the government’s focus on distance education as a vehicle to com-bat illiteracy, ERTV has their work cut out for them; bringing access to the rural and mountainous regions throughout Afghanistan.

EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

Safiullah also indicated that ERTV is always endeavouring to improve and create new pro-grammes. In their efforts to raise the bar and provide content of international standards, ERTV has obtained programmes from JAMCO, the educational branch of NHK in Japan. Acquired pro-grammes are translated into the two official Afghan languages - Dari and Pashto and broadcast on ERTV. For content in English, ERTV provides subtitles in those local languages. Most of ERTV’s current content is locally pro-duced and the focus in line with the curriculums in schools. The aim is to instil a habit among stu-dents to watch their lessons on TV and some of their more popu-lar programmes are shows that teach Chemistry, Mathematics, and Islamic studies.

For Aria TV, their primary audi-ence is pre-schoolers, school

students, and children out of school children and thus, 40% of their content is self-produced by a creative team and Afghan educators, to cater to a niche need. The remaining content is acquired from various English-speaking countries and then dubbed in local languages. The Afghan educators collaborat-ing with the creative team have many years of experience in the field of education and curricula development. They worked with different organizations and col-laborated with the Ministry of Education in creating quality education, bringing reforms to the curricula, writing different textbooks. They were also teach-ing at the primary, secondary and high schools and universities for many years.

Currently, there are three pro-gramming blocks to reach all its audience in an effective way; a preschool block that airs content with bright colours and sound effects, such as cartoons and live shows featur-ing children of the same age; an evening block that provides “education through entertain-ment” for school students; and ARIA at NIGHT, which is aimed at children and teenagers ages 2-19. There is also a special pro-gramming block during week-ends. For children out of school who are aged between 7 to 18 years old, Aria TV uses a to-tally different approach to bring these children back to normal life. Most of these children are socially marginalized and enjoy programmes that encourage and motivate them.

THE ROAD TO EXPANSION

According to Safiullah, although there are currently no provisions for digitisation yet, the Ministry of Information Technology is still

The team from Aria TV (both pictures)

13

working towards making it a possibility in the future. “We are working to be connected to sat-ellite, so that we will also be able to connect with our viewers living abroad,” he said. In the mean-time, ERTV’s expansion plans are focused on making their educa-tional programmes available in each and every remote province so that they are accessible to ev-eryone. The channel is also deter-mined to make its presence and efforts known globally. Through their participation at global conferences, Safiullah said ERTV is greatly benefiting, especially in creating programmes that are more advanced.

Aria TV’s expansion plans are on similar paths; focusing on improving the quality of their programming, not only to gain more viewership but also to edu-cate the younger generation.

“Our plan is to create an ARIA CORNER in different parts of the country, where Aria TV shows will be available on different plat-forms, such as on CDs and DVDs, so that more people have ac-cess to our shows,” Abidy said.

Aria TV also endeavours to ex-pand to satellite to reach their Afghan audience abroad and currently they are negotiating with service providers to make this a reality. “We will start the planning to go fully digital after 2014 and it will possibly take a year to complete the project. At the moment, our focus is on improving the quality of our programming and making the channel sustainable, so 2014 and 2015 will be when we focus on technological expansion,” Abidy added. ■

By Suzane Avadiar

“When Aria TV was launched two years ago

as an exclusive channel for

children and teenagers,

the very first feedback was

“it won’t work”

The team from ERTV

COMPANY FOCUS

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http://www.finas.gov.my

To merely say that the Malay-sian film and creative content industry has evolved and de-veloped in the last decade would be a severe understatement. The industry has taken such huge leaps and undergone such major transformations that the produc-tions emerging out of Malaysia are nothing short of astounding – both in terms of quality and quantity. The significant change is that today, the spotlight is shining from abroad. Malaysians are not only making films in abundance, they are making films that travel. While these achievements clearly derive from a stream of fresh talents and ambitious ideas, there are other factors that make up the winning equation, such as the various initia-tives and continued support from

local governmental bodies and private sectors – all equally com-mitted to making this industry soar beyond the Malaysian horizon.

The National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS), established in 1981, is the body responsible for promoting, preserv-ing, and facilitating the develop-ment of the film industry in Malay-sia. While the principal mission is to boost the film industry’s economy and creative content, their tasks have evolved over the years to include several other significant roles in their repertoire. These days, along with their function to regulate and develop the local film industry, FINAS also serves as a producer of local films and con-tent. Their pledge to enhance the

Collaborative efforts within the local film and creative content industry are opening new doors and planting Malaysia on the global map. Mediahub Mag takes a closer look.

16

COUNTRY FOCUS

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local industry, specifically within film, television, and other screen productions, has also brought about new efforts for content development, such as the “Film in Malaysia Incentive” (FIMI). FIMI will provide an additional finan-cial incentive for the production of creative content within Malay-sia through a 30% rebate on all Qualifying Malaysian Production Expenditure (QMPE) that meets the stipulated criteria. This incen-tive is offered to both Malaysian and foreign production, and post-production carried out in Malay-sia, which will potentially increase and entice foreign collaboration projects to Malaysia.

By and large, the local film in-dustry is already truly booming. Local producers are becoming more experimental and mov-ing out of their comfort zone. In the recent years, they have ventured into genres such as action, animation, and musical, and that has been a great boost for the local industry – both in terms of international exposure, as well as, revenue. In fact, FINAS’ recent published report clearly indicates a significant surge in the revenues brought about by local films at foreign film festivals in just the last three years; the total revenue indicated for 2010 was RM6,097,600; 2011 escalated to RM91,524,000; and in 2012, the figure further increased to RM180,820,000. FINAS’ atten-dance at various foreign film fes-tivals is also gradually increasing each year, which clearly shows that their efforts to promote the local industry are paying off.

