Full video for the symposium focusing on short film industry in Southeast Asia is now available online via the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF & ASIA) project website: http://www.shortshorts.org/southeast_asia/index-en.php .
This symposium was organized as a part of 2 year collaborative initiative by The Japan Foundation Asia Center and SSFF & ASIA.
Last year, we introduced the first set of the symposium featuring countries from Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore and Laos whereas in second edition this year welcomed film professionals from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar.
As last year, the symposium addressed four primary topics: 1) How is short film positioned and considered by the film industry in each country? 2) What is the situation of short film production in each country? 3) How are the skills of up-and-coming filmmakers being nurtured in each country? And 4) How can Southeast Asian countries work together to support each other in the future?. From these topics, various areas were discussed, as the four participating Southeast Asian countries have different political, religious and economic conditions. In Malaysia, for example, short films are often made along with advertisement purposes. Meanwhile, in Myanmar, short documentaries are easier to be made because of the cheaper budgets, etc.
Furthermore, there are guest columns published regularly on the project website where essays by guest writers discussing film production in Southeast Asia are uploaded. Check out the evolving film industry in Southeast Asia.