CinemAsia FilmLAB @ CinemAsia Film Festival

Martijn van VeenCinemAsia Update

CinemAsia Film Festival 2020 was a succes! In what, without knowing, turned out to be the last week to organize a festival irt the current Corona pandemic, CinemAsia has experienced a great and well visited edition.  FilmLAB Activities are also always a staple at the festival with this year activities such as the intruiging Industry Panel ‘Producing in a Time of Flux’ , the interesting FilmLAB Jam Session, the last FilmLAB Distribution meet-up, The FilmLAB Panel Recipes for Success on Saturday, Premiere of the documentary The Ugly Model, The FilmLAB drinks and the CinemAsians team that participated in the 48 Hour Project Pink Edition.

Industry Panel

In this interesting panel in Pakhuis de Zwijger moderator, CinemAsia board member and producer, Lorna Tee spoke with Producer of the Dutch Netflix Series Ares Pieter Kuijpers and producer of the Netflix series Nowhere Man Aileen Li about the ins en outs of producing a series for Netflix and how this influences the production. During the panel we discussed everything from timelines and pitching, deadlines, views and marketing and the audience had plenty opportunity to ask their questions.

FilmLAB Jam Session

This time the FilmLAB Jam Session submissions consisted of a mixed group of both FilmLAB Alumni and filmmakers who are joining a FilmLAB event for the first time. Their ideas for Documentary and fiction projects were shared and especially for this festival Jam Session we had invited the director of the CinemAsia Film Festival openingfilm  Mrs. Noisy Amano Chihiro and Documentary maker, producer en director of a.o. A man called Ahok Putrama Tuta to share their insights and feedback on the participants projects which they have done extensively. It meant that the FilmLAB Jam Session ran late. But this shows only how involved all people at the session were. Our thanks go out to all participants for sharing their stories and projects and also to Amano Chihiro and Putrama Tuta for sharing their insights.

FilmLAB Distributie Meet-up

The Saturday of the festival FilmLAB started at 11.00 with it’s distribution meet-up, which CinemAsia FilmLAB organizes every quarter, in which particpants of the last edition of the FilmLAB Shorts program get together to give and get updates on the distribution of their documentary shorts. We discussed what screenings have taken place in the last quarter, what film festivals the films have been selected for and what film festivals still have to make their selection. Aside from this we discussed what screenings CinemAsia FilmLAb will  help with from its own network and contacts. Lastly we asked them for tips on how to improve our distribution meet-ups. An article containing these tips will soon come online on our website.

FilmLAB Industry Panel

The Distribution meet-up was followed by the FilmLAB Industry Panel in which Moderator, Film critic and CinemAsia Programmer, Hugo Emmerzael conversed with TV Journalist and programmer Leo Soesanto, Revolver Executive Producer Germen Boelens, project director of De Ontmoeting Sacha Gertsik en Director Shariff Nasr  about their tips and recipes for success. They shared their tips and examples on the best opportunities for filmmakers and filmprofessionals with an Asian background to realize their own film projects and further their carreers.

The Ugly Model Première

After the FilmLAB Industry Panel came the première of the documentary feature The Ugly Model. This film, that has been director by CinemAsia Head of board Doris Yeung and has been produced by boardmember Bianca Kuijpers deals with representation of Asians in media and what its influence is on people like Korean adopted model Kevin Kreider who wants the conquer the worls as a fitness model, but doesn’t know how to reach success. The screening was sold-out and was joined with an extensive Q&A with director Doris Yeung who was joined by Journalist and author of the book The Bananageneration  Pete Wu om te spreken over representatie van mensen met een Aziatische achtergrond in de media.

FilmLAB Borrel

Saturdays FilmLAb Activities were concluded with the FilmLAB Drinks that had Filmmakers and Film professionals meet each other and talk enjoying a drink at the bar of Studio / K. Even we had the opportunity to talk to new people to help grow the FilmLAB Network.

48 Hour Film Project

Lastly this quarter we formed a CinemAsians team to participate in the 48 Hour Project Pink Edition.The CinemAsians team is a chance for FilmLAb Alumni and other interested filmprofessionals with an Asian Background to join forces and have fun in creating a short in 48 Hours. This edition there were at least 6 FilmLAB Alumni joining forces! Not only were they able to realise a short films in a difficult time surrounding the Corona pandemic, but they also won the prize for the best short film for this edition of 48 Hour Project. So congratulations to the team! Soon we will share a more detailed article on the 48 Hour Film Project, so keep an eye on our website.