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PERSPECTIVE

Viewpoints from the frontline of content.

A closer look at Asian Side of the Doc

By Content China 28-03-2014

The fifth edition of Asian Side of the Doc (ASD) took place in Chengdu, Sichuan last week. The exciting four-day factual TV market brought together broadcasters, producers and financiers from Asia and the rest of the world to coproduce documentary and specialist factual.

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ContentChina was at the scene and interviewed some important people in the industry, including Yves Jeanneau, CEO of Sunny Side Markets, Barthelemy Fougea, producer of Winds Film, and Patrick Carr, CEO of Mandarin Film.

According to the organiser, there was a huge increase in participation this year – 27% up on 2013, with 632 delegates from 43 countries, including 130 decision makers, making it the biggest ASD ever. Over the week, deals were struck and projects further developed. The structure of a new Asian Doc Market has emerged running in both directions, Asia to Asia and Asia to the rest of the world.

ASD achieved several notable results, including the start of a close collaboration between Asian and European Broadcasting Unions. This will provide strong support to regional broadcasters and producers as well as widening the documentary network to new ASD attending countries like Bangladesh and Nepal.

In the meantime, ASD witnessed the creation of the documentary foundation Northern Tropic. It was co-founded by the China Documentary Film Commission (CDFC) and Beijing CCTV Wengong Culture & Media Company. The Foundation aims to support film production and coproduction in China and all over the world. Zhao Jie, from CDFC, announced that the content creator will share the IP with investors and receive 40% of revenues.

Also, a more structured Chinese documentary market was revealed. Chinese broadcasters showed themselves to be fully aware of the gap to be bridged to reach an international level. It is for this reason that regional Chinese channels Heilongjiang Television and Jilin Television have taken the initiative to attend Sunny Side of the Doc as well this year.

Both CCTV9 and CCTV10 presentations during ASD showcased the newly acquired ability of Chinese producers to present projects of the same quality as Western ones. Patrick Carr spoke highly of CCTV’s documentary team and told ContentChina that Mandarin Film has several coproductions with CCTV 10 under way. Barthelemy Fougea plans to cooperate with CCTV in some big projects too. Other Chinese projects, for example, Ladder to Paradise and Unwed Mother, also performed well in front of international decision makers.

At the awards ceremony on Friday March 21, the Sichuan government announced 10 special cash awards to enable producers to attend Sunny Side of the Doc with their content.

Selected by an international jury, three projects from the ASD pitching sessions stood out. China’s Van Gogh won Best Chinese Project, Endless War in Iraq –10 Years in the Life of a Baghdad Family won Best Asian Project and Best International Project went to A Night on Earth. Acclaimed filmmaker Jacques Perrin pitched the project himself with Barthelemy Fougea at ASD.

Jury member Wang Xinjian said: “The jury felt that the project had great international potential, as it brought a universal subject to life with beautiful images shot using amazing new technology. It is a project with the highest standards of wildlife filmmaking bringing unique access and new technology together.”

In addition, Chengdu City awarded the Special Mention to The Southern Silk Road by Zhen CUI, Oriental Companion Media (Beijing).

Yves Jeanneau commented that ASD has achieved what it set out to do: to create a vibrant Asian documentary market. He is confident that it will grow quickly – like everything in Asia! The Sichuan awards will be a great help to the production community, and the foundation opens great prospects for the future of the Chinese documentary business, for which he believes ASD has been an important springboard.

Speaking of the future of the documentary industry, Patrick Carr said that documentary will be more and more popular all over the world and China is playing an increasingly important role in the market. Barthelemy Fougea thought the industry is facing great change and that we have to keep learning from the challenges brought by digital and international.

The 25th edition of Sunny Side of the Doc will be held in La Rochelle from June 23 to 26. Worldwide broadcasters, producers and financiers will enjoy a grand event, at which time the location of next year’s ASD is likely to be announced.

Please email your Chinese news to [email protected] and stand by for next week’s update from China’s leading content business website.

today's correspondent

Content China

ContentChina is a joint venture between C21Media and Beijing-based 3C Media, delivering international and local industry news to the Chinese broadcast and production community.

Launched last year, the site translates C21Media.net into Mandarin, adding exclusive news and features generated by a team of local journalists. The move marks the start of an ongoing collaboration between 3C Media (formerly Shixi Media) and C21 to develop a significant publishing brand in China. The initiative has been developed in association with the Chinese government’s media regulator, SARFT. You can visit the website by clicking here.



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