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  • Digital Asia Festival 2013 announces shortlist

    Digital Asia Festival 2013 announces shortlist

    MUMBAI: The Digital Asia Festival Awards, honouring the best digital marketing communications across Asia Pacific, has announced this year’s shortlist.

     

    Chaired by Jason Kuperman, vice president of Omnicom Digital Asia Pacific, India, Middle East and Africa, the jury consists of 40 industry professionals with a mix of leading client marketers, digital media practitioners and agency strategists, judged 506 pieces of work based on strategy, creativity and innovation, execution and results with a total of 80 entries making it onto the shortlist. Japan leads with the most shortlisted entries (14), followed by Australia (13), New Zealand (10), China (9), Hong Kong (9), India (7), Singapore (7), The Philippines (5), Malaysia (4) and Thailand (2).

     

    Commenting on the judging process so far and the quality of the work, some jury members had the following to say in a release:  

     

    “I found this year’s entries seamlessly integrating technology into the creative leap turning the communication into truly refreshing and engaging consumer experiences. Several of the shortlists had started with a fabulous consumer insight and market/media opportunity that had never been explored before. We saw a lot of first-of-its-kind innovations and we could see technology playing along beautifully with the big idea. That’s a very encouraging sign,” said Tigress Tigress founder, CEO and CCO Meera Sharath Chandra.

     

    “Judging the DAF awards this year demonstrates that the region is thinking big and acting big in digital.  It’s no longer just an add-on to a TV campaign, but brands and agencies are genuinely looking at how they can build participation throughout their initiatives.  In a world where we often seem to be obsessed with daily posts on Facebook, it’s brilliant to see how much scale and impact can be really achieved with digital innovation,” said Iris Worldwide planning director, APAC regional Paul Gage.

     

    “The work that stood out for me was based on a single sharp insight and a strong idea – simply presented and well executed. Several entries made me go, Aha, wish I had thought of it,” said Infosys global head – digital marketing Ashok Lalla.
    The winners of the 2013 awards will be announced online through www.digitalasiafestival.com on 18 November.

  • Shyam Benegal to head jury for Asia Pacific Screen Awards

    Shyam Benegal to head jury for Asia Pacific Screen Awards

    NEW DELHI: Famed filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly has been shortlisted in the features in competition of the 7th Annual Awards of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

    Other films from acclaimed filmmakers include Hong Kong’s Wong Kar Wai (The Grandmaster), Japan’s Hayao Miyazaki (The Wind Rises) and Hirokazu Kore Eda (Like Father, Like Son), as well as Kim Ki Duk (Moebius) from the Republic of Korea and Asghar Farhadi (The Past) from the Islamic Republic of Iran. First timers competing with them include Singapore’s Anthony Chen (Ilo, Ilo) and Australia’s Kim Mordaunt (The Rocket).

     

    The International Nominations Council is currently deliberating in Brisbane ahead of the 2013 nominations announcement this month. The 2013 Asia Pacific Screen Awards ceremony will be held in Brisbane’s historic City Hall on 12 December at a glittering event, with nominees and industry luminaries in attendance. Films are submitted to the awards across four categories; Feature Film, Documentary Feature Film, Animated Feature Film and Children’s Feature Film.

     

    The 2013 International Nominations Council are currently in Brisbane to determine the nominees in the six feature film categories of Best Feature Film, Achievement in Directing, Best Screenplay, Achievement in Cinematography, Best Performance by an Actress and Best Performance by an Actor.

     

    The awards are the Asia Pacific region’s highest accolade in film, recognising and promoting cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest growing film region: comprising 70 countries and areas, 4.5 billion people, and responsible for half of the world’s film output.

     

    With an incredibly strong line-up of over 230 films from 41 countries and areas, including Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film submissions from an unprecedented 19 countries, the 2013 competition reinforces the award’s position as the region’s highest accolade in film, recognising and promoting the cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the vast Asia Pacific.

