Singapore
Media Festival (SMF), the flagship event of the Infocomm Media Development
Authority (IMDA), returns for its now-fourth edition following its inception in
2014, with a focus on innovations in the mode of story telling. Featuring
greater regional collaborations with its first country-of-focus Indonesia, SMF
remains a vanguard in the Southeast Asian media ecosystem with its constituent
events: Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), Asia TV Forum &
Market (ATF), ScreenSingapore (SS), Asian Television Awards (ATA), and SMF
Ignite.
Starting
earliest is the 28th edition of SGIFF, headed by executive director
Yuni Hadi and festival director Pimpaka Towira, running from 23rd
November to 3rd December. Heading the Asian Feature Jury is Indian
filmmaker Shekhar Kapur best known for his works Bandit Queen (1994) and Elizabeth
(1998), and supporting him are Iranian-American filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour,
Hong Kong veteran filmmaker Clara Law, and the Head of Programming of Locarno
Festival, Mark Peranson. The Southeast Asian Short Film Jury is lead by Tokyo
International Film Festival Asian Future Section Programming Director Kenji
Ishizaka, and supporting him are Indonesian actress Marsha Timothy and
Singapore veteran filmmaker K. Rajagopal.
ATF unveils
its inaugural ATF Animation Pitch competition in search of the best ideas for
original children’s animation with India’s Green Gold Animation alongside the
returning ATF Formats Pitch, backed by all3media international. The event will
run from 28th November to 1st December.
SMF
Ignite, the IMDA-led programme will occur in two different strands from 28th
November to 29th November. VR X SMF Ignite will occur on 29 November
and aims to bring together different stakeholders to discuss the VR ecosystem
and its opportunities for businesses in media. Creators X SMF Ignite, which
runs from 28th to 29th November will be organized in
partnership with Bloomr.SG, the Mediacorp Creators Network, to equip content
creators with industry skills.