NEWS: Singapore Media Festival Wraps Up Its Fifth Edition2 min read
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The Singapore Media Festival (SMF) 2018 wrapped up a hallmark year for Asian storytelling, drawing to its constituent events a total of over 23,000
media and creative professionals, industry thought-leaders and enthusiasts of television and film from around the globe.
Hosted by Singapore’s Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA), the fifth edition of the Singapore Media Festival took place from 28 November to 9 December, and comprised the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF), ScreenSingapore, the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), SMF Ignite, and the inaugural edition of the Asian Academy Creative Awards (AAA).
2018’s ATF and ScreenSingapore saw record-breaking performance, from attendance to sales transactions on the market floor. Attended by over 5,600 delegates from 58 countries and regions, over US$313 million worth of deals and partnerships were estimated to have been facilitated over the dynamic three-day market. There were three winners for the ATF Chinese Pitch, including Singapore’s Mulan, the Robot Girl by The Big Shots LLP. Malaysia’s phoSumpro! won the ATF Formats Pitch with Serenade, and PT Kumata Indonesia’s Galli Leo Lei won the ATF Animation Pitch.
Wrapping up its 29th edition, SGIFF 2018 welcomed a record-breaking attendance of more than 17,000 festival-goers from Singapore and across the region. The festival showcased a total of 103 feature and short films from 44 countries, with 29 sold-out screenings of local and international films, masterclasses and In Conversations sessions. At the end of the festival, an awards ceremony was held with A Land Imagined (2018) by Yeo Siew Hua winning Best Southeast Asian Film, and A Million Years (2018) by Danech San cinching Best Short Film.
SMF Ignite Conference presented a dynamic line-up of inspiring keynotes to an eager crowd of close to 400 attendees and also received more than 2,000 impressions through its ‘livestream’ on Facebook. Keynotes were delivered by industry luminaries such as Chen Xiao, Jim Louderback, Alex Smith, John Sietsma and Nuseir Yassin. As part of SMF Ignite, Nuseir Yassin also led a workshop for three Singapore online content creators, sharing with them tips on storyboarding and content creation, before they each presented their one-minute videos during Singapore Hour on 6 December.
The newly minted AAA made history with winners from 16 territories, across 49 production and acting categories over two star studded awards ceremonies, held on 6 and 7 December at Singapore’s historic Capitol Theatre. Winners from 13 nations and territories took home the top honours, with Indonesia’s Adinia Wirasti claiming the Best Lead Actress award for her role in HOOQ’s Critical Eleven and China’s Yu Hewei (Jetsen Huashi) winning the Best Lead Actor award for his role in The Drug Hunter. The Best Direction award was won by India’s acclaimed Anurag Kashyap and Japan’s Miss Sherlock won the coveted Best Drama series award. Singapore and India tied as the most awarded countries after all the awards were announced, with each country clinching nine of the AAA’s golden trophies.
For updates on next year’s edition, please visit SMF.
Image credit: Tate Anzur.
