MELBOURNE – Asian commissioning alliance The Asian Pitch (TAP) has announced the three winning projects of its annual funding scheme The Asian Pitch 2018. Ten applicants were shortlisted from over one hundred submissions and invited recently to present their projects in Seoul, South Korea, to a panel of producers from NHK, KBS and PTS.

 

The three overall winning projects selected were:

 

Singing in the Wilderness (China), directed by Dong-Nan Chen:

After hiding in the mountains for a century, a Miao Farmers Chorus is discovered and soon becomes a national sensation. Singing in the Wilderness is an intimate story of two young Miaos and how their lives change when they step into the real world of China.

 

The Last of the Ring Ladies (Malaysia), directed by Nova Goh:

Change is coming to the heart of Borneo. Peluk Anak Apeh, the last of the famed Bidayuh Ring Ladies, and famous local fashion designer Leng Lagenda embark on an astonishing journey of personal discovery to preserve the Ring Lady Heritage and introduce this unique culture through fashion to a modern world.

 

Paradise Garden (China), directed by Zhi-qi Pan:

Ms. Hu lives in Shi Ba Ti. She has built a flower garden with a pile of garbage, and behind the garden she runs a budget inn. She hopes to redeem herself and her son who suffers from depression, but Paradise Garden isn’t just a story of love and redemption between mother and son. It also deals with homosexuality, religion, poor people, demolition of urban villages and other social issues which are closely related to the lives of ordinary people in rapidly developing China.

 

The three projects will be commissioned by the broadcasters who will also retain the rights and Looking Glass International (LGI), Australian-based distribution company specialising in factual programming, will be responsible for the international distribution and the TAP catalogue.

 

Launched in 2007, TAP evolved as a result of a common vision between three Asian public broadcasters to fund and support original documentaries produced by independent directors and filmmakers who live and work in Asia.

 

The collaboration between NHK in Japan, KBS in Korea and PTS in Taiwan seeks to discover new and hidden talent in the region and uncover compelling local human-interest stories told by local people that will attract global attention.

 

Selection is based on original Asian or unusual treatments of existing human-interest stories, original programs that depict Asia’s societal transition and human interest stories that will excite not only Asian public broadcasters but the international community as well.