MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KOREAN ANIMATION DELEGATION CONFIRMED FOR SCREEN FOREVER 2016 INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP MARKET

An official delegation from Korea featuring eight key Korean production companies specialising in animated projects are confirmed participants for the SCREEN FOREVER International Partnership Market(IPM) as part of the inaugural SPA Connect program. Representatives from J.bugs, B.I.Group, ARMODE COMMUNICATION, Pixtrend, Pink Dolphin, ICONIX, XrisP and Studio B Corp. will attend SCREEN FOREVER 2016, the Australian screen production industry’s conference event, 15-17 November, Crown Conference Centre, Melbourne.

Korea is the world’s 4th largest animation production country, with 90% of the animated content outsourced from foreign animation studios. Its industrial scale is approximately $545 million and it is growing at a rate of 8-10% annually. Korea has over 500 animation studios and employs more than 86,000 people, leading to almost 178,000 minutes of content being produced each year. Anime character merchandise and licensing revenues amount to approximately $60 billion.

Screen Producers Australia CEO Matthew Deaner said, “Building upon the presence in previous years of delegations from the UK, Canada and New Zealand, the participation in 2016 of the delegation of animation production companies from Korea reflects the diverse, forward-looking work SPA is doing to connect and build commercial partnerships for Australian producers with international markets and producers.”

Korean delegates will meet with Australian producers and businesses over the three days of SCREEN FOREVER through a range of programs organised under the SPA Connect banner. These will include Roundtable meetings, pitching markets and hosted social functions.

With a delegation attending SCREEN FOREVER 2016 led by President Hae Sung Park, J. bugs is one of Korea’s foremost independent cultural and art content production companies, with over 16 years’ experience specialising in animation, merchandising and facilitating artistic collaborations, with offices in China and Thailand.

Founded by Kwang Boon Lee in 2005, B.I.Group are rapidly expanding from a focus in animation to encompass projects including web dramas and feature films.

Launched in 2005 by Do Young Yim, Pixtrend develops and facilitates national and international co- productions for a global audience, with an emphasis on animation, drama and feature films.

ARMODE COMMUNICATION specialise in overseeing the development and production of animation, such as the series ‘Alien Pig Pipi’ (KBS).

Xris (Dae Gyun) Sohn graduated from CUNY, majoring in film art in 2002, and began his career in TKC New York, producing and writing screenplays. He established XrisP in 2012 specialising in content business.

Founded by award-winning producer Hoon Jae Lee, Studio B. Corp is a creative animation studio that has been producing TV series animations and short animated films since 2004, with their first 3D animated feature film currently in development.

Page 1/2

Established by CEO and cartoonist Jung Taek Che, Pink Dolphin is a diverse animation production company whose work spans feature films, television and marketing.

Represented by Distribution Manager Sejin Lee, ICONIX is a world leader in animation, setting trends for children’s animation by utilising characters with an advanced production system, distributing programs such as Korea’s national character ‘Pororo the Little Penguin’, the top-licensed animation character ‘Tayo the Little Bus’, ‘Flowering Heart’, ‘Chiro’ and ‘Art Odyssey’.

The International Partnership Market will also include representatives from NZ, Canada, the UK and the US, including previously announced participants such as Alison Warner (Vice-President of I.P. Sales, Acquisitions and Co-Productions from Technicolor, UK), Graham Yost (Executive Producer, Nemo Films), Lindsay Salt (Head of Development, Sky Drama), Michael Gordon (TV Scripted Agent, Creative Artists Agency) and Peter Lawson (Producer, Steel Springs Pictures).

SCREEN FOREVER 15 to 17 November 2016. Crown Conference Centre, Melbourne Australia. Register now at www.screenforever.org.au @Screen_Producer / #SCREENFOREVER

– ends –

For media enquiries and interviews: Miranda Brown – Miranda Brown Publicity | ph: 03 9419 0931 mob: 0411 568 781 | [email protected] Hannah Andrews – Miranda Brown Publicity | ph: 03 9419 0931 mob: 0425 885 412 | [email protected]

SCREEN FOREVER is one of the largest congregations of screen professionals in the southern hemisphere, providing a forum for discussion and debate on local and global trends, issues and challenges facing the business of screen production. Past keynote speakers include Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead, Aliens, The Terminator); Dana Brunetti (House of Cards); Emile Sherman (The King’s Speech, Top of the Lake); Sydney Pollack (Tootsie); Ted Hope (21 Grams), David Puttnam, Kt, CBE (The Mission), Jon Plowman (The Office), Matthew Weiner (Mad Men) and George Lucas (Star Wars).

Page 2/2