The Asian Pitching Forum – `Giving Opportunities to Asian-European TV Co-Production’ – held in Dublin, Ireland from 4th-6th November, 2004, was co-organised by ASEF, the Asia-Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development (AIBD), and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with local and professional coordination of RTE (Radio Television Eire, Ireland).
The objectives of this Forum were: (1) to promote the quality of the pitch and the chance for Asian producers to participate in real international TV pitching venues; (2) to offer some realistic assessment and evaluation of Asia-Europe co-production prospects. The jury members, after deliberation, decided split the ASEF prize of 15,000 Euros into three: 7,000 Euros: First Prize: Riddles of the Three Hares (Singapore; Han Kwang Wei); 2 Second Prizes at 4,000 Euros each: The Khmer Jigsaw (Singapore: Lee Chang Yong) and I Witness (Filipino classic films) (Philippines: Marissa L. Flores).
“The producers were generally very professional, enthusiastic, and highly motivated. The hardest thing for all producers – here too – is to learn what really interests a broadcaster from another country, in terms of how he can `sell’ to his own audience, and thus how to tailor the project in that direction, without losing the essential meaning of it for one’s own audience.” – Lynne Polak, Consultant, EBU (trainer aned jury member).
All the six selected project representatives were then invited to the Regional Workshop on `Scriptwriting for TV Documentaries.’ This latter event, co-organised together with AIBD, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Media Development Authority, Singapore (MDA), was held during the Asia Media Festival in Singapore, from 29th November to 3rd December. The moderator for this event was Valery Gaillard from France.
