KICKING off Nov. 14 in Singapore, the Asia Media Festival (AMF) 2007, hosted by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) and organized by Reed Exhibitions in collaboration with industry partners, promises to be better attended and even more comprehensive than last year.Positioned as the region’s premier business platform for the media industry, the three week-long festival encompasses the entire value chain of the media business, ranging from media financing, content creation, production and distribution of TV programs, films, animation, documentaries and new media.AMF 2007 will play host to a series of media events for trade professionals and consumers through to Dec. 4. With a marked increase in participation and the debut of new events including the Apollo Awards and Asia Factual Forum as well as the Promax/BDA Asia Conference and Awards which rejoin the festival, the media fiesta is set to be bigger than ever.Some 5,400 trade participants are expected to attend AMF 2007, up 16% on last year. With continued industry support, the entries received across various key trade events including the Asian Television Awards, Asian Festival of 1st Films and Promax/BDA Asia Awards are up by 6% overall.Speaking at a media conference, Dr. Christopher Chia, CEO, MDA and Yeow Hui Leng, Project Director, Reed Exhibitions, both expressed confidence that AMF 2007 will yield deals exceeding the $US47.1 million mark set in 2006, which surpassed 2005’s $US33 million worth of deals by 42%.According to Michelle Lim, General Manager, Reed Exhibitions, Singapore-Malaysia, the 2007 edition of ATF is set to grow by more than 10%. “We look forward to welcoming more than 40 new companies to the market and participants from over 50 countries,” said Lim of the AMF anchor event to be held from Nov. 28 – 30 at Shangri-La Hotel. Looking forward, Yeow expects the 2008 edition of ATF to be largely unaffected by the new AMAZIA content exhibition and conference due to take place next November in Hong Kong, given the different positioning of the two events.And to dispel any doubts about ATF 2008, Lim announced the event will be moved to a larger venue at Suntec Singapore to cater for growing demand, and Yeow revealed that 30% of the exhibition space for 2008 has already been sold and 85% of ATF 2007 attendees have expressed interest to return.New events at AMF 2007New to the AMF is the Apollo Awards which celebrates AsiaPacific’s best in creative, advertising, production and post production industries. Into its third year, the Apollo Awards received 421 submissions from 79 companies across 10 countries. 71 entries have been nominated to vie for 14 awards to be presented on Nov. 28 at the Shangri-La Hotel Ballroom.Also making its debut at AMF 2007 is the Asia Factual Forum (AFF), a networking and development event bringing together factual content producers and commissioning editors. The inaugural threeday event starts from Nov. 25 at the River View Hotel and has garnered the support of Discovery Networks Asia, National Geographic Channels Asia, FremantleMedia, AETN All Asia Networks and BBC Global Channels Asia Pacific.Returning to AMF in 2007 is Promax/BDA Asia 2007 Conference and Awards. The conference, held from Nov 14 – 15 at The Art House,provided industry updates and networking opportunities to some 400 promotion, design and marketing executives from across the region. The Awards, received over 1,400 entries from 113 companies across 15 countries this year and was presented on Nov. 15 to winners in 43 categories.Growth across anchor eventsThe Asian Television Awards (ATA) 2007 garnered a record 1,374 submissions, up from 1,331 entries in 2006. Into its 12th year, ATA 2007 has grown to encompass 16 countries for the first time, with companies in Australia and New Zealand making their debuts this year to compete with Asia’s best for honours in production and programming. To be held at Suntec Singapore on Nov. 29, ATA 2007 will again take the form of a grand, star-studded Gala Dinner.In its third year, the Asian Festival of 1st Films (AFFF) has extended its coverage to Australia and New Zealand for the first time and has attracted 500 entries, up from 300 last year. Produced by Teamwork Productions, AFFF 2007 will screen 21 nominated films and documentaries in 10 award categories, and 8 films in the out-of-competition section from Nov. 27 – Dec. 4 at Golden Village Vivocity cinemas, the Arts House and HOUSE at Dempsey Hill, before culminating in an awards night on Dec. 4.The SuperPitch, a platform for media professionals to pitch creative concepts to a panel of international judges for further development and production, takes on a new format in 2007 to focus on cross-platform content. Submissions to the competition this year are based on original content which can be developed for two of the five platforms which include online, TV/film, mobile, gaming and interactive media.Finally, the Country Co-pro Showcase, Media Financing Forum, Asia Animation Conference, Asia Film Market and Conference, will bring a wide array of workshops, conferences, exhibitions and networking opportunities to participants of the AMF 2007.

Add A Comment

  Post A Comment

There are no comments for the article yet.

Rate This Article

Excellent
Very Good
Good
Quite Good
Poor

  Rate This Article

Related Stories

HBO Asia takes ‘Flight’ into digital space - 1/11/2008

Overview Singapore-based HBO Asia was launched in 1992. HBO Asia is able to bring the best of Hollywood to Asia first because of its exclusive licensing deals with major Hollywood studios - Columbi [...]

Cartoon Network’s Ben Tenacious success - 1/10/2008

For those readers who have been on another planet, or don’t come into contact with pre-tween boys, Ben 10 is Cartoon Network’s widely successful animated action-adventure series featuring Ben Tennyson [...]

Nat Geo & Fox’s blossoming bouquet - 1/10/2008

hong kong-based senior vice president marketing Sonia Jackson makes for a convenient comparison with some of the brands she oversees: cosmopolitan and well-travelled, she has been with the Fox family [...]