Singapore Gears Up for Fifth Annual Media Festival

Rob Gilby, the chairman of the Singapore Media Festival (SMF), tells TV Asia about the growth of the event, which marks its fifth anniversary this year.

Some 20,000 delegates from 50-plus countries convened in Singapore last year for the various events that fall under the SMF umbrella, with attendance expected to be even higher for this year’s festival as it marks its fifth birthday. Taking place from November 28 to December 9, the SMF, hosted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), encompasses the Asian Academy Creative Awards (AAA), the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) and ScreenSingapore, the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) and SMF Ignite.

“When we started, some of the events already existed but they weren’t working with each other,” says Rob Gilby, the chairman of SMF and founder and CEO of Blue Hat Ventures. The creation of SMF, he notes, was in response to the increased convergence between film, TV and digital, allowing representatives from all of those different sectors to meet and potentially collaborate.

More than $1 billion in deal transactions have come out of the SMF, “so it’s not just discussions, it’s people actually transacting,” Gilby says. “That’s one of the things we’ve seen, particularly at ATF. More negotiations are going on, and two-way transactions. And that reflects the heart of the festival, which is celebrating the art of Asian storytelling.”

Crazy Rich Asians has undoubtedly helped put Singaporean creativity in the spotlight, Gilby explains. “The Singapore Film Commission was part of the funding of the scripts early on, 300 [local] crew members worked on it and then there was talent from Singapore, Malaysia, around the region.”

But the SMF is not just about showcasing Singapore. Last year the event celebrated Indonesia; this year the focus is on the Philippines. “It’s 100 years of Philippines cinema this year, and 50 years of Singapore-Philippines bilateral ties. If you think about storytelling, it’s all about heart, it’s all about the human connection, and I can’t think of a country that is more driven by heart than the Philippines.”

Gilby adds, “I’m a big believer that there’s latent talent in Asia—talent that has great stories to be told, great creativity, and there’s a great context to these stories, but they haven’t had as much support in terms of investment, training, a chance to practice their craft. We’re going to try to find ways to do that.”

Asian creativity is also being celebrated with the brand-new Asian Academy Creative Awards, founded by Michael McKay. “He is a fan of the production industry,” Gilby says. “He knows how important it is to celebrate the creative process.” What’s unique about the AAA, Gilby says, is that it presents both national and regional awards. “It starts to give you a sense of how diverse Asia is and all the wonderful things here.”

There is also a series of master classes being built around the AAA to help foster talent within the industry.

SMF Ignite is also about looking ahead, helping content creators take advantage of new opportunities in digital. Popular video blogger Nuseir Yassin will be on site to offer his insights on content creation, and a large part of SMF Ignite will explore the issue of analytics. “The theme this year is a bit more focused on big data for content. What does big data mean for the creative industry? A lot of AI now is used for marketing. It’s still a long way off seeing AI be the creator. But how can the analytics help you in the content industry?”

At the heart of SMF, Gilby stresses, is the theme of collaboration. “Singapore is shifting from ‘Made in Singapore’ to ‘Made with Singapore.’ Singapore is an amazing hub, it’s very connected, but there’s a finite size to the market. And yet we still want to grow. Collaborations are a key part of that.”