The Multimedia Development Corporation, or MDeC, is the body that directs and oversees Malaysia’s National ICT (Informa-tion & Communication Technol-ogy) Initiative, also known as the MSC Malaysia (formerly known as the Multimedia Super Corridor

in Malaysia). Their primary role is to advise the Malaysian Govern-ment on legislation and policies, develop MSC Malaysia-specific practises, and set breakthrough standards for multimedia opera-tions. MSC Malaysia is Malaysia’s national ICT initiative designed to attract world-class technology companies while grooming the local ICT industry. Through MDeC, an MSC company receives recognition by the Government of Malaysia for ICT and ICT-facil-itated businesses that develop

or use multimedia technologies to produce and enhance their products and services.

MDeC is a government agency and they have one important task that was given to them by the government and that is to turn the creative multimedia industry into a economic growth area; which basically means to bring in revenues through this sector. Their return on investment will be based not just on mon-etary but also non-monetary fac-tors, which will have an impact on the financial growth of the sector. The non-monetary as-pects refer to mainly the cultural facet that will open doors to economic growth. It is an agen-cy that leverages on Malaysian companies that are able, willing and ready to go into this industry. This includes taking on-board existing companies, as well as creating new ones that can be involved in the creative multi-media industry, which is a wide-ranging sector.

According to Kamil Othman, Vice President and Director of Creative Multimedia at MDeC, the line of separation between FINAS and MDeC exists in their primary focus of expertise; the former directs its efforts towards film, while the latter concen-trates on the multimedia creative sector. Funding also contributes to the separation between the two bodies; FINAS holds the funds for live-action films, while MDeC holds the animation funds. However, these are two sectors that constantly bleed into one another and more often than not, both agencies team up on projects and funding to achieve the nation’s creative goals.

Last year, another new body was formed to take the local creative industry to greater heights. The Creative Content Association of

the line of separation

between FINAS and MDeC exists in their primary

focus of expertise; the

former directs its efforts

towards film, while the

latter concentrates

on the multimedia

creative sector.Kamil Othman, Vice President

and Director of Creative Multimedia at MDeC

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COUNTRY FOCUS

Malaysia (CCAM) is an initiative by the government to identify ar-eas of the economic sectors that can help to bring in additional GNI and income for the country by the year 2020. The creative sector is one of the potential ar-eas identified by the government. According to Dato’ Mohd Ma-hyidin Mustakim, CEO of CCAM, their mandate is quite clear – with three primary objectives. Firstly, to coordinate and organize inter-national events and markets in Malaysia, such as a Kuala Lumpur Film Market, with the support of relevant government bodies.

Secondly, CCAM is to lead trade delegations and the local film and content industry to attend international markets and events. This would position CCAM as the umbrella organization, while supported by other bodies such as FINAS and MDEC, on a global level. “This has to be a unified effort so that the overall local content and film industry will be structured,” Dato’ Mahyidin said. The final objective revolves around capacity building, which will help local producers under-stand the international market better and learn how to talk about their products, while creat-ing products that travel globally.

In just the last year, CCAM has attended over 14 markets world-wide – both large and small – working solely on promoting local content. The number of local productions, with the calibre to travel globally and screened at prestigious film festivals, is increas-ing rapidly. Films such as KIL, Ro-bokicks and Penanggal were all recently screened at film festivals abroad and received favourable responses. “In fact, CCAM has recently received an invitation to screen one of the local films at the Busan International Film Festi-val in South Korea, which not only marks a great honour but also

ensures tremendous exposure for the Malaysian film industry,” Dato’ Mahyidin added.

Malaysia’s free-to-air terrestrial network, Media Prima’s own channels and development of local content has in itself contrib-uted to enhancing the Malaysian film industry and local talent – especially through the develop-ment of new talents and col-laborations with local production

houses. One such initiative is via the formation of Lightbulb Pic-tures, which provides an accessi-ble platform for first-time filmmak-ers to bring their art to life. Their recent theatrical releases, Bisikan Syaitan, saw the directorial debut of filmmaker Faizul A. Rashid. KIL, another Media Prima production under Grand Brilliance, helmed by first-time filmmaker Nik Amir Mustapha, enjoyed its interna-tional premiere at the Marche du Film in Cannes this year. Another Grand Brilliance production, Chow Kit, presented by Prime-works Studios, which is also the distribution & sales arm of Media Prima, received nominations in three categories at the 2013 Asia Image Apollo Awards for Best Directing, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. All these achievements clearly indicate a distinct elevation of Malaysian film onto the global stage and with the collective efforts of both private and governmental bod-ies, the film landscape of Malay-sia is all but bursting out of its own borders.

THE GOALS

At this point CCAM’s short-term goal is to gather as much market intelligence as possible to col-late a report and disseminate it to all their members, which encompasses various produc-tion houses. “This will include genre-specific information such as advising the animation sec-tor on the best global festival to attend in order to market their work. Reports such as this will as-sist independent producers with vital information that they other-wise may not be able to obtain,” Dato’ Mahyidin said. CCAM also obtains detailed information on all other film markets globally each time they attend an event abroad, which will help to propel local producers further in the international market.

CCAM has recently

received an invitation to screen one of

the local films at the Busan

International Film Festival in South Korea,

which not only marks a great honour but also ensures tremendous exposure for

the Malaysian film industry.

Dato’ Mohd Mahyidin Mustakim, CEO of CCAM

19

At MDeC, the focus for expan-sion is to see the potential of what animation technology can do. “Animation is the future; it covers a huge sector and is not solely for entertainment. Almost every industry will probably require ani-mation at one point or another. As a short-term goal, we had to focus on entertainment anima-tion because that was the only way to bridge the divide. Any recent graduate in animation can immediately work for Proton to design a new car in 3D but that is wholly different from working on a design project for Supa Strikas, a digital interactive sports comic. So we were very aware of the fact that there is a rite of passage in this whole process that we had to undergo, hence we focused on entertainment animation. Howev-er, we are fully aware that it does not stop there, especially where our future animation projects are concerned,” Othman said

MDeC’s mid-term plan is to ex-plore areas that will create a new breed of copywriters, TV produc-ers, and documentary filmmakers

that will bring animation technol-ogy into areas that are not di-rectly related to entertainment. “It can be something as simple as a segment on how to pray in 3D, or creating a virtual character that goes to Mecca in 3D, which gives a person who has never been on a plane an idea of what he or she can expect on a journey to Mecca,” Othman added. Ani-mation is basically an ideal tool and style that works for almost any genre, however, the simple economic fact is that animated TV series will not be able to pro-vide the revenue that one wants; it is not enough to sustain unless it goes beyond Malaysian borders.

