Novel 10-country initiative aims to examine Asean identity

Because 10 heads are better than one, the Film Asean Foundation recently announced its plan to produce a film that would enable collaboration among its member countries, according to its president, Briccio Santos.

Santos is also the chair of the country’s lead agency for cinema, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).

Aside from the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are members of the Film Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

Conceptualized in 2013, the Film Asean is a forum of the lead government agencies in film development within the group’s 10-member states.

It was created with the goal of strengthening film-related programs in the region, said Santos.

Santos was recently in Bangkok to visit the Thailand Ministry of Culture and the Thailand Film Office “to accelerate the activation of the full board” of the Film Asean before its next general meeting in Manila in the first week of July.

He also met with Thein Htun Aung, former director of the Myanmar Motion Picture Development Department, and Win Maw, the CEO of Forever Group—the leading multimedia entertainment group in Myanmar, to finalize the plan for the production of the first-ever Asean-collaborated film.

This novel initiative, said Santos, would integrate narratives that would depict the ways of life of the Asean communities.

He added that the project was “expected to open the door for more films that would help develop the Asean identity, as well as provide the avenue, through films and audiovisual images, for sharing these stories in the region.”

According to an FDCP report, the meeting in Bangkok also “centered on how the different Ministries of Thailand, such as culture, tourism, sports and commerce, could work together, with the support of the private sector, in pushing forward the Thai film industry and support Film Asean’s agenda.”

Santos said Thailand, being one of the leading Asean countries in the production of foreign films, has “a prominent role in advancing the Film Asean programs as they are meant to support the film development programs of the 10-member countries.”

For the first time this year, a Film Asean pavilion was mounted at the Martin Gropius Bau venue of the European Film Market (EFM)—a component of the recent Berlin International Film Festival, or Berlinale, in Germany.

“The pavilion drove traffic because market participants dealt not only with one country, but the Southeast Asian region as a whole. It was a win-win for the Philippines and the 10 member states,” Santos said.

“Next destination [for the Film Asean pavilion] is the Cannes film festival,” declared Santos, adding that the cost of mounting the pavilion was shared among the participating countries. “It paved the way for a model that will eventually become more prominent and cost-effective.”

The FDCP promoted Philippine filmmaking, particularly Filipino-produced films and co-productions, under the Philippine Film Export Services Office (PFESO), at the EFM. E-mail [email protected]