Seminar speakers:
Irina Krohn
Irina Krohn is the Managing Director of The Finnish Film Foundation that supports and promotes Finnish film production. Prior to her current career she was a member of the Finnish Parliament and the Helsinki City Council as a representative of the Green League. Krohn also sits in the board of the Helsinki City Museum and the Finnish-Swedish Cultural Foundation. She lives in Helsinki with her husband and two children.
Kenneth Tan
Kenneth Tan is Director of the Singapore Film Commission, and concurrently Chief Operating Officer of the Media Development Authority of Singapore. In this dual capacity, he leads the Singapore goverment's efforts to develop and promote "made-in-Singapore / made-by-Singapore" features and short films within the broader ecosystem if all the media platforms -Film, Television, Print, Games, and Interactive Digital Media. A prominent and passionate advocate and public spokeperson in and for the local industry for over twenty years, Kenneth's extensive experience includes previous appointments as Managing Director of Village Roadshow's Singapore joint-venture companies; Chief Operating Officer of MediaCorp TV; Chief Executive Officer of MediaCorp Radio; and Managing Director of Acorn Marketing & Research Consultants.
http://www.sfc.org.sg http://www.mda.gov.sg
Jason Lai
Jason loves a good story. He is the Head of Content at Oak 3 Films, a production company that he co-founded with his two good friends. At Oak 3, he is responsible for the company's overall content output and program editorial, creating the original concepts and overseeing the editorial during post production.
A seasoned film and television producer/director, Jason's work has been broadcast on networks across Asia and internationally. Over the past decade, Jason has produced and directed for various international broadcasters as Discovery Channel, Travel & Living Channel, Animal Planet, National Geographic Channel, ESPN, ZDF, ARD, Q Channel and Arte. In Singapore, for MediaCorp TV, he has created over 250 hours of original programming comprising of prime time sitcoms, dramas, kids program, infotainment series and documentary series - winning 2 MediaCorp Star Awards for a sitcom and a documentary series and a finalist nomination at the New York Festivals' 2008 TV broadcasting awards for drama category.
Film festivals success (as a director) includes the Best Animation Film at the Bangkok International Film Festival 2004 for 3 Feet Apart, and Grand Prize for Best Film at the Busan Asian Film Festival 2008 for The Trouble with Waiting. Other festival achievements (as a producer) include Missing Star in competition at Venice International Film Festival 2006 and Here to have a world premiere in this year Directors' Fortnight, Cannes International Film Festival 2009.
The past decade of creating TV content and film has seen Jason filming in various parts of Asia, including, China, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Philippines, Hong Kong and Indonesia. His other experiences in the media include adjunct lecturing in polytechnics, mentoring and judging at various media competitions in Singapore. On 1st June 2008, Jason was appointed as the President of AIPRO (Association of Independent Producers Singapore).
Sunny Yong
Sunny runs Paddy Pictures as an Executive Producer / Director. She has worked on a wide genre, including TV commercials, corporate videos, documentaries, TV programs and feature films. Some of them were shot in and/or produced for foreign countries, including China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, France and US. Sunny has a niche expertise in creating powerful ideas for TV commercials and infomercials. She has also conceptualized and directed many innovative TV programs for local and global stations.
Sunny is actively involved in art films and feature films. Her recent works include Pleasure Factory and Flooding In the Time of Drought. The latter was screened in the Singapore Biennale 2008 and is selected for the 33rd Hong Kong International Film Festival, in which Drought will be in competition. She is currently working on her film, A Part Apart (as a Writer / Director) and producing another feature film, The Missing Ingredient, with filming taking place in Singapore and Australia.
Kim Hyoun-Soo
After one-year's experience at an international trade company, KIM Hyoun-soo started his career in the Korean film industry at KOFIC in 1999. Since then he has been working at KOFIC with several kinds of jobs including the launch of KOBIS (Korean Boxoffice Information System) and ART PLUS CINEMA NETWORK which is a KOFIC's supporting scheme for arthouse cinemas in Korea
In 2005, he joined to the International Promotion Department serving as a manager of Europe, taking charge of promoting Korean films through film festivals and markets in European counties. Now he is making more and more efforts to facilitate co-productions between Korean producers and European producers.
http://www.kofic.or.kr/english
Kevin Chang
Kevin Chang is currently serving as a managing director of the Gyeonggi Film Commission and is also a committee member for the In-Chon Film Commission. Before the Gyeonggi position, Kevin was the secretary general for KFPA (Korean Film Producers Association) and committee member in several Korean production entities, including KOFIC (Korean Film Council), GICPA (Gwang-Ju Information and Culture Industry Promotion Agency), Information Visual Industry Department if Jeon-Ju City, Vision for culture and Tourism of Jeollabuk Province and Film Education for Korea Arts and Culture Education Service. Kevin has also served as a visiting professor for Yewon Arts University (Digital Media Contents) and Judge and Executive Committee Agency member for the Project <X-edu> from Jeon-Ju University.
Gyeonggi Province is a special place where you meet all the Korean features, such as Suwon Hwasung which is the world's cultural heritage by UNESCO, DMZ where is the symbol of tragic division of Korean peninsular, and high tech semi-conductor facilities etc. Also there are full of infrastuctures, including Korean Folk Village in Youg In, Fantastic studio in Bushoen, Heyri Art Valley in Pajoo, and FOFIC (Korean Film) Namyangjy studio.
http://www.ggfc.or.kr/eng/htm/sub02.htm
JK Youn & Youngmin Kil
JK Youn (director, executive producer) and YoungMin Kil (production supervisor, producer) work for DBS Film. They have made succesful feature films such as "Sex is Zero". The company has made seven films so far and six of them were hits in Korean market. DBS Film is a part of CJ Entertainment Inc, the largest entertainment company in Korea. They have just finished shooting this year's biggest budget movie in Korea "Hae Un Dae".
Prosenjit Kumar De
A Chartered Accountant by profession he is the Chief Operating Officer of Vishesh Films Ltd, one of the leading feature film production houses in India with an enviable track record of producing of over 40 feature films in two decades. Has given the two biggest hits of 2008 and 2009 with his innovative and high-tech marketing strategy.
In his professional capacity, has been associated globally with the Media and Entertainment Industry, Finance & Economy, Tourism and Investment promotion for over twenty five years. He has also served as Director General in Ministry of Finance & Communications, Republic of Seychelles under the President & Minister of Finance. Pioneering the advent of eco-tourism and environmentally sustainable development in the Indian Ocean region.
Promoted Seychelles, a tiny group of islands in the Indian Ocean as one of the prime locations for shooting mega commercials like Bacardi, Indian feature films, organized the Miss World Beauty Pageant and an Asian debut for Ricky Martin. This led to major inward foreign investments and a boost to haute-de-gamme tourism. Has produced several eye-catching TVC's for organizations, products and services
Spearheaded the growth of cable television networks in Dubai and distribution of Showtime, Orbit and STAR TV networks in the United Arab Emirates. The principal architect of the seamless transition from London to building the state-of-the art Arabic television network MBC and Al-Arabiya which has become the flagship of Dubai Media City. He introduced Western shows on Pan Arab Television networks with Elton John Live in concert. Instrumental in setting up a DRTV network in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) with a collective viewership base of over 50 million.
He has been associated with major multinationals, several international projects of World Tourism Organization, IMF, World Bank and USAID. Interacted with several Heads of State and worked as a principal fund raiser for Mother Teresa in his University days.
