Southeast Asia’s leading international media event the Singapore Media Festival (SMF) announced that its fourth edition will be held from November 23 to December 3. Hosted by the Info-communications Media Development Authority of Singapore, the festival is a platform to showcase notable regional creative talent, and provide opportunities to discover and connect with the global media community.

Building upon the festival’s theme of “Celebrating Asian Storytelling”, this edition will see the introduction of the country-of-focus programme – a concerted spotlight on one Asian country, recognising its rich stories, talents and achievements. 2017’s country of focus will be Indonesia.

Robert Gilby, chairman of the Singapore Media Festival Advisory Board and managing director of The Walt Disney Company (SEA), said: “Introducing a country-of-focus programme is all about creating a bold platform to showcase the quality and variety of creativity originating from that country, and affirming its strong community of creators who continue to push boundaries and explore more collaborations between the country, Singapore and the rest of the world.

“Southeast Asia is a region rich in potential for great storytellers, and we see the importance of amplifying these voices on the global stage. Singapore and Indonesia commemorate 50 years of bilateral and diplomatic relations in 2017, and in recent years Indonesia has proven to be a vibrant source of great content, talent and stories. It is timely that [the] SMF marks its first Country-of-Focus with Indonesia.”

This spotlight on Indonesia will thread across all SMF constituent events – the Asian Television Awards (ATA), Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF), ScreenSingapore, Singapore International Film Festival, and SMF Ignite. Award-winning Indonesian singer and actor, Afgan (Afgansyah Reza), will be headlining ATA’s awards ceremony, and ATF is also expecting stronger participation from Indonesian talent and media businesses this year including Surya Citra Televisi, Metro TV and Media Nusantara Citra, Indonesia’s largest media group and a long-time supporter of the event