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Taiwan public television joins Asian Pitch

PTS President Sunshine Kuang (second left) and representatives from Japan’s NHK, Singapore’s MediaCorp and South Korea’s KBS shake on their future collaboration in The Asian Pitch July 31. (CNA)

• Publication Date：08/01/2012
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  Grace Kuo

Taiwan Public Television Service has been invited to take part in The Asian Pitch to assist in the selection of high-definition documentaries for funding, broadcast, marketing and distribution, according to PTS July 31.

“We hope to have more contact with the international community and help our production team learn how documentaries are shot in other countries,” Sunshine Kuang, president and CEO of PTS, said.

Initiated by Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) in 2007, The Asian Pitch is a collaboration between NHK, Singapore’s state-run MediaCorp Pte Ltd. and South Korea’s Korean Broadcasting System.

“Taiwan has been invited to join us because it shares similar Asian values with Japan, Singapore and South Korea,” said Junko Ogawa, head of NHK’s Global Content Marketing.

“Documentary films from Japan are more scientific, while their counterparts from Taiwan demonstrate more emotion,” she said. “We can learn from each other.”

The program’s mission is “to uncover compelling human-interest stories that will make the world sit up and take notice,” as well as “discover new and hidden talent in Asia,” according to The Asian Pitch website.

The broadcasters finance three to four documentary films every year. Since 2007, more than 600 proposals have been submitted, with 17 receiving backing, including Taiwanese director Yang Li-chou’s “The Red Box,” about puppet master Chen Xi-huang. (THN)

Write to Grace Kuo at mlkuo@mofa.gov.tw