All three agencies are striving to go global with all local content and that is why co-productions

are crucial at this point because it will open up global doors. Cur-rently, there are several anima-tion projects in co-production with Korea, Thailand, Singapore, and Australia. It is an investment and although there is no guaran-tee that there will be a return on investment, these co-productions exposes Malaysians to the world stage. “Looking at the roadmap of our journey in going global with our content, between 1 to 10, I can confidently say that we are at 6 so we are more than halfway there. But remember that this is only where animation is con-cerned. We also have to do the same thing for games, films, and live TV dramas,” said Othman. “For the end products, we are doing it separately but in the last

Animation is the future; it covers a huge sector and is not solely for

entertainment. Almost every industry will probably require animation at

one point or another

20

COUNTRY FOCUS

10 years we have been look-ing at the commonalities that go through all these genres. For example, if you are a good 3D animator or scriptwriter, we can use your skills and talents across the board for all genres. So we initially concentrated on those areas because it gives us a strong base and now we can go on to focus on developing the individ-ual genres,” he added. However, there are aspects of concurrent developments for each genre. 3D animation is also termed CGI, or “Computer-Generated Im-agery”, and almost every genre can use some facet of the CGI technology, and it is this technol-ogy that MDeC is focused on developing, not merely anima-tion as a genre by itself.

THE GLOBAL STAGE

CCAM’s long-term goal is to take on the position as the main mar-keting representative for Malay-sian content on the global stage. “We want to be recognized as a one-stop centre for Malaysia so that we can serve as the spokes-

person for the local produc-tion industry. This also includes providing detailed information about local producers, produc-tion houses and statistics on the local industry to international media players,” Dato’ Mahyidin said. Another long-term goal is to situate Malaysia as a produc-tion and content hub on a global scale. “Currently, CCAM is work-ing on a 3-year plan to bid and secure a position as the Country of Focus at MIPCOM in 2016, which will ensure that all eyes will be on the Malaysian film, production, and content industry for the duration of a week-long event,” Dato’ Mahyidin added.

While MDeC works closely with FINAS to provide the CGI aspect for a film production, their ven-tures with CCAM are primarily for the international markets. CCAM endeavours to create global networks that will greatly help the newer companies within the industry. Since one of the key challenges faced by local producers of creative and multi-media content is Internationalisa-

tion – mainly creating products that travel – MdeC is focused on developing works that are marketable via these platforms. “With CCAM, we hope to ob-tain market Intel that will help us with the content we create. For example if we have an animated production of 13 episodes with over 1,000 hours but fail to sell it as a TV show, an agency such as CCAM can market the content to the mobile platform by slicing up the show,” Othman added.

MDeC has also successfully expanded the resources they provide through the aid of Tal-entCorp, which was established in 2011 to facilitate initiatives that address the availability of talent, in line with the needs of Malay-sia’s economic transformation. It recently pooled numerous people within the creative industry who were residing abroad. Through them, many new MSC companies were formed and their collective resources, skills and expertise, including vital international net-works, were made available to the local creative industry.

21

THE CHALLENGES

Initially for MDeC, the main chal-lenge was the infrastructure itself and it took almost six years to iron it all out. Subsequently, they faced another challenge pertaining to “legacy” issues that were not quite up to speed with the con-verging environment. “Legacy meaning: If you were a filmmaker who wanted to film an aerial shot of Kuala Lumpur, you would naturally require legal permission. However, the law that regulates this area dates back to a time when local security was tight and a huge concern. This law has not been changed,” Othman said.

The hurdle is while the infrastruc-ture and soft skills have begun to change rapidly, there are various existing policies and regulations, which are supposed to change and modify concurrently, have not caught up. When the multi-media creative sector was first in-cluded in the 8th Malaysian plan in 1999, the first five years were dedicated to capability-building, shaping the infrastructure, and developing soft skills and talent mining. By the 9th Malaysia Plan in 2005, MDeC was ready to delve into co-productions and expand their multimedia capabilities. However, what caused a chasm was that other relevant bodies,

policies and regulations were not quite ready so more time is still needed for all sectors to arrive at the same juncture.

For example, there is a rather ironic law that permits local TV stations to monopolise by allow-ing their subsidiaries to supply them content. This creates a pre-dicament because on one hand the government is investing in Malaysians to form content com-panies but on the other hand the available buyers are limited because they are sourcing within their own subsidiaries. One way to rectify this is for broadcasters to play a dual role of a buyer and an investor. “If they also choose to invest in content from local creative content producers, as opposed to merely buying from them, then they have a stake in their acquisition and this in turn, will prompt them to make sure that the content is of high quality, able to travel abroad, and per-haps even assist content produc-ers to sell that content abroad because they will want to make their return on their investment too,” Othman said.

Intellectual Property (IP) is also still a huge challenge locally, which needs to be addressed because when there are no strict IP policies enforced, content

becomes a disposable item. To this end, the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (My-IPO) has taken some significant steps in this area and is making it easier for anyone to walk into their office to register their IP. The responsibility falls into the hands of creators to be pro-active and protect their IP and creation.

THE INCENTIVES & FUNDING

Through MDeC’s MSC member companies, who operate glob-ally, MDeC is able to develop the local film industry and talents. They provide incentives, grants and resources to any filmmaker with the stipulation that one of their MSC companies must be used in some aspect of the production. These incentives vary from co-production funds to development funds and post-production funds – under the umbrella of the Malaysian Ani-mation Creative Content Centre, also known as the MaC3 Fund, which represents the collec-tive funds and facilities that are available through MDeC. Recipi-ents of the MaC3 funds include animation productions such as, Boboi Boy and Bola Kampung. MaC3 Funds aids development and co-productions, while its fa-cilities assist first-time filmmakers and animators, who otherwise

• Encourage Malaysian film producers to produce high quality creative content for both domestic and international markets.

