FILMART Online Kicks Off Today
ACN Newswire
Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the Hong Kong International Film and Television Fair | Online (FILMART Online) opens today and continues through 29 August, creating business opportunities for the global entertainment industry in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The four-day virtual content marketplace brings together more than 670 exhibitors from 38 countries and regions, providing a platform for the release and promotion of nearly 2,000 film and television productions to potential buyers from around the world.
Virtual event draws positive response from global industry
Supported by major film production companies from Hong Kong, Mainland China and across the globe, FILMART Online has the goal of promoting cross-media and cross-industry collaboration. Participating Hong Kong companies include Erdong Pictures Group, Mandarin Entertainment, Media Asia Film, Mega-Vision Project Workshop, Mei Ah Entertainment Group, One Cool Film Production, PCCW Media Limited, Sil-Metropole Organisation, Sun Entertainment, TVBI, Emperor Motion Pictures and Universe Films Distribution. The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), a respected Asian film financing platform, is also taking part in FILMART Online, continuing its efforts to create business exchange opportunities for film workers by exhibiting 32 HAF film projects in the development stage and 22 work-in-progress film projects.
FILMART Online has also attracted encouraging participation from major content production companies in the mainland, such as China International Television Corporation (CITVC), iQiyi Pictures and Zhejiang Huace Media. A number of Chinese provinces and cities, including Chongqing, Hunan, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Jiangsu, Ningbo, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanghai and Sichuan have set up regional pavilions at the event to showcase their productions.
Participating companies from overseas are a diverse mix, featuring first-time exhibitors from Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Greece, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands and Switzerland. International pavilions include the European Union, Japan, Korea, Macao, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.
Multifunctional online platform facilitates exchange and networking
FILMART Online is equipped with a range of innovative features to boost exchange and networking among participants. In addition to dedicated pages for exhibitors to showcase their profiles and productions, the platform also provides a virtual screening tool and an advanced search function, ensuring that buyers can identify productions that interest them and enjoy previews with ease. More than 800 online business matching meetings are scheduled to connect exhibitors with buyers.
Online conferences address post-pandemic industry outlook
Six online conferences taking place during FILMART Online will address the post-pandemic outlook for the industry, focusing on the mainland entertainment market, the latest streaming platform trends in Asia, and technologies for developing interactive entertainment content. Speakers include representatives from industry leaders such as Media Partners Asia (Singapore), New Classics Media (Mainland China), MX Player (India) and WebTVAsia (Malaysia).
The Digital Entertainment Summit 2020 will be held on Friday, 28 August, running under the theme “Interactivity Actualised – Fresh Sight in Future Entertainment”. Speakers from GSMA (United Kingdom), iQiyi (Mainland China), Amazon Web Services (United States), and Kino (Asia) Industries (Hong Kong) will analyse how the use of 5G, cloud and interactive entertainment technologies can bring a more immersive and personalised experience to the market.