     

    Features in competition for 2013 include films not only awarded within their own countries and areas, but also at the world’s leading film festivals beyond Asia Pacific, with the line-up including multiple award winners from Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Sundance, Venice and Tribeca.

     

    Winners in the feature film categories will be determined by the 2013 APSA International Jury, headed by esteemed Indian screenwriter and director Shyam Benegal, who will lead a group of accomplished Jury members including Korean screenwriter and director Kim Tae-yong, “Queen of Sri Lankan Cinema” actress of stage and screen Hon Dr Malani Fonseka, Turkish actor Tamer Levent, Swiss director Christoph Schaub and Hong Kong producer Albert Lee. The International Jury can also, at its discretion, present a further prize: the Jury Grand Prize, for which nominated feature films are eligible.

     

    Winners of the Documentary Feature Film, Animated Feature Film and Children’s Feature Film categories will be peer-voted by the APSA Academy members.

     

    The Middle Eastern countries encompassed by the Asia Pacific region have a particularly strong number of entries this year, from countries and areas including Iraqi Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and the Palestinian Territories. The Islamic Republic of Iran alone sees no less than four grand masters of cinema in the competition, APSA Academy members Asghar Farhadi (The Past), Jafar Panahi (Closed Curtain), Mohammad Rasoulof (Manuscripts Don’t Burn) and also Mohsen Makhmalbaf (The Gardener).

     

    APSA Director of Awards Competition, Maxine Williamson is thrilled by the final competition: ‘It’s extremely satisfying to see the competition line up get even stronger year after year, and what is particularly rewarding in 2013 is the healthy number of entries received from the thriving APSA Academy, testament to the ever-growing strength of the awards.’

     

    In addition to the many entries from APSA Academy members, the completed 2011 MPA APSA Academy Film Fund project, Maryam Ebrahimi’s documentary feature film No Burqas Behind Bars, is also entered in competition, and is the third completed film fund project to enter the competition.

     

    Brisbane’s Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said of the close of competition: “This is a very exciting part of the Awards process, and I looking forward to announcing the 2013 nominees. It will be our great pleasure to welcome the nominees to Brisbane in December for this extremely prestigious international event.”

     

     The chairman of the 2013 International Nominations Council is South Korea’s Professor Hong-Joon Kimwhi is a published author, award-winning director and screenwriter, Professor Kim is also a former Commissioner of the Korean Film Council and is a Film Professor at the Korean National University of Arts.

     

    Members include India’s Meenakshi Shedde, an independent film curator, film festival consultant, film critic, film director and journalist who is the India Consultant to the Berlin and Dubai Film Festivals; Jeanette Paulson Hereniko (Hawaii), the founder of the Hawaii International Film Festival, a founding board member of the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC), and a former film festival juror at Berlin, Rotterdam, Busan, Singapore and Mumbai; Kathryn Weir (Australia), head curator of the Australian Cinémath?que and also Head Curator of International Contemporary Art at Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA); producer Peggy Chiao (Taiwan), the former chairperson of the prestigious Golden Horse Film Festival, and the pioneer who cultivated the co-production of films among China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan; Philip Cheah (Singapore), film critic, Vice-President of NETPAC and program consultant for the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival, Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival, South-east Asian Film Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival, Dubai International Film Festival and the Asia Pacific Films website; and APSA Film Competition Director Maxine Williamson (Australia).

     

    Two additional major awards for outstanding achievement will be presented at the ceremony. The UNESCO Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through film, and the FIAPF Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film which celebrates a film practitioner from the region whose career and actions contribute strongly to the development of the film industry. The APSA NETPAC Development Prize of $ 5,000 will also be awarded.

     

    The Asia Pacific Screen Awards are managed by economic development board Brisbane Marketing in a unique collaboration with Paris-based UNESCO and FIAPF-International Federation of Film Producers Associations.

