The finishing touches are being put on this year’s Hong Kong International Film and TV Market | Online (FILMART Online), which opens on Monday, 14 March, and runs to 17 March. 

Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), FILMART Online 2022 returns this year as a virtual event for the third year and expects to have more than 700 exhibitors with 2,200+ new production showcases, and upwards of 8,000 participants.

Companies from 41 countries and regions are participating this year, including Hong Kong, Mainland China, Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, the Middle East, India, Europe and North America.

Exhibiting on their home ground are Edko Films, Emperor Motion Pictures, Entertaining Power Company, Golden Network, Golden Scene Company, Golden Sun Films Distribution, Mandarin Motion Pictures, Media Asia Distribution, TVBI and PCCW, among others. 

Thai companies are showing up this year in a big way, with everything from animation to feature films. 

The CP Group’s entertainment arm, T&B Media Global Thailand, is highlighting animation series "Shelldon" (26x22 mins, three seasons), about the adventures of three shellfish species, and "Tasty Tales of the Food Truckers" (52x11 mins), about three friends traveling the world in their souped-up food truck and seeking out rare ingredients for exotic meals. 

Also joining the Thai pavilion is M Pictures Entertainment Public Company, a subsidiary of Thailand’s cinema operator Major Cineplex Group PLC. M Pictures, which has 20 titles in its production pipeline this year, is bringing, among others, comedy horror "Daeng", a story set in Bang Phra Khanong village where a ghost child haunts the neighbourhood; horror thriller "SLR", about a university student and his mysterious SLR camera, which causes anyone that gets their photo taken to encounter tragic death; and drama thriller "Six Characters", about six people claiming to be characters written by an author where the ending was unfinished as the author unexpectedly passed away, to this year’s event.

M Pictures, which also acquires about 40-50 films a year, is looking for action, horror, thriller and animation features from FILMART exhibitors this year. 

Many arrive at FILMART with high hopes for business in the new post-pandemic normal. 

The single biggest hope for this year is “for the economy to recover from the pandemic and to bring wonderful Thai content to be screened worldwide,” says M Pictures’ CEO, Surachedh Assawaruenganun.

T&B Media’s biggest hope is “to see metaverse drive and transform entertainment business in every sector... seamlessly connecting market between sellers and buyers, to add market value and establish a connection between real-world and virtual production projects”, says founder/CEO Jwanwat Ahriyavraromp.

Running in tandem with FILMART Online this year is the debut of EntertainmentPulse, which brings together thought-leaders to uncover trends and opportunities in Asia and beyond; as well as the well-established Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF).

The first edition of EntertainmentPulse talks about over-the-top (OTT) media platforms, content creation trends, content localisation, the future of documentaries, and the potential of the metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFT) in the context of the entertainment industry. 

This year’s speakers include Thailand’s The One Enterprise group CEO Takonkiet Viravan, who will talk about the company’s next great big strategy, the rise of Thai drama, and the recipes behind content creation in Thailand.

In other sessions, CEO of Digital Domain, Daniel Seah, guides participants through the emergency of “virtual humans” (simulations of human beings on computers), and Sébastien Borget, co-founder and COO of The Sandbox, who will analyse emerging metaverse trends.