Asian Side of the Doc Gears Up for Fourth Event

KUALA LUMPUR: The fourth edition of Asian Side of the Doc is set to take place in Malaysia from March 19 to 22, with a schedule that focuses heavily on international co-productions.

Panel sessions will be on trans-Asian and Asian-Western co-productions, and there will also be screenings and social events. A special focus will be placed on science programs. The conference will play host to the largest-ever delegation from Australia as well.

The pitching sessions will again be part of the conference lineup. There are 25 projects that have been selected for pitching at five sessions across the week. The projects come from producers in 15 countries.

Yves Jeanneau, CEO of Sunny Side, co-organizer of the market, commented: "I’m delighted that Asian Side is once again uniting documentary professionals from across Asia. The range of ideas from Asian and European partners shows the diversity and innovation of the international doc sector."

Keiko Bang, CEO of Bang Singapore, said, “As markets continue to grow in Asia, we are seeing a trend where the demand for Asian content is on the rise. Currently there is an estimated 3,000 hours of programming content across Asian broadcasters about Asian countries. As the demand from Asian audiences is building, our main aim is to create new cross-border and cross-hemisphere co-production opportunities for Asia’s documentary producers and commissioning editors, helping to develop new ventures within the world’s fastest-growing documentary market.”