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SINGAPORE AND CANADA SIGN THEIR FIRST-EVER INTERNATIONAL CANADA-SINGAPORE TV CO-PRODUCTIONS
Banff, June 15 - Singapore and Canada are pleased to announce
the first Canada-Singapore television Co-productions under the Canada-Singapore
Audio-Visual Co-production Agreement. Two television documentaries will
be co-produced by Crest Communication Singapore, an independent Singapore
production house, and Four Square Productions Canada, a leading Canadian
documentary producer. Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) and Telefilm
Canada are supporting the co-production of the two documentaries, which
demonstrate the spirit of co-operation between Singapore and Canadian
production companies.
Both documentaries will be part of an historical documentary series entitled
Scarred by History. The first documentary is entitled End
of Empire, a one-hour documentary featuring Alexander Cockburn,
a medical volunteer from Canada who worked in Singapore during the Japanese
invasion in World War II. The second documentary is entitled Among
the Disappeared: A Cambodian Odyssey, a one-hour documentary featuring
the story of a Cambodian-born but now Canadian resident Kodain Ear. It
recounts his childhood experience in witnessing the Khmer Rouge atrocities
in 1975. Both documentaries will be telecast on local television in Singapore
(on Channel NewsAsia) and in Canada (on Discovery Network's History Channel)
sometime this year. (See Annex A & B for synopses on the two
documentaries.)
The Audio-Visual Co-Production Agreement between Canada and Singapore,
signed in Singapore in 1998, establishes a framework for co-operation
between audio-visual production companies in Singapore and Canada. SBA
has been working closely with Telefilm Canada to administer the Agreement
and facilitate co-productions between Canada and Singapore.
Mr. Lim Hock Chuan, CEO of SBA, Said "We are pleased that the collaboration
between SBA and Telefilm Canada is beginning to bear fruit. These two
documentaries represent an important first step in co-production between
Singapore and Canada. The Singapore production industry looks forward
to more international co-production with its Canadian counterpart as an
important way to broaden its exposure, upgrade the industry and create
quality programs that can travel globally."
François Macerola, Executive Director, Telefilm Canada, was also
pleased to add, "The number of co-productions with Asia has increased
significantly in the last few years, especially in the areas of documentary
and animation, where Canada has a unique tradition of excellence. I am
particularly glad to see that Canada's first two documentary co-productions
with Singapore were undertaken with the participation of an outstanding
Canadian documentary producer. I wish all the best to our future partnerships
with Singapore.''
S. Kumar, CEO of Crest Communication Singapore Pty Ltd, says "This
international effort has opened up opportunities in the entertainment
industry for both countries. It is such pro-active efforts by SBA that
are helping to develop Singapore as a creative and dynamic entertainment
and media hub. Co-production provides creative companies invaluable opportunities
for sharing of skills and will result in fabulous work. This project has
been possible due to the excellent support offered by the SBA."
Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) is an active promoter of the broadcast
industry in Singapore, and it is committed to developing Singapore as
the premier broadcasting hub. One of SBA's efforts towards this goal is
in participating and supporting activities and projects that promote and
facilitate developments in the broadcasting industry.
Telefilm Canada is a federal cultural agency dedicated primarily to the
development and promotion of the Canadian film, television and new media
industry. The Corporation acts as one of the government's principal instruments
for providing strategic leverage to the Canadian private sector.
Crest Communication Singapore Pte. Ltd. (Crest Singapore) is a part of
the Crest Communication Ltd. a media and entertainment content provider
is targeting the international markets. The Company will also soon be
providing multimedia content for broadband in the Singapore market.
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Contact Persons :
Sharanjit Kaur |
Camille Gueymard |
Senior Management Executive (Public Relations) |
Telefilm Canada |
Singapore Broadcasting Authority |
Specialist, Asia-Pacific |
Tel : (65) 837 9365 |
Tel: (604) 666-1608/1-800-663-7771 |
Fax: (65) 336 1170 |
Fax: (604) 666-7754
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http://www.sba.gov.sg
|
www.telefilm.gc.ca |
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ANNEX A
Synopsis: Empire's End
As news of Japan's imminent surrender spread, the inmates of Changi prisoner
of war camp rushed through the now unguarded gates headed for Singapore.
Left behind were the sick, the dying, and camp medical officer Alexander
Cockburn. Eight years before, Cockburn left his fiancée in Britain
for a 4-year contract as a colony pharmacist. For the last four she had
not known if he was alive or dead. He too hoped to reach Singapore and
contact home, but nearly four years of brutal occupation had taken their
toll. Tending to the sick he collapsed from exhaustion and was sent back
to Britain. He would never see Singapore again.
Smack between India and China, colonial Singapore was a beautiful, bustling
city of business-Britain's far eastern pearl. It's surrender to Japanese
forces in the Second World War has been called Britain's greatest military
disaster; a stunning, humiliating defeat that shattered the myth of white
superiority and effectively sabotaged Britain's colonial hold over the
South Pacific. The young pharmacist Cockburn arrived at Singapore in time
for a few twilight years of cultural splendour, only to be caught up in
their swift, violent end. As a medical volunteer, Cockburn worked against
the death and destruction caused by incessant Japanese bombing in Singapore
as well as caring for those hurt in the jungle warfare on the Malay Peninsula.
At the city's surrender, he continued for three and a half years to live
through horrific conditions in Japanese prisoner of war camps. This one-hour
documentary will tell his story and, through it, that of Singapore itself
throughout the Second World War.
Mr. Cockburn, now living in Canada, will return to Singapore for the
first time since being shipped out of Changi at the war's end. The accounts
of native Singaporeans who were also participants in the war will enhance
the story. One of these, Mr. "Chip" Ghee Tan, now lives in Toronto.
He and his family bore first-hand witness to conditions in civilian Singapore
throughout the war, as well as knowing intimately the atrocities suffered
by the city's Chinese population. We will also speak with witnesses in
Singapore itself, Chinese, Indian and Malay alike.
ANNEX B
Synopsis: Among the Disappeared
When Kodaim Ear smiles for the camera at his wedding in Regina this summer,
he will be told yet again how much he resembles his father. But he can't
be certain. He can't recall his parents' faces. His father, mother and
four siblings have long since disappeared - murdered in the terror of
the Khmer Rouge revolution brought to his native Cambodia in 1975. In
the five years that followed, his childhood disappeared - lost in fear
and hard labour, until a dangerous path of escape would lead him finally
to Canada. Today, he is set to marry, to establish a foundation over the
loss within his past. Yet even in this secure new beginning there is a
gap he cannot fill. The images of terror won't leave his head; the faces
of his parents won't come back.
Kodaim Ear is returning to Cambodia to remember and tell his story, a
story he has always wanted his Canadian friends to understand, but that
he was never certain how to tell. By accompanying him back, we will help
him to share with his new country the story of his old one.
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