• Attract foreign film producers to conduct film activities in Malaysia and to establish Malaysia as a destination for international filming.

• Increase employment opportunities for artists and local crews who provide goods and services throughout the ecosystem of the creative content industry.

• Increase opportunities for film production companies, post-production centre, film equip ment rental companies and studios or compa nies that provide goods and services throughout the ecosystem of the creative content industry.

• Drive the creative content ecosystem and increase the economic contribution of the creative content industry and related industries.

• Develop Malaysia’s reputation as an efficient and cost effective hub for the creative content industry.

OBJECTIVES OF FINAS’ FILMING IN MALAYSIA INCENTIVES (FIMI)

22

COUNTRY FOCUS

have no access to equipment and resources to create. The greatest beneficiaries of these resources are students. Each year almost 350 students from art institutions such as, Lim Kok Wing, Multimedia University, and One Academy, use these facili-ties to complete their work. The same facilities are also available to MSC companies but unlike students who use the facilities free of charge, a discounted fee is imposed. MaC3 also conducts training programmes for MSC companies who create content, which include how to read copy-right law, contracts, maintain cash flow, and understand how a deal is made, so they also know how to market and protect their creation.

Through these efforts and in-centives, in the last five years alone, there has been a more

concerted effort to make Malay-sian stories acceptable globally. Content creators have linked their products to an economic value – that only if it travels can they make their reputation, see a revenue, and subsequently even create a brand around their creation. This is clearly what the animation show, Upin and Ipin, has succeeded in doing, and another local production, Bob-oiBoy, is also now well on its way to achieving. Another significant change is an increased growth of funders outside the govern-ment bodies, such as Ideate Media. “We have recently made a deal with Ideate Media where MDeC will fund the development of a project and once the story-board is ready, Ideate will invest and fund the production,” said Othman. There is also a much better funding mechanism in place because development

of a project is now seen as a key recipe-maker. “I foresee a convergence of all the various agencies – such as the Content Development components of MDeC, SKMM, FINAS - merged into one main body that focuses solely on the content develop-ment of a production. We should focus on nurturing and encour-aging artists who want to create and leave behind a legacy, not merely players who are riding the wave to make a quick buck,” he concluded. ■

By Suzane Avadiar

In the last five years alone, there has been a more concerted effort to make

Malaysian stories acceptable to the rest of the world

Land Area 328 657km2

Source: by July 2012, world.bymap.org

Population29.34 million

Source: as at May 13, 2013, Department of Statistics Malaysia

TV household penetration rate97.7%

Source: 2012, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia

Commission

Mobile penetration rate143.4%

Source: 2013, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia

Commission

TV stations88

Broadband penetration rate66.8% (per 100 households)

Source: 2013, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia

Commission

KEY FIGURES

23

http://world.bymap.org/LandArea.htmlhttp://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/download_Buletin_Bulanan/files/BPBM/2013/FEB/MSB_FEB2013.pdfhttp://www.skmm.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/General/pdf/Q4-2012-ENG-250213.pdfhttp://www.skmm.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/General/pdf/Q4-2012-ENG-250213.pdf

German international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW) recently added a new interactive web documentary called Serengeti - Toward an Uncertain Future, to its multimedia climate series, Global Ideas. The series presents projects geared towards sustainable climate protection and species conservation in developing and transition countries. Produced in cooperation with the Frankfurt Zoologi-cal Society (ZGF), Serengeti - Toward an Uncertain Future sheds light on Africa’s great savannah, the Serengeti, which has been endangered for over 50 years. The documentary reveals the Serengeti through the stories of rangers and wildlife experts, who have devoted their lives to this region that cov-

ers over 30,000 square kilometres in Northern Tanza-nia. DW’s Reporter, Inga Sieg, together with camera-man, Axel Warnstedt, and Sound Technician, Moritz Polomski, spent two weeks in Tanzania collecting on-ground audio and visual of Serengeti’s inhabitants and wild animals. “Our web documentary draws on multiple media, and is targeted in particular towards internet-savvy young people. The Serengeti docu-mentary comprises three topics: The World of Wild Animals; Hard Times for the Savanna; and Serengeti Shall Not Die. Each of the 17 videos tell a unique story from Central Africa’s savannah,” said Sieg.

Source: dw.de

Deutsche Welle presents a web documentary on Serengeti

France 24 English version on WYBN and Intelsat-21 satelliteFrench international broadcaster, France 24, has secured a new distribution deal with WYBN, a US-based digital terrestrial televi-sion network, which further strengthens its presence in New York state. France 24’s English version is now available on WYBN TV-14’s Channel 14.8, and reaches over 550,000 households across the Albany/Schenectady/Troy Designated Market Area (DMA). First operated in October 2011, WYBN TV-14 is an independent television station based at Windham Mountain. The station broadcasts signal and con-

tent primarily to the Albany/Schenect-ady/Troy area. Meanwhile, Intelsat-21 satellite recently added France 24’s English version on its platform, which covers the North and South American region. The new satellite capacity will facilitate the direct signal reception by South American cable operators,

which in turn, will allow the channel to expand its audience throughout the continent.

Source: France 24

24

MEMBER NEWS

http://www.dw.de/dw-launches-web-documentary-serengeti-toward-an-uncertain-future/a-17061880http://www.france24.com/en/

State-owned broad-caster Vietnam Television (VTV) has acquired the broad-cast rights to air Big Brother, Endemol’s most successful reality television show, for the

first time in Vietnam. Through the deal, VTV has commissioned 65 episodes of Big Brother, and the nine-week series is set to air on VTV6 channel later this year. “Big Brother continues to be an unstoppable blockbuster for more than a decade since it first launched. Following the format’s proven success in other Asian territories, we are proud to be bringing it to Vietnam for the very first time and we have no doubt that VTV6’s audience will love it,” said Fotini Paraskakis, Endemol’s Managing Director of Asian Operations.

