4,000 Participants Expected at ATF

SINGAPORE: Some 4,000 participants from 60 countries are expected to attend the Asia TV Forum, which officially kicked off in Singapore today alongside the film market ScreenSingapore and runs until Friday.

The market is now in its 13th year and, with the co-location alongside ScreenSingapore, is the "complete TV and film content event in the region," said Michelle Lim, managing director of Reed Exhibitions, at this morning’s opening ceremony. "We believe co-locating ATF and ScreenSingapore brings about great synergy and enables us to create a seamless film and TV content market for all participants, presenting unrivaled opportunities for knowledge sharing and networking across both industries."

Also new for this year was the pre-market conference yesterday, which began with a keynote by Fox International Productions’ Sanford Panitch and also included sessions on Indonesia, Marvel animation and formats in China, among other topics. This year’s event will also feature a showcase of the 15 International Emmy nominees from Asia.

The show floor includes a number of Hollywood studios, as well as international pavilions from China, France, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.

Attendance is expected to be up 14 percent on the 2011 edition, with 526 seller companies from 40 countries and 539 buying companies from 36 countries.