NHK, Mediacorp extend doc funding

Japanese public broadcaster NHK and Singapore media company MediaCorp has extended a coproduction agreement that aims to fund Asian documentary makers for a further three years.

The two companies have extended their partnership on The Asian Pitch competition following its success since launching in 2007. Previous documentaries that have won the competition include Agung Setawan’s The Mummy Thief and Faiza Ahmad Khan’s Supermen of Malegaon, which was awarded the Grand Prix award at the US International Video and Film Festival in 2009.

The two companies, which launched the competition to help documentary filmmakers in Asia, has also announced its latest round of funding. It has awarded financing for Japanese director Shohei Shibata’s Transmission: Listening to the Mountain’s Message, which follows the spirituality of the country’s mountains, and Taiwan’s Yang Li-chou’s Red Box, a documentary about Chen Xihuang, the eldest son of a renowned Budaixi puppet master.