Globally, Big Brother is one of the most successful reality for-mats, with over 20 series aired in more than 70 countries this year, including USA, UK, Italy, Spain, Israel, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, and Africa. The show gathers 12 strangers into the Big Brother house, where they must share every minute of the next 100 days without any access to the outside world. The house is equipped with cam-eras and microphones to record their every move, and viewers have the ultimate power to decide who will leave the house. The last participant to leave is declared the winner and re-ceives a huge cash prize.

Source: Asia Media Journal

TSA distributes BarcaTV in Asia Pacific

includes full delayed coverage of all FC Barcelona’s matches played in La Liga, Copa Del Rey, and the UEFA Champions League, as well as, exclusive reports, interviews, and behind the scenes footage from the club. “TSA is honoured to be working with such an icon in world sports, as FC Barcelona. We are really excited to be able to bring global superstars, Messi, Neymar, Iniesta, Xavi, Fabregas, and Pique to the Asia Pacific liv-ing rooms, not only for all of the games they play, but also to see what they are like off the pitch,” said Julian Jackson, TSA’s Chief Content Officer.

Source: TSA

Asia’s global leader in sports content, Total Sports Asia (TSA), has signed a distribution deal with MediaPro, a Span-ish distributor and production company, to distribute its FC Barcelona’s official club chan-nel, Barca TV, throughout the Asia Pacific region. The agree-ment will allow TSA to become the exclusive distributor of the channel in the Asia Pacific region. Barca TV produces two weekly programming blocks of three hours for the international market. Content on the channel

VTV to air Big Brother in Vietnam

25

http://www.asiamediajournal.com/http://www.totalsportsasia.com/

Malaysian film Vikingdom hits worldwide cinemas

Malaysian film, Viking-dom: The Blood Eclipse, a production by KRU Studios and Epic Pictures, will be screened in US cinemas from October 4, 2013. Subsequently, the film will also be screened in countries around the world, including United Kingdom, Aus-tralia, New Zealand, the Nordics, and other additional territories. “We have a commitment of 30 to 50 screens in the US. It is not a big release, but it’s still a re-lease. It’s an achievement to get screened in cinemas (interna-tionally) and some will be avail-able in 3D,” said Yusry Abdul Halim, Director of Vikingdom.

Universal Pictures will be handling the distribution of Vikingdom internationally. To date, Viking-dom is Malaysia’s biggest pro-duction with a budget of over RM20million (USD 6.05million). The film was also awarded with a RM2million (USD 605,968) grant from the Malaysia’s National Film Development Corpora-tion (FINAS). According to Yusry, Vikingdom entailed six months of pre-production work, two months of filming, and 16 months of post-production, primarily for visual effects in excess of 3,000 shots.

“All pre-production, production, and post-production work was

executed in Malaysia, mainly by Malaysians. The filming loca-tions were predominantly shot in sound stage studios in Kuala Lumpur to create the surreal world akin to that of Lord of The Rings and 300,” said Yusry at a forum entitled ‘The Art of Viking-dom’, which was held in Kuala Lumpur on August 27, 2013, in conjunction with the theatrical release of the film in Malaysia, scheduled for September 12, 2013.

“Vikingdom is a visual effects driven action movie and two years of my life (was) dedicated towards completing this project. The challenging part during pro-duction was filming the action sequences and in post-produc-tion, the extensive visual ef-fects,” Yusry added. Vikingdom is based on a Viking mythology, which features a forgotten king, Eirick, who is tasked with the im-possible odds to defeat Thor, the God of Thunder. Eirick’s mission is to retrieve a mystical arte-fact called Odin’s Horn before Thor and his army unleash their power to conquer the world. The film features Hollywood stars like Dominic Purcell, Natasha Mal-the, Craig Fairbass, Jon Foo, and Conan Stevens.

Source: The Star, ETP

NFB’s Buying Sex enters US marketsUS-based independent film distribution company, First Run Features, recently acquired distribution rights in the US for the National Film Board of Can-ada’s (NFB) feature documentary entitled, Buy-ing Sex. Produced by Annette Clarke for the NFB, Buying Sex explores the state of prostitution laws in Canada. The documentary gathers conflicting views of sex workers, policy-makers, lawyers, and even male buyers, about the legal prostitution activities in Canada. Buying Sex also highlights two countries that have made ground-breaking

reforms in their sex industry: Sweden, with its femi-nist-based zero-tolerance law, and New Zealand, with its decriminalization model. The film provides critical and contentious opinions about the po-tential changes in the Canadian prostitution laws and the realities surrounding them. Buying Sex will premiere at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, on September 13, 2013, followed by a series of na-tional community screenings across Canada.

Source: National Film Board of Canada

26

MEMBER NEWS

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2013/08/28/Malaysianmade-Viking-flick-to-hit-US-cinemas-on-Oct-4.aspxhttp://etp.pemandu.gov.my/News-@-Universal_to_Release_Vikingdom_in_Several_Countries.aspxhttp://onf-nfb.gc.ca/en/press-room/press-releases-media-kits/?idpres=21031

TV5Monde opts for Volicon Observer Transport Stream systemFrench-language network, TV-5Monde, has chosen Volicon, the global leader in Multi-Channel Media Monitoring for broad-casters, to convey compliance logging as the channel migrates to an HD technical infrastructure. Under the agreement, TV5Monde opted for Volicon’s Observer® TS (Transport Stream) monitoring and logging sys-tem. The system enables reliable continuous log-ging of 11 exist-ing services, and provides a robust set of feature that automates and simplifies a variety of critical monitoring tasks. “The Volicon Observer TS system not only ad-dresses the full range of services related to logging, but also gives us a complete solution that does not require any adaptation on our part,” said Mallory Dela-porte-Bernues, System Engineer at TV5Monde.