  • CNN launches new Executive Innovator business segment sponsored by panasonic

    CNN launches new Executive Innovator business segment sponsored by panasonic

    MUMBAI :  CNN International has launched ‘Executive Innovator’, a new on air and online segment which profiles inspiring business leaders who are challenging perceptions, pushing the boundaries and creating fresh ideas. The segment is sponsored by leading electronics manufacturer Panasonic.

    ‘Executive Innovator’ airs fortnightly during ‘World Business Today’, a round-up of the day’s global business news, marketing trends and economic developments. The launch segment featured Lexus International’s President Kiyotaka Ise explaining why his new luxury stores sell everything but cars.

    As well as being seen in millions of home around the globe, ‘Executive Innovator’ will also feature on CNN.com at http://business.blogs.cnn.com.
    Vice President of News Advertising Sales for CNN Asia Pacific, William Hsu, commented: “CNN’s core audience are some of the most influential business decision-makers around, so we are delighted to partner with Panasonic to deliver these genuinely inspiring stories to our viewers around the world.”

    Groupwide Brand Communication Division General Manager for Panasonic, Senju Kobayashi, commented: “We are pleased to present innovative ideas and thoughts from leading business executives through this partnership with CNN. Panasonic provides business solutions across various fields, and we look forward to learning from the stories that these innovators will share in this series.”

    ‘Executive Innovator’ airs every second Monday during ‘World Business Today’ at 1830 IST
    ‘World Business Today’ brings viewers around the world the day’s global business news with a particular focus on international market trends, economic developments, stock market trading, bids and take-overs. It is anchored from the key financial centers of Hong Kong, London and New York

  • ‘Best Corporate Consultancy in the World 2013

    ‘Best Corporate Consultancy in the World 2013

    MSLGROUP, Publicis Groupe’s strategic communications and engagement consultancy, was named the ‘Best Corporate Consultancy in the World 2013’ by The Holmes Report, one of the most authoritative commentators in the communications industry. The recognition is a testimony to the consultancy’s strengths in helping its clients establish, protect and expand their business through strategic reputation management and corporate advisory practices.

     

    Paul Holmes, editor of The Holmes Report, said of the award, “MSLGROUP has quietly pulled together one of the most formidable corporate capabilities in the world…providing an impressive range of financial communications and corporate and public affairs counsel.” This highly prestigious acknowledgment comes within weeks after The Holmes Report appointed MSLGROUP as ‘Asia-Pacific Consultancy of the Year.’

     

    Glenn Osaki, Asia President, MSLGROUP, said: “In Asia, more and more of our clients are turning to MSLGROUP for higher value communications advisory. This has given us the opportunities to provide counsel beyond communicating a business strategy but for the shaping of it. To ensure that we stay close to our clients’ business, we have focused on strengthening our Strategic Communications Advisory in Asia, including investing to ensure that we have the strongest talent in public affairs and government relations in China, India and Singapore, as well as establishing our regional Financial Communications practice in Hong Kong in 2012.”

     

    Highlights from MSLGROUP in Asia include multiple high-level and cross-market advisory work across the region for clients including P&G, Coca-Cola, Walmart, Business Software Alliance, and Invest in France Agency. MSLGROUP is playing a large role to provide integrated communications for leading companies in India, including Dell and United Technologies (UTC). The China team regularly advises C-suite executives on all issues related to communications with significant impact on business strategy, including its 15+ year client, IKEA. Since 1997, Genedigi Group in China has been providing strategic public affairs and corporate communications counsel to a large number of Fortune 500 companies and Chinese firms.

     

    On the global scale, examples of MSLGROUP’s world-class advisory includes its strategic corporate counsel for UTC across its diversified aerospace and building systems industries, which has helped UTC to become one of the most admired companies in the world; a 15-market thought leadership and public affairs campaign for the World Gold Council; Kekst’s work on the American Airlines bankruptcy and subsequent merger with US Airways; reputation and issues management for Google in Germany and Italy; and CNC’s work on the Vodafone/KDG takeover and Lufthansa’s sale of BMI to British Airways.

