SINGAPORE – A slew of international film industry bigwigs will be in town to share their insights and expertise on the international and Asian film industry at ScreenSingapore 2015.

Luminaries such as the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Cheryl Boone Isaacs, for example, will share their perspectives on the innovative ways to source for film funding and connecting with financiers, commissioners and co-production partners.

ScreenSingapore is billed as South-east Asia’s marketplace for film-makers, producers, distributors, financiers and buyers to explore co-production opportunities, seek financing and make deals.

This edition of ScreenSingapore, which will be held at the Marina Bay Sands from Dec 1 to 4, will be focused on film financing as South-east Asia ramps up its efforts in the media investment landscape to support more projects being created by the region’s talent pool. At the market, the inaugural South-east Asian Film Financing Project (SAFF) will see the selected top 10 projects from the overwhelming 148 submissions meet key decision makers who will assist to bring their projects into fruition.

Isaacs will be will be giving the closing keynote session on the topic “Marketing and Distribution in a Global Context”, which will look at the evolving landscape of marketing and distribution in independent films, and what Asian films and film-makers need to know in order to navigate the festivals and reach Oscar glory.

Building onto the topic of distribution and festivals will be Dhruv S Sinha, the general manager for Hollywood and Overseas Business at Reliance Entertainment & Phantom Films, the flagship motion picture arm of India’s Reliance Group. He, along with Benjamin Illos, programmer for the Cannes Film Festival’s Director’s Fortnight, will demystify the labyrinthine world of film distribution in their panel session, titled Understanding Distribution and Festivals: Achieving Critical Acclaim and Commercial Rewards.

The session is aimed at helping participants better understand how to engage distributors and festival organisers.

For a better understanding of the South-east Asian film financing landscape which has been hampered by the lack of strong distribution entities and an over-reliance on film festivals to travel beyond local shores, Zainir Aminullah, chief executive producer of Ideate Media; Sridhar Sreekakula, CEO of Barking Cow Media Group; and Allen Jordan, CEO of Goshen Group will be on hand to shed light on the trends and future of how and what movies will be funded in future.

Other topics that will be discussed at SS include basic pitch dynamics, creative financing strategy and what film financiers are looking for, which will be conducted by seasoned experts such as Chieko Murata, VP of Local Productions, Japan and South-east Asia, International Film and Television at Sony Pictures Entertainment; and Samuel Y Ha, VP of Global Investment at Union Investment Partners.

ScreenSingapore is held in conjunction with the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF), Asian Television Awards (ATA) and Digital Matters; under the umbrella of The Singapore Media Festival that is hosted by Media Development Authority (MDA).

For more information on the list of speakers and topics, visit www.screensingapore.com.sg