“The Observer is an all-in-one solution that simplifies opera-tions while helping us to en-hance the value of our staff. On-duty monitoring personnel enjoy convenient remote ac-cess, with a clear and near-instantaneous view of any monitored channel. Both tech-nical and non-technical staff

can work confidently with logs, thanks to the ease with which they can access content and data. I really count on those capabilities to improve the quality of our deliveries,” added Delaporte-Bernues.

In addition, the Observer TS enables continuous logging of MPEG transport streams,

monitoring of programme QoE, and the seamless export and streaming of MPEG TS or low-resolution proxies across the enterprise or WAN. Other com-pelling features for TV5Monde include the Observer system’s integrated QC and loudness control functionality. Further-more, according to Volicon, The

Observer system at TV5Monde allows broad-casters to automate

extraction of content for tagged events, such as a loss-of-service alert from a satellite downlink probe. As the number of TV-5Monde channels grows and its deliveries start to include HD services, growth will be a simple matter of adjusting the logging system.

Source: Volicon

Fiji TV appoints new management teamFiji Television Limited recently announced a new organisational structure with the appointment of new management team. As part of their organisational changes, Fiji TV appointed Geof-fery Smith as the Head of News; Nitesh Chand as Head of Corporate Affairs; Serai Roxburgh as the Head of Compliance; and Tanya Waqanika as the Head of Content and Production. The new management structure aims to place Fiji TV at

the forefront of the Pacific community stakehold-ers and to ensure that the company delivers services that are comparable to more devel-oped nations. According to Tevita Gonelevu, Chief Executive Officer of Fiji TV, these changes are significant in order to stay competitive in the intensive entertainment industry of the Pacific.

Source: FijiVillage.com

27

http://www.volicon.com/company/news-events/press-releases/444-tv5monde-employs-volicon-observer-ts-for-complete-compliance-monitoring-eyes-additional-use-caseshttp://www.fijivillage.com/?mod=story&id=030913224da5b5de7246df1c34a4a7

Cannes is gearing up to welcome over 13,000 visitors from around the world for the most anticipated global market for entertainment across all platforms, MIPCOM. Organised by Reed MIDEM, the event will take place at the Palais de Festival over the course of four days, where every moment can turn into an opportunity, and every meeting, screening, and conference into groundbreaking deals.

This year the conferences and event programmes are focused on ‘The New Golden Age of Television’, concentrating on the current state of television. From the rise of the limited series to the advent of full-season same-day releases, television is entering a “new golden age”. The quality

of TV content has risen to bring in more choices in content, chan-nels, and creative ideas, than ever before. With an insatiable global appetite for cinema-quality episodic storytelling, to be consumed on multiple screens at anytime, the TV and film studios are leveraging internationally renowned actors and directors to deliver a level of blockbuster entertainment that was once reserved for the big screen.

This year’s Media Mastermind Keynote Series, which feature inspiring keynotes by top ex-ecutives from the entertainment industries, promises to provide insight on the future of the TV entertainment landscape around the world. “Television is undergo-ing a dramatic transformation and confirms itself as the world’s

most creative medium for the world’s best storytellers. With more screens and more interac-tion coming into play, television and storytelling as we know it is being redefined — leading to more creative and business opportunities than ever before,” said Laurine Garaude, Director of Reed MIDEM’s Television Division.

“As we enter a new golden age of television, MIPCOM is delight-ed to welcome some of the most influential personalities of the new world of content from major film, television and online com-panies such as Bravo and Style Media, FremantleMedia, Relativ-ity Media, and Amazon Studios,” added Garaude. Among the confirmed initial line-up for the Media Mastermind Keynote series are Frances Berwick, President of Bravo and Style Media, Cécile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of the Fre-mantleMedia, Ryan Kavanaugh, CEO of Relativity Media, and Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios.

2013:

The New Golden Age of Television

Keynote lineup (from left): Frances Berwick, President of Bravo and Style Media, Cécile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of the FremantleMedia, Ryan Kavanaugh, CEO of Relativity Media, and Roy Price, Director of Amazon Studios

New crime-drama The Tunnel will be screened at the event on October 7, 2013 at the Grand Auditorium of Cannes’ Palais des Festivals

Mediahub Mag presents a glimpse of what’s in store at the 50th edition of MIPCOM, held from Oct 7–10

MIPCOM 2013

28

“With the first speakers lined up for the Media Mastermind Key-note programme, a new Croi-sette Village exhibition venue to meet increasing demand for stands and companies already expressing interest in bringing in more talent than ever be-fore, MIPCOM 2013 promises to be a record-breaking edi-tion,” commented Garaude. Meanwhile, this year Argen-tina serves as the ‘Country of Honour’. In partnership with the Argentine National Film Board (Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales), MIPCOM will organise a dedicated focus on Argentina’s vibrant television, film, and digital media industries. The spotlight on Argen-tina will feature a wide-ranging programme of high-level conferences, screening showcases, co-production matchmaking, and Argentine-themed networking events.

“Argentina is a global TV produc-tion powerhouse, renowned for its international award-winning TV series and films. The Argentine National Film Board plays a criti-cal role in supporting the grow-

ing contingency of independent Argentine producers attending our markets. This country focus at MIPCOM will invite delegates from across the globe to discover the diversity and richness of content produced across Ar-gentina. We are thrilled to name Argentina as our 2013 Country of Honour,” said Garaude. In 2012, MIPCOM attracted more than 144 Argentine delegates from 48 Argentine companies. Some of the leading exhibitors included INCAA, The Argentina Audiovi-sual/UCINE, Construir TV, Telefe International, Artear, American Video Films, and Telefilms.

“From Ushuaia in the south, to La Quiaca in the north, including the global production capital of Buenos Aires, Argentina stands apart in Latin America as a truly dynamic producer of television content for international mar-kets,” said Liliana Mazure, Presi-dent of INCAA.