     

    Olivier Fleurot, CEO of MSLGROUP commented, “We have long believed in the power of a holistic and truly global group offering that is based around the expertise of best-in-class regional entrepreneurs. Knitting these units together with our dynamic teams in the fast-growing economies of India and Brazil is providing us with a leading edge for our clients worldwide today.”

  • American Tourister launches its brand campaign with an Indian twist

    American Tourister launches its brand campaign with an Indian twist

    MUMBAI: American Tourister has introduced its brand new campaign ‘Take On The World’. The campaign highlights the brand’s fresh, energetic youthful appeal, and showcases the technology behind its new Vivolite range.

     

    Created by JWT Hong Kong, the Indian edition of this global TVC has been specifically enhanced with Indian background music with an aim to connect with a wider audience.  

     

    “‘Take On the World’ is meant to evoke that rush of excitement we feel when we’re about to go on a great trip, especially from the perspective of today’s young and optimistic travelers who are eager to see the world,” says JWT chairman Asia Pacific creative council Lo Sheung Yan.

     

    The high-paced TV commercial brings to life the brand’s fun, lighted-hearted and colourful attitude, while highlighting the durability of the stylish, lightweight Vivolite. The campaign, which was launched in Korea in July and will roll out across Asia Pacific through the rest of the year, also features a series of print ads that show a mix of global landmarks and young travellers from different parts of the world.  

     

    “Take on the World” concept captures the fun, young and international spirit of American Tourister. With this campaign we have attempted to break the Indian media clutter with some unconventional music. It’s a catchy, fun music score that resonates the brand personality also. We believe it will help us reach out to a larger audience in India and help with better brand recall,” says, Samsonite South Asia director marketing Anushree Tainwala.

     

    The 2013 “Take on the World” campaign is a sequel to the 2012 campaign, and marks a landmark for American Tourister, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year.

  • 80% people globally have TV access

    80% people globally have TV access

    NEW DELHI: Almost 80 per cent of households globally had access to television at the beginning of 2013, compared to 41 per cent of households with a computer and 37 per cent with internet access.

     

    The report shows that the number of households with internet access is increasing in all regions, but large differences persist, with penetration rates at the end of this year set to reach almost 80 per cent in the developed world, compared with 28 per cent in the developing world.

     

    An estimated 1.1 billion households worldwide are not yet connected to the internet, 90 per cent of which are in the developing world, according to the International Telegraphic Union’s flagship annual report Measuring the Information Society 2013.

     

    Internet users as a percentage of the population have been growing on average at double-digit rates over the past ten years. The percentage of the population online in the developed world will reach almost 77 per cent by end 2013, compared with 31 per cent in the developing world.

     

    Mobile broadband connections over 3G and 3G+ networks are growing at an average annual rate of 40 per cent, equating to 2.1 billion mobile-broadband subscriptions and a global penetration rate of almost 30 per cent.

     

    Almost 50 per cent of all people worldwide are now covered by a 3G network, the report said.

     

    By end of 2013 there will be 6.8 billion total mobile-cellular subscriptions – almost as many as there are people on the planet.

     

    An estimated 2.7 billion people will also be connected to the internet – though speeds and prices vary widely, both across and within regions.

     

    The Republic of Korea leads the world in terms of overall ICT development for the third consecutive year, followed closely by Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, Finland and Norway. The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Hong Kong (China) also rank in the top 10, with the United Kingdom at the 11th position last year.

     

    The report identifies a group of most dynamic countries, which have recorded above-average improvements in their IDI rank or value over the past 12 months. These include (in order of most improved): United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Barbados, Seychelles, Belarus, Costa Rica, Mongolia, Zambia, Australia, Bangladesh, Oman and Zimbabwe.

