BEIJING - HIS movies about heartlanders are box-office hits in Singapore. Now, home-grown film-maker Jack Neo is shooting for a piece of the China market.
His Neo Studios company will work with the Shanghai Film Group Corporation, Xian's Western Movie Group and Hong Kong's Big Media Group to co-produce movies over the next three years.
DR LEE BOON YANG, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, with some of Singapore's most talented designers at the Singapore Season in China, will be signing 17 Memoranda of Understanding in media, business and education. Photos/ CLARISSA OON
These agreements are part of the 17 Memoranda of Understanding that will be signed during the ongoing Singapore Season, signalling collaborations between Singapore and China in media, business and education.
The Season is a month-long showcase of Singapore culture in Beijing and Shanghai organised by 14 Singapore government agencies.
First in the pipeline for Mr Neo is directing a China version of I Not Stupid. It is expected to begin shooting in April next year with a cast from China.
This is a co-production with Western Movie Group, which produced the landmark 1987 Zhang Yimou film Red Sorghum.
I Not Stupid (2002), which made more than S$2.6 million in Singapore, took a hard look at the pressure to shine academically here.
Speaking to The Sunday Times at the China-Singapore Media Business Forum at Raffles Beijing Hotel yesterday, Mr Neo, 47, said that the players in the China film industry had taken note of his success in Singapore.
The forum, part of Singapore Season, was attended by 270 people.
In his speech, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon Yang said the 'strong turnout' and 'the number of agreements sealed today reflect the keen interest of media organisations from China and Singapore to deepen our engagement'.
HOPING TO GAIN A FOOTHOLD in China, Mr Darren Gan displays art toys made by his company Play Imaginative at the Hybricity exhibition in Beijing.
Said Mr Neo: 'I started from telling very simple stories about Singapore and now I hope that audiences in China and Asia will also like my movies.'
He also plans to nurture more commercial home-grown screenwriters and directors and help them break into the China market.
His movie I Not Stupid Too (2006) kicked off the inaugural Singapore Film Festival in China yesterday at Beijing's Star City cinema. The event features five other movies, including Royston Tan's 4:30 (2005), Kelvin Tong's Eating Air (1999) and Djinn Ong's Perth (2004).
On the education front, the Chinese Academy of Sciences will set up the China-Singapore Institute of Digital Media in Singapore early next year.
This will be the academy's first overseas research initiative, and will see 40 researchers from the two countries working in the area of interactive digital media.
The Beijing-based Communication University of China's (CUC) School of Television and Journalism and Shandong University's School of Information Science and Engineering will have exchange programmes with Ngee Ann Polytechnic's School of Film and Media Studies and Singapore Polytechnic's School of Media & Info-Communications Technology respectively.
Said CUC's deputy dean and director of the School of Television and Journalism, Professor He Suliu, 42: 'Singapore has been cultivating some outstanding film talents in its schools and we hope these programmes will enable us to learn from each other.'