“The MIPCOM focus on Argen-tina is a unique platform for in-ternational buyers, co-producers and distributors to discover the quality, vision and diversity of our content and original stories. The Argentine National Film Board is delighted to partner with Reed MIDEM to present Argentina as the MIPCOM 2013 Country of Honour,” Mazure added.

The MIPCOM Personality of the Year Award, which recognises in-dustry executives for their excep-tional career and contribution in the entertainment sector, was recently awarded to the CEO of Dreamworks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg. Katzenberg will of-ficially accept the award during a gala dinner for the industry

executives at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes on Oc-tober 9, 2013. In addi-

tion, Katzenberg will

Jeffrey Katzenberg,CEO of Dreamworks Animation

29

ABC COMMERCIALNatalie Lawley, Manager of ABC Commercial Content Sales

Given our extensive cross-genre release at this year’s MIPCOM, we are looking to drive home ABC Commercial’s position in the international marketplace as a major player in the distribution and repre-sentation of premium, blue chip titles, across a range of genres. Anthony Mrsnik (Man-ager, International Acquisitions and Business Development) and I are looking for pre-school content; either completed pro-grams or programming that is in development. So far we have targeted the factual, children’s, and lifestyle genres. We have also branched into co-produc-tions, as well as our very own ABC Commercial productions in order to create fresh, in-de-mand content. Our acquisitions strategy is skewed towards pre-mium, blue chip, and one-off natural history documentaries, which we have recently had significant success with.

For distribution, we have sales managers who specialise in individual territories across the world, including a specialist in format sales. Our focused at-tention and experience, atten-dance at international markets, and frequent sales trips, enables us to maintain strong relation-ships with our clients and push our content across all platforms and rights, including merchan-dise licensing and digital, whilst

maintaining strong results from traditional broadcast. Interna-tional participants who visit the ABC Commercial stand will be able to view our extensive cata-logue, as well as meet with our team, who are extremely knowl-edgeable about marketplace trends. Drop in and say hello at the ABC Commercial stand at 04.36/06.37 and 06.34.

FLAME DISTRIBUTIONMichelle Maio, Content Sales Coordinator, Flame Distribution

This year will be Flame Distribu-tion’s third year at MIPCOM and as our catalogue continues to rapidly expand, it is a great op-portunity to bring our buyers up to date with our new titles. We are launching a number of exciting new series this market including Great Estates (4 x 1 hr), Dream Island (6 x ½ hr), Rio City of Sport (6 x ½ hr), and Lyndey Milan’s Taste of Australia (13 x ½ hr). Flame’s catalogue is full of captivating factual en-tertainment and documentary content. We have many hours of food, travel, history, science, sport, and crime programming to fill those empty slots in buy-ers’ schedules. At this year’s MIPCOM, we are particularly interested in seeing more male-skewed and travel content.

Our aim is to acquire factual content with a broad, interna-

tional appeal. Although we are an Australian company, our content comes from a variety of outstanding international pro-ducers and we wish to continue that. We have appointed UK-based Acquisitions Managers who are focused on sourcing content from the UK, USA and Europe. International buyers will have the chance to meet with their Sales Manager and view our new content. Flame’s Acqui-sitions team will also be at our booth at Stand 04.34 to meet with producers who are looking for assistance with international distribution of their programs or for co-production opportunities. We also have some delicious Australian sweets if you are feel-ing hungry!

MEDIACORPTang Yun Leung, Vice President, Content Distribution, Media-Corp

We are looking forward to ‘go-ing shopping’ at one of the biggest and most important content markets of the year. We hope to meet new and old business contacts, find lots of great new content, linear chan-nels, and fresh ideas. As always, we are looking for the magic bullets that will build the sched-ules and services: multiple rights for multiple genres for our mul-tiple free-to-air channels and new video on demand service Toggle. We will also offer four documentaries from *The Asian Pitch 2012 such as: Wheatfield Sailors (Taiwan), Sorrowgacy (India), Defector (South Korea),

MEDIAHUB MAG CONSULTED SEVERAL KEY PLAYERS WITHIN ASIA PACIFIC FOR AN INSIGHT ON THEIR STRATEGIES AND WHAT THEY ARE EXPECTING AT MIPCOM THIS YEAR.>>

MIPCOM 2013

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and Sanitary Towels Inc (India). Beyond these, our MediaCorp productions for the new Toggle platform will soon be marketed to international broadcast-ers – they include Telemovies, documentaries, games shows, and mini segments on Food, Fashion, Beauty tips etc.

We aim to source for the best and most current content and linear channels relevant to our free-to-air channels and new video on demand ser-vice Toggle. Digital rights are a crucial part of the rights spec-trum we require. We also bring a range of genres to MIPCOM so that buyers looking for both niche and general entertain-ment content will have a nice selection to consider. Media-Corp booth originates a diverse range of high-quality and com-pelling content so there is defi-nitely something suitable for any markets. Mediacorp will be at the Singapore Pavilion at Booth Number 07-19-05-20 Level 1.

*The Asian Pitch 2012 is NHK-MediaCorp-KBS collaboration for independent directors/film-makers in Asia to tell original stories about the region.

GIGGLE GARAGEZeno Gabing, Executive Direc-tor, Giggle Garage

I expect that MIPCOM this year will further provide internation-al opportunities that leverage our capabilities, either through co-production works or anima-tion services.

At the moment, we have two properties that are tar-

geted for 3-6 years children shows they are BOING The Play Ranger (26 x 11’) and ORIGANIMALS (52 x 11’). BO-ING is fully completed and now available through our worldwide distributor, Synergy Media ORIGANIMALS, it is cur-rently under production and 26 episodes will be completed by mid-2014, the balance of 26 episodes by early 2015. In addition, we are attending MIPCOM this year to pitch a new content idea at its very early stage. The show Cham & Leon is a non-verbal slapstick comedy for young audience and we are looking for inter-ested parties to invest or co-produce the show or contrib-ute to the development ideas. This developmental show will be shown at MIPJunior screen-ing for potential investors/pro-ducers.

