The Singapore Media Festival this year will be a mix of virtual and physical programmes as it aims to showcase Asian stories to a global audience.
Hosted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the seventh edition of the festival, which facilitated $2.3 billion worth of deals between home-grown and international media companies from 2014 to last year, will return this year from Nov 26 to Dec 6.
It consists of the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), Asian Academy Creative Awards (AAA), the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) and ScreenSingapore as well as the inaugural SuperGamerFest.
Singapore Comic Con will be on hiatus this year due to Covid-19 restrictions on large-scale events.
New to the festival is the e-sports-focused SuperGamerFest - with events for the gaming community such as watch parties, virtual meet-and-greet sessions with popular e-sports personalities, masterclasses and an awards show, the SuperGamerFest Awards, to honour e-sports talent in South-east Asia.
The SGIFF will run for the entire duration of the Singapore Media Festival and will combine virtual film screenings and physical events.
While its full line-up of films has yet to be unveiled, its programme includes a talk with Mr Shozo Ichiyama, veteran producer, founder and director of Tokyo Filmex film festival. He has worked on beloved Asian movies such as Chinese film-maker Jia Zhangke's A Touch Of Sin (2013) and Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien's Flowers Of Shanghai (1998).
SGIFF is also running a New Waves programme before the festival to celebrate women film-makers. The line-up includes short films by female directors and panel discussions with women in film and it takes place on Oct 24 and 25 at the Oldham Theatre. For more information, go to www.sgiff.com/newwaves.
The AAA will hold its grand awards and gala event on Dec 3 and 4. National winners previously announced last Thursday will represent their country at the grand awards ceremony.
Singapore will be represented by HBO Asia series Invisible Stories' Yeo Yann Yann competing for Best Actress and August Pictures' Mind's Eye for Mediacorp competing for Best Drama. Thriller Mind's Eye is up against South Korea's hit romance series Crash Landing On You.
The event's virtual red carpet will be hosted by home-grown actress Munah Bagharib.
This year's ATF, a regional media trade event, will move completely online for its run from Dec 1 to 4 through its ATF Online+ digital platform. The four-day event will include virtual trade markets and conferences.
Film market ScreenSingapore will also go online this year, connecting film-makers and producers to potential investors and distributors.
