FilmMart 2012: Powerful Asian Alliance to Fund ‘Micro Movies’ (Exclusive)

HONG KONG - Hong Kong’s Salon Films, the China International Television Corporation (CITVC), Fox International Channels and Japanese entertainment conglomerate Yoshimoto Kogyo have joined forces to create a new platform and distribute television movies across Asia. The new initiative, named Asia’s First Cut, will produce 10 “micro-movies” for Asia.

our editor recommends

Filmart 2012: THR's Festival Daily Day 1

Filmart: What You Need to Know About the Hong Kong Event

Micro movies refers to the small budget of the productions, targeted to average at around $1 million for each film.

The initiative hopes to discover and nurture a new wave of young creative talents across China and Asia.

The collaboration was initiated by Hong Kong-based Salon Films, which has been providing new technologies to film studios and television networks for over 50 years. It was the first film tech company to develop digital film equipment in China.

Japan’s Yoshimoto Kogyo, the longest-running talent management firm in Japan, has expanded into film and television production in recent years. Through the new initiative, the company will make use of its production experience, especially in producing mini-movies.

The collaboration will also utilize an extensive distribution network — one of the most widespread in the region — with the combined forces of the leading television network in China and one of the most far-reaching cable networks worldwide.

China’s CITVC, the international face and wholly-owned subsidiary of the state-own China Central Television Company (CCTV), now operates 33 channels in 9 countries and regions and 33 provinces, providing the largest coverage in China.

Fox International Channels (FIC) runs or distributes 37 channels in the Asia Pacific and the Middle Eastern regions, reaching over 550 million subscribers. The deal will also include the involvement of Star Chinese Movies, the top Chinese channel in Asia for Chinese films. Both FIC and Star Chinese Movies are subsidiaries of News Corporation.

“We not only share a common mission of pursuing excellence in our productions and businesses, we also possesses a similar aspiration to pioneer industry trends and nurture talents for the future,” said Salon Films chairman Fred Wang. “This collaboration will put an emphasis on defying common conventions to create a new, innovative wave of contents that can be distributed cross-borders and cross-platforms.”