Bangkok – With 300 industry professionals from 36 countries (including 18 Asian nationalities) in attendance and the 40 exhibiting companies on hand, ASIAN SIDE OF THE DOC 2016 held in Bangkok (October 31- November 3) proved to be very effective in efforts to reach key players in the ASEAN region. The annual pitching forum and programmes sales market enjoyed an excellent 2:1 producer-to-broadcaster ratio with 90 international decision makers present, that fostered an invaluable networking and deal-making environment for delegates.
Additionally, close to 165 one-to-one meetings were arranged over four days between independent producers and buyers to get straight into creative and financial discussions.This 7th edition had the objective to build in Bangkok the ASEAN regional hub for documentary coproduction and knowledge exchange as the Asian content business becomes a bigger industry. Co-organizers Sunny Side of the Doc and Wishtrend Thailand counted on the support of Diamond partners, Thai pubcaster MCOT and its production structure Panorama Worldwide, to cater to this growing trend to generate more business leads. The first full coproduction partnership between Thailand (MCOT) and the UK (UKTV) were concluded this week at Asian Side of the Doc to bring the new food series, “A Taste of Thailand” (working title 10×60’) to a global audience.
This year’s edition was marked by the Asian-Pacific launch of the international transmedia format Generation What? Now, in partnership with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and UNESCO, the campaign’s co-founders Yami 2 and Upian met financing partners and broadcasters from Japan, Korea, Thailand, Australia ready to join the project. Generation What? Europe recently reached over a million young people in partnership with 15 European Broadcasters, coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union.The strong focus on exciting initiatives for factual funding in Asia – Dare to Dream Asia (In-Docs), The Asian Pitch(NHK/PTS), Aurora Media Capital, Hopes and Dreams II call for projects (CICC) – as well as on blue-chip wildlife programmes and OTT business models from East (new Chinese-backed OTT platform WiseMe) and West (Spicee, France) highlighted the need to adapt to audience behaviour and embrace new ways to produce and distribute documentaries in a highly competitive industry.
A new addition this year was the “VR Village”, a space equipped with 10 Gear VR Headsets provided courtesy of Samsung Thailand, and entirely dedicated to live demonstrations of VR technology through a variety of immersive stories and innovative formats. An international jury decided the awards for the best-pitched projects among the 32 original stories coming from the Americas, Europe and Asia presented during daily pitch sessions.
