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Tiptoeing towards regional Asian co-productions,
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Tiptoeing towards regional Asian co-productions,

Governments and agencies across Asia are taking steps to broaden and expand the cross-border film co-production movement.

A seminar titled “From Eurasia to Global Collaboration” on Thursday, the third day of Taiwan Creative Content Festivalrepresented a practical summary of the financing and structural developments of four countries: the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey.

Alex Sihar of the Indonesian Directorate of Culture, part of the Ministry of Education, described an ongoing process to put the industry on a more professional footing.

“Although we have a long history of cinema and a very diverse culture, our films have until recently had very little international visibility, there has been little knowledge transfer and no incentive for location filming or co-production .”

Film policy was previously split between several ministries, but is now overseen by a film department under the Ministry of Education, which is now separate from educational matters.
Co-productions should be further encouraged and the country’s matching fund (which doubles the funding available from the World Cinema Fund, TAICCA and Purin Pictures) should be expanded. Indonesia is also a founding member of the Asian Film Alliance Network (AFAN, alongside Mongolia, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, South Korea and Malaysia).

Marylo Christine H. Celis, Project Officer at the Film Development Council of the Philippines, was on hand to explain the ICOF Fund, the Film Location Engagement Desk (FLEX), which facilitates obtaining permits, locations and tax advice, and to tout a 20% discount. discount, plus 5% cultural bonus. “When The Waves Are Gone” by Lav Diaz and “Whether the Weather is Fine” by Carlo Francisco Manatad are examples from the agency’s 2021 funding round.

Azmir Saifuddin Mutalib, appointed CEO of the Malaysian company a year ago FINASpromised that “a new film financing model” would be unveiled in early 2025, with deficit financing and matching funds likely to be part of an effort to bring in more private sector investment.

The current system, which is based on a generous 30% rebate scheme (FIMI), has helped make the Malaysian film industry “adaptable and borderless”, he said. FIMI, with quality studio infrastructure and international intellectual property protection laws, has helped Malaysia attract film and television productions, including “Lost in the Pacific”, Crazy Rich Asians”, two seasons of ” The Mandalorian,” “Magiswords,” and “The Ghost Bride.” .” A new virtual production studio in Kuala Lumpur and Astro’s Sound and Vision facilities mean more infrastructure is coming online.

Faruk Guven, from the public broadcaster Turkish Radio-Televisionand Esra Demirkiran of his TRT Sinema unit, produced a neat double act. They explained the efforts of the Turkish Ministry of Culture, TRT’s very active co-production program and the 12 Punto system. This covers script, pitch and production consultancy, panels and masterclasses all building up to an annual event in July with prizes for co-productions, pre-purchases, project development and short film production.

Demirkiran explained that while the selection of projects is carried out by members of the Turkish industry, the awards are awarded by a high-level international jury which, in previous years, has involved luminaries such as Rithy Panh, Pawel Pawlikowski , Elia Suleiman, John Bailey and Philippe Bober.