In an attempt to find new markets and partnerships, the Korean Film Council (Chairman: KIM Eui-suk, KOFIC) has turned its face towards Singapore. In order to increase the relationship between the two nations, KOFIC attended Screen Singapore which started on December 9th. There, KOFIC organized a special seminar to bring together the film professionals from the two countries, promote Korean cinema, and ran a booth to support sales of Korean films.

 

The Korea-Singapore Co-production Seminar which was held on the 11th at the Singapore Pavilion was organized by KOFIC and the Singapore Media Development Authority (MDA) and many industry related professionals attended. The event provided an opportunity for Singaporean and Korean professionals to have networking time and to find possible co-production projects which will expand the market for both sides.

 

The moderator of the session was the Singapore MDA’s Director, Joachim NG who is also the Director of Singapore Film Commission. Among the speakers, CHOI Pyung-ho of Union Investment Partners, KOFIC’s Woody KIM, and Managing Director of Clover Films, LIM Teck were in attendance.

 

At this seminar, examples of Korea and Singapore’s co-productions were presented, along with national support programs and investment trends happening in both countries. Such information was provided for attendees who were looking to make films or to distribute their films in each other’s country. In addition, a discussion regarding more active co-production projects between the two nations was also discussed.

 

Singapore representatives attending the seminar claimed that Korean audiovisual contents have potential to have a big impact in Singapore’s industry. Currently, many Korean TV series are enjoying its popularity in Singapore, and Korean films are likely to do well at the box office of both Singapore and Malaysia. Singaporean professionals also showed much interest in the Korean industry’s current status as well as the investment program. During the Q&A session, numerous questions were directed towards the Korean film industry’s trends, process to take in order to make a co-production with Korea and more. Even though the market in Singapore is relatively small for now, through the two nations’ co-production incentives, location incentives, and co-productions support programs, they will be able to build a model that looks towards the audiences of Chinese and English speaking countries.

 

 

Singapore’s interest in Korean films could also be seen during the Singapore International Film Festival which was held from December 3rd until the 14th. There were various Korean films invited to this year’s festival. In the official competition section, PARK Jung-bum’s Alive was programmed while HAN Yoon-sun’s 18-Eighteen Noir, LEE Do-yun’s Confession, KIM Ki-duk’s One on One were also invited. With a special retrospective for IM Kwon-taek, Revivre, Village in the Mist (1983) and Mandara (1981) also screened and met with the Singapore audiences.