SINGAPORE: The Asia Media Festival (AMF) 2003, an annual media industry fiesta hosted by the Media Development Authority (MDA) and organised by Reed Exhibitions, is set to scale new heights following the upbeat outlook of its inaugural event last year. The festival will be held in Singapore from 1 to 7 December 2003.
Some 2000 trade participants from 35 countries took part in the AMF last year. Encouraged by the enthusiastic response, the MDA and Reed Exhibitions are confident of staging a more exciting event this year. Numerous exciting programmes and fringe activities are being planned, both for the media industry and the public. A new target is set for participants for this year's event. An estimated 7000 participants - 4000 from the trade and 3000 from the public are being projected said an official release.
AMF has added more content and activities to the three media events of the AMF, the Asia Television Forum, Asia Film Market and Conference and Asia Animation happening on 2 - 5 December at the Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort. New highlights include a Policy Forum, participation from the Tokyo Foundation, a new conference track on Digital Cinema and a bigger and better networking party. 
The organiser has also brought in leading names of the television and film programming industry across the world including Alliance Atlantis Entertainment Group, Australia; Rozon/Just for Laughs, Canada; Betafilm gmbH, Germany; Star India Pvt Ltd, India; Granada International, UK; and Lakeshore International, the US.
The release further added that the conferences would feature dynamic names in the media industry exclusively invited to share their success stories and thoughts. Key topics include Financing and Funding, Exploring New Delivery Streams Through Convergence, Promises & Pitfalls Of Digital Cinema, The Growth and Evolution Of Asian Animation, The Next Wave - Moving Into New Markets, and more.
The MDA's CEO, Lim Hock Chuan explains what the MDA hopes to achieve from hosting the AMF, "The Asia Media Festival was a success last year. This year, we are determined to grow it further as a must-attend event for the media industry, where thousands of executives from the TV, film and animation industries gather to network, source for new media products and close deals. The MDA will continue to host the festival as it adds to the vibrancy of the media scene, moving Singapore another step closer towards our vision as a global media city. The event also provides an excellent platform for the local industry to reach out to the international market and vice verse."
"This is the critical platform for inroads into Asia. With the flourishing Asian Market becoming increasingly important to many international sellers, there are compelling reasons for International programming buyers and sellers to congregate at this festival," added Ed Ng, President, Singapore, Reed Exhibitions. "This year, we want it bigger and better. The MDA and ourselves have taken the scale and expectations of the festival to a higher level, investing into it a considerable amount of planning."
Among the new highlights are: ATF and Animation Superpitches 2003 contest - marks the session for the programme producers and production houses to pitch their best concepts to a panel of commissioning editors and broadcasters from around the region, a full-day conference on Anime and Manga on 4 December by leading animation production companies in Japan including Toei Animation, Shogakukan, and ComixWave.
Also on the agenda is a panel discussion of international speakers who will address issues affecting policy makers and regulators. Some of the speakers include Kip Meek, Senior Partner (Content & Competition), Office of Communications (USA); Michael Cosgrave, General Manager, Telecommunications, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (Australia); and Lorna Wong, Commissioner, Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (Hong Kong) who will address topics on "Dynamic Regulations and Policies for the Convergence Market" and "Regulating for Competition in the Convergent Media Environment" at the Policy Forum panel discussions, scheduled to be held on 5 December.
The Kodak Screenings will showcase the works of nine Asia Pacific filmmakers on 4 December which will be an opportunity for budding filmmakers to showcase and meet potential buyers. Selected films from Japan, Korea, India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Philippines and Singapore will be screened.
This year's 8th Asian Television Awards, a prestigious award ceremony designed to recognise and rewards creative excellence in the region is star studded. Some 40 awards including new categories like Best Art Direction, Best Business News Programme, and Best Talk Show will be given out on 4 December.
CASBAA's Anti-Piracy Summit 2003 on 5 December will focus on the key issues of intellectual property piracy and its impact on the cable, satellite and broadband industries. In the opening session "First Things: Getting the Law Right" the panel will address the issues surround the drafting of effective legislation. "Counting the cost- Economic, Social, Political", looks at the impact of piracy on society as a whole and the panel discussion "The Technical Solutions" will highlight four case studies from around the world on how technology can mitigate piracy. In the final session "Regulating the Future" three frontline speakers provide their views on how regulators and enforcement agencies can account for disruptive technologies and their fallout said the release.
This year's Promax & BDA Asia on the 1 and 2 December, feature a biggest ever conference, workshops and awards. There are more than 25 international and regional speakers packed into two full-days. The emphasis this year will be on more show, less tell and the most practical hands-on sessions possible, with real tips and workable solutions to creative challenges.
Hive Film Festival - The Digital Show is a film festival dedicated to the screening of local and international digital feature and short films. Held from 27 Nov - 3 Dec 2003, it aims to bring digital films into the heartland of Singapore. Films are divided into three categories: "World", "Asian" and "Singapore" and screenings will be done at different venues around Singapore.
The Animation Camp at the Singapore Science Centre is a three-day camp to expose upper primary school children to traditional, clay and toy animation as well as special sound effects and motion capture techniques. Included in the camp is also a visit to a motion capture studio. Children will be able to try out a motion capture suit and "act" as a 3D computer generated character. By the end of the camp, the child would have created an animation DVD using professional software for each step of the process, and experienced working in a team production environment.