ASIA-PACIFIC BROADCASTING

Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, announced last month that the fund is for supporting the Singapore Media Fusion  (SMF) initiative, which aims to boost Singapore’s local media industry through close industry collaborations and talent development.

The SMF is also expected to stimulate the demand for local content, applications and services, thus helping to create jobs for the creative sector, which includes the media and film industries, as well as IT and telecommunications businesses.

Lee said the fresh allocation is a 40% increase over the previous Media21 Masterplan’s figure, and on top of existing government support of S$500 million over five years for Interactive Digital Media research and development.

Under the SMF initiative, the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore will increase funding for collaborative media projects with the private sector, Lee said.

He cited the New Feature Film Fund of the Singapore Film Commission (SFC) which co-invests up to S$250,000 per film, giving local emerging talents the opportunity to direct their feature film in collaboration with production companies.

“Last year, nine Singapore directors benefited from SFC’s funding support of over S$2 million. It also resulted in the first Singapore-Japan co-production Thunder Boys. We look forward to more such productions in the year ahead,” Lee added.  

Kenneth Tan, MDA’s chief operating office and director of the SFC, revealed that S$2 million will be available this year to jumpstart the production of stereoscopic 3D films in the country for local and international distribution.

Another scheme, worth up to S$25,000 or half of the total cost of producing one 35mm print master from a digital master, is also available to help filmmakers who want to submit their movies for the Cannes Film Festival in France. The festival organisers accept only movies in 35mm film format.

Lee added that the MDA will also fund more projects aimed at producing local TV shows and marketing these abroad.

He said the MDA this year would fund up to 4,000 local TV hours, up from 3,800 last year. Of these made-by-Singapore content produced last year, Lee noted that many of these have been sold to international players such as the BBC (the UK), ABC (Australia), Phoenix TV (China), TVB (Hong Kong), NHK (Japan), Discovery and National Geographic (the US).

“MDA will continue to help media companies seek financing for their projects,” he added.

 

 

 

 

 

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