GEM Preps First Original Production

SINGAPORE: The Asian pay-TV channel GEM, a joint venture of Sony Pictures Television Networks and Nippon TV, has unveiled its first original production, which will be fronted by Japanese actor and musician Dean Fujioka.

Premiering June 19 on GEM, We are Asia: Dean Fujioka & Friends was shot on location in Japan, Cambodia, Hong Kong and Indonesia. In the five-part doc-style show, Fujioka and his celebrity friends—actor Shuhei Nomura, rock band WEAVER, and video projection dance act Siro-A—will travel to four different cities, meeting with local kids.

In the last episode, against the backdrop of a World Heritage Site in Indonesia, Fujioka and WEAVER will take to the stage with an Indonesia Gamelan orchestra and dance act Siro-A. There will also be a specially choreographed projection of Shuhei Nomura and the children the group met on their travels. The performance will take place in front of an audience of 300 children from an Indonesian orphanage.