     

    In the four years between 2008-2012 fixed-broadband prices fell by 82 per cent from 115.1 per cent of average monthly income per capita (GNI p.c.) in 2008 to 22.1 per cent in 2012.

     

    The biggest drop occurred in developing countries, where fixed-broadband prices fell by 30 per cent year on year between 2008 and 2011.

     

    The average price per unit of speed (Mbps) also decreased significantly between 2008 and 2012, with a global median price of $19.50 per Mbps in 2012, almost a quarter of the price that was being charged in 2008.

     

    Austria has the world’s most affordable mobile broadband, while Sao Tomé and Principe, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have the least affordable, with service cost equal to or higher than average monthly gross national income (GNI) per capita. Other countries that rank well for mobile broadband affordability include Qatar, the United Kingdom, Germany, Kuwait and France.

  • Benegal to head Asia Pacific Screen Awards Jury this year

    Benegal to head Asia Pacific Screen Awards Jury this year

    Renowned filmmaker Shyam Benegal, known as one of the pioneers of the art film movement in the country and the launch of serious television series, will Chair the International Jury of the Seventh Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

     

    Speaking at the Busan International Film Festival, APSA executive chairman Michael Hawkins noted that with India celebrating one hundred years of cinema, it was only befitting that the jury be led by a filmmaker of ‘such gravitas’, adding that the work of selection was being undertaken by a ‘remarkable group of eminent filmmakers.

     

    The jury includes the renowned Srilankan filmmaker Malini Fonseka, Turkish actor Tamer Levent, Swiss director Christoph Schaub, Korean screenwriter and director Tae-yong, and Hong Kong producer Albert Lee.   

     

    Awards will be presented in six categories at the APSA be held at Brisbane in Australia on 12 December.

     

    Benegal, made his debut with Ankir in 1974 which was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 24th Berlin International Film Festival, won three national awards, and was nominated for the Academy awards.

     

    Since then, Benegal has made 26 feature films which have won him acclaim in India and overseas. He has also won the highest honour in Indian cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for Lifetime Achievement.

    In addition, he made the epochal ‘Discovery of India’ series based on the book of that name by India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

  • CNN appoints Sumnima Udas as India correspondent

    CNN appoints Sumnima Udas as India correspondent

    MUMBAI: CNN International has elevated Sumnima Udas as the Delhi-based correspondent. She will be covering key developments in the country relating to politics, economics, social & environmental and general interest stories.

    She has been associated with CNN since 2001. She joined as a news assistant in New York and then moved to Hong Kong in 2006 as a show producer. Since 2010, she has been producer from Delhi. “The eyes of the world will be trained on India as the world’s largest democracy and emerging economic powerhouse goes to the polls in 2014,” said CNN International Asia Pacific VP and managing editor Ellana Lee.

    CNN is looking at strengthening its presence in this diverse and dynamic region with the inclusion of Sumnima Udas

    Recently, Udas has worked on several assignments such as the Delhi gang-rape, the Bangladesh garment factory collapse as well as the Commonwealth Games corruption scam. She is also the recipient of the Asian Television Awards as show producer for the show CNN Talk Asia, a weekly show that explores personalities of newsmakers.

    She has studied her bachelors at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, USA and masters from Oxford University in UK. She knows several languages such as English, Hindi, Urdu, Nepali and French and has grown up in over ten countries.

    “With her new appointment as Delhi correspondent we look forward to strengthening our presence in this diverse and dynamic region,” added Lee.

  • Qissa wins NETPAC Award at 13th Toronto International Film Festival

    Qissa wins NETPAC Award at 13th Toronto International Film Festival

    NEW DELHI: Qissa by Anup Singh has won the NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere at the 13th Toronto International Film Festival.

     

    The award is instituted by the Network for the promotion of Asian Cinema and given at very few festivals.

     

    Jury members include Jay Jeon (Korea), Intishal Al Timimi (Abu Dhabi) and Freddie Wong (Hong Kong).

