This is the first time B.I.G. (Bucheon Industry Gathering) which promotes Made in Asia booklet and film market held a forum online to be presented during the 25th BiFan on July 8-18, 2021 in-person and digitally in different parts of Bucheon City in South Korea.
Don’t get me wrong.
It’s not an official representation from San Pedro City particularly in the Local Government Unit (LGU) or any private firm in the international arena of film exchange of ideas and experiences but a random if not virtual symbol of a Filipino voice in the world stage who happens to be a resident of the city.
It’s an Asian connection of a Filipino working press in the diaspora no matter how virtual at this time and age of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This writer, therefore, can lay claim an honor to be with the same panel as Wang Yao, a Chinese Ph.D. in Film Studies and critic; Donsaron Kovitvanitcha, a Thai journalist and film distributor; Yuko Shiomaki, Japanese film buyer; Sigit Prabowo, an Indonesian film box-office analyst; Silvia Wong, a Singaporean veteran journalist and Chul Shin, a Korean film producer and Director of the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan).
The video conference recently held strung up all of us together from various parts of the world to discuss the current Asian film market especially in the pandemic.
This is the first time B.I.G. (Bucheon Industry Gathering) which promotes Made in Asia booklet and film market held a forum online to be presented during the 25th BiFan on July 8-18, 2021 in-person and digitally in different parts of Bucheon City in South Korea.
I beamed from San Pedro City and the rest from elsewhere, mostly from their respective nations.
Since Korea is a topnotch in tech especially in modern telecommunications gadgets, we had technical rehearsals before going on the main program. It was a confidence making exercise since I didn’t trust my computers and internet especially in this Third World community.
I was the opener of the tech run through so I had all the time in the world to fix my guns when an audio or a video glitch would arise.
Up to the last minute, I was on good reception.
Because if I wasn’t I would miss the most exciting and significant symposium on the topic.
Wang talked about the strict censorship in China. I found out genre films aren’t encouraged in the commie realm because according to Yao, the authorities said they aren’t realistic.
Donsaron explained that Thailand particularly during the pre-COVID-19 rage, his country had enjoyed the patronage of his compatriots of both English and local movies but when the pandemic struck, the Thai film scene was dismal and hardly no government support was in sight.
Sigit, meanwhile, also prided the support of the Indonesian people on films, international and homegrown, but when the pandemic attacked, it was also a failure but he is hopeful all these would pass.
Silvia said Singaporean film industry has a connection with Taiwan so it is a mutual bond. Yuko talked about the issue on Netflix about blocking Japanese content outside Japan. Chul as a seasoned film honcho opined that we couldn’t discern yet what the movie world would be like after the pandemic so it’s a wait and see attitude.
On my end, I spoke that it was not only the film workers which included actors and actresses, director, writers, cameramen, and other staff that were mostly hit by the pandemic but the producers as well.
The Philippine government, I said, through the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) gave out financial assistance to workers but it wasn’t enough because of the high prices of daily needs. (BV)
Tags: #SouthKorea, #BucheonIndustryGathering, #cinema