As a producer, our strate-gies for the type of content we want to roll up to produc-tion or co-production are very clear. ORIGANIMALS, for example is an original content that has unique characters, re-ally fun, and engaging story in addition to having very strong international appeal to the audience. ORIGANIMALS also promotes arts and creativ-ity, bringing back the simple pleasure of creating some-thing out of paper. New ideas or new content would have to have these qualities to say the least. Giggle Garage will be at Booth 11.18 Malaysian Pavilion. We will share with current proj-ects especially, ORIGANIMALS and also Cham & Leon and even talk about the industry in Malaysia, the government infrastructure, and support system, as well as the business possibilities.

also be one of the speakers for the Media Mastermind Keynote series to share his unique insights on the television business.

“Jeffrey Katzenberg’s outstand-ing impact on the entertainment industry is internationally recog-nised, as he has brought excep-tional films, both live-action and animation, to millions of people around the world. The acquisi-tions of Classic Media and Awe-somenessTV, the recent ground-breaking deals with companies including Netflix and Super RTL, and DreamWork Animation’s continuing expansion into the television world, all demonstrate his clear vision of the future of en-tertainment,” said Paul Zilk, CEO of Reed MIDEM.

Since it’s debut in 2010, the World Premiere TV Screening has posi-tioned the event as a premium showcase for leading television and film companies to the most influential community of buyers, distributors, networks, and com-missioners from all around the world. This year, a thrilling new crime-drama entitled The Tun-nel will be screened at the event on October 7, 2013 in the Grand Auditorium of Cannes’ Palais des Festivals at 18:15. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the stars and executive pro-duction team, which include Clé-mence Poésy, Stephen Dillane, Tom Bateman, Cédric Vieira, and Sigrid Bouaziz. The Tunnel is com-mission by Sky Atlantic HD and CANAL+, coproduced by Kudos Film and Shine France Films, while Shine International is the interna-tional distributor. It will be broad-cast in the UK on Sky Atlantic HD in October 2013 and in France on CANAL+ in November. ■

By Amanina Nazari

continued from page 31

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The 12th Sichuan TV Festival is organised by the China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) together with the Sichuan Provincial People’s Government. Established in 1991, the biennial Festival has now become one of the most reputable TV festivals in Asia and is the most effective platform to capitalise on the TV and film marketing industry in China. In

its mission to reach a more global audience, the Festival this year will feature a ‘Multicultural Media Event’, which is a screening day that focuses on respective countries such as Australia, Germany, Finland, Russia, Denmark, Britain, and Thailand.

12th Sichuan TV Festival will be held on Novem-ber 16-18, 2013 in Chengdu, Sichuan China.

12TH SICHUAN TV FESTIVAL

The International Broadcast Equipment Exhibition, Inter BEE, is a renowned international exhibition for the audio, video, and communication sectors. Inter BEE showcases world-class cutting edge technology for broadcasting, video, audio, and lighting, as well as related applications and solutions from across Japan and around the world. This year, the Exhibition is changing its direction from an event that is focused on broad-casting equipment to a compre-hensive media exhibition, which embraces production technolo-gy for video content, distribution technology, and many more.

Inter BEE 2013 will be held on November 13-15, 2013 at the Makuhari Messe, Japan.

BROADCAST INDIA 2013 INTER BEE 2013

The Broadcast India Show is an annual event for the broad-cast and entertainment industry, showcasing the latest technology for television, film, radio, audio, IPTV, mobile TV, and other related sectors. Entering its 23rd edition, the show continues to bring together a broad cross-section of profes-sionals from across the globe. The event features a two-day conference hosted concurrently with its main exhibition. Broadcast India aims to become an enhanced platform for informative and enlightening debates, along with product promotions.

Broadcast India 2013 will be held on October 9-10, 2013 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai.

AGENDA

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http://en.sctvf.com.cnhttp://www.broadcastindiashow.com/http://www.inter-bee.com/en/

WORLD CONTENT MARKET

The Satellite and Cable Television India Tradeshow, SCaT India, is the country’s largest exhibition exclusively for the Indian satellite and cable TV industry. SCaT’s annual exhibitor profiles range from CATV hardware manufacturers, broadband service and technology providers, as well as satellite broad-casters and TV channels. The event is organised by SCAT Media and Consul-tancy Pvt Ltd, which widely promotes activities related to the Indian Cable TV and Satellite Broadcasting Industry.

SCaT India 2013 will be held on Oc-tober 25-27, 2013 at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai, India

MIPCOM is hailed as the world’s most anticipated global market for entertainment across all plat-forms. The market serves as the main platform for the broadcasting industry to network, discover new trends, and get deals done. Annually, MIPCOM at-tracts over 13,000 participants and 1,700 exhibitors from over 100 countries. The four-day event show-cases exhibitions, top-level conference sessions, screenings, as well as networking and matchmak-ing events, for providers and buyers in the enter-tainment industry.

MIPCOM 2013 will be held on October 7-10, 2013 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France.

SCAT INDIA 2013MIPCOM 2013

The World Content Market is a one-stop market-place for television, film, and media executives. The three-day event attracts delegates from over 60 countries worldwide and provides a plat-form for buying and selling, exploring new deals and negotiations, workshops, as well as network-ing. The goal of the market is to drive sales for individual businesses and provide cost-effective conditions for participation, which will enable any company to achieve productive results with

minimum use of financial resources. Attendees in-clude representatives from TV channels, portals & social networks, and VOD platforms, distributors, producers, studio executives, cable & satellite Operators, mobile operators, content aggrega-tors, and media associations.

World Content Market will be held on November 25-27, 2013 at the Hotel Monaco and Grand Ca-nal in Venice, Italy.

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http://www.worldcontentmarket.com/venice/index.htmhttp://www.scatmag.com/scatindia/http://www.mipcom.com/

*Vodien Analytic Report Mar 2013 ** Publisher’s own data Mar 2013

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