     

    The jury remarked: “The NETPAC Award for the best Asian film at Festival 2013 goes to Qissa, directed by Anup Singh, for its sensitive portrayal of the issues of identity and displacement that affect people not only in India, but in all parts of the world and for brilliance of cinematic craft and the choice of metaphor that has been employed to tell a moving story that is bound to provoke thoughts, spark debate and give its viewers an intense experience.”

     

    Set amidst the ethnic cleansing and general chaos that accompanied India’s partition in 1947, this sweeping drama stars Irrfan Khan – also appearing at the Festival in The Lunchbox – as a Sikh attempting to forge a new life for his family while keeping their true identities a secret from their community.

     

    Beautiful, timeless, and touching the deepest of human impulses, Qissa carries the spirit of a great folk tale. Although it’s set in a particular time and place – the Punjab region that straddles India and Pakistan in the years immediately after partition – it is both deeper and broader than any one moment. As this eerie family drama progresses, it cuts to the heart of eternal desires for honour, empathy, and love.

     

    One of India’s best actors, Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Festival premiere The Lunchbox, and a feature guest in this year’s Mavericks programme) plays Umber Singh, a Sikh uprooted by the religious violence that came with partition in 1947. He and his family move to a safer locale, and it is here that the story takes a remarkable turn. Having already fathered daughters, Singh now wants a son. When his next child is born he celebrates his wish come true, but there is one problem: the baby is in fact a girl.

     

    Qissa is originally an Arabic word meaning folk tale. Both the word and the idea migrated from the Gulf into the Punjab, still connected by the ancient oral narratives handed down in communal settings. Working within this tradition, director Anup Singh gives his film both the grand themes and elemental emotions of classic storytelling. As Umber’s daughter is raised as a boy, the characters are propelled with greater and greater urgency towards their inevitable fates.

     

    Part of a new generation of directors with feet firmly planted in India and far beyond, Singh has delivered a film immediately accessible to anyone sensitive to the conflicts that drive classic stories: fear versus hubris, individual need versus social codes. Qissa is a Punjabi story for the whole world. 

  • Mumbai Film Mart gets bigger, better

    Mumbai Film Mart gets bigger, better

     Book your dates from 18-20 October. It is time for Mumbaikars to get ready for the third edition of the Mumbai Film Mart (MFM) to be held at Taj President.  The festival that facilitates Indian films to reach international audiences promises to be bigger and better than its previous avatars.

     

    The festival is expected to grow from its 1,200 meetings last year and 400 in its first edition. These meetings, between Indian producers and buyers and distributors from several international markets have been fruitful for both parties, with Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, Hong Kong, Poland, Germany, France, Sweden and even South Korea bagging valuable deals.   

     

    Owing to its valuable contribution in facilitating the sale of Indian films among these countries, MFM has also garnered the support of top Indian production houses such as Yash Raj Films, Disney UTV, Eros International, Reliance Entertainment, AKFPL and Balaji Motion Pictures.

     

    That said MFM is also an active platform for independent filmmakers to showcase their work alongside big banner Bollywood films.

     

    Apart from the repeat participation from its earlier breakthrough markets, MFM has confirmed attendance of new buyers and broadcasters such as Astro (Malaysia), MBC (UAE), Shoreline Entertainment (USA), Happiness Distribution and Aanna Films (France), international film services providers such as 3D Alliance (France) and KFTV (UK) and key International exhibitors such as the VOX chain of cinemas operating across the Middle East.  

     

    MFM 2013 will continue to expand the scope of the business of cinema with a focus on new technologies such as 3D, new distribution models for independent films, Books2Screen to encourage film adaptations, India Project Room for pre-selection of work-in-progress films and Filmy Room an exclusive DVD viewing library.

    This year, MFM will grow its scope manifold by hosting pre-scheduled meetings, on-the-spot networking through speed dating, informal meetings during happy hours, themed round table meetings and greater visibility for select participants through SPOTS.