News & Events

05.02.2021

Categories: people

MDEC’S CREATIVITY @ SCHOOLS AWARD HIGHLIGHTS PROMISING YOUNG TALENTS IN ANIMATION AND GAMES DEVELOPMENT

The Creativity @ Schools program lays the foundation among school students to gain interest and skills related to the digital creative content field.
Over 700 participants showcased the skills and knowledge obtained during the Creativity @ Schools program, with 2 secondary school students winning the main prizes.
MDEC ramps up its efforts in skilling opportunities, resources, and financial assistance through PENJANA’s Digital Content Grant.

KUALA LUMPUR, 5 FEBRUARY 2021 – Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has recently concluded its Creativity @ Schools Awards, marking an end of the Creativity @ Schools program conducted in 2020, aimed at developing skills and talent in the digital creative content field amongst school students.

This year’s competition saw over 700 registered participants from 40 schools in Malaysia competing to showcase their talents in both animation and game development.

The competition was split into two categories – animation and games. The animation category, also known as the Kre8tif! @ Schools Animation Awards saw Adam Auza’i Bin Mohamad Zaper of SMK Syed Saffi, Perlis grabbing first place while Airil Hariz bin Zolkefli of SMK Seksyen 5 Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur was the winner of the games category also known as the LEVEL UP @ Schools Game Awards.

Both winners walked away with RM3,000 in prize money as well as winners’ certificate, while their schools received 5 Wacom tablets each.

“I’m honoured to have won the champion’s spot for the LEVEL UP @ Schools Award, and as much as I’m delighted to win, I’m happier that I got to utilise the skills and knowledge I have learnt during the LEVEL UP @ Schools programs. The program taught me various skills such as User Interface, User Experience, and sound design while giving me a good idea of what game design development is like. It is something that I might want to pursue in the future,” said Airil Hariz bin Zolkefli, the champion of the LEVEL UP @ Schools Game Awards.

“The knowledge and skills in animation production that I learnt during the Kre8tif! @ Schools program has been extremely helpful. It has enabled me to learn what is exactly needed in the animation production field like 3D animation, rendering and character building, increasing my interest in animation design more. Having won first place in the competition is just a bonus to what I have learned from the program,” said Adam Auza’i Bin Mohamad Zaper, the winner of the Kre8tif! @ Schools Animation Awards.

The Creativity @ Schools competition is a yearly competition organised by MDEC, which is part of their overall Creativity @ Schools program. This program was introduced to inspire & nurture creativity among young Malaysians and foster interest in animation, visual effects and game design leading towards encouraging enrolment in creative content courses at tertiary levels while also planting seeds for new IP generation. Creativity @ Schools introduces two main programs; LEVEL UP @ Schools & Kre8tif! @ Schools.

LEVEL UP @ Schools: A program to create awareness & interest in the game development ecosystem. Introduced in 2016 to nurture future talents and encourage enrollment in game development fields at the tertiary level.
Kre8tif! @ Schools: An animation program to inspire & nurture creativity among young Malaysians. Introduced in 2019, it educates & foster interests in animation while encouraging enrollment in creative content courses at the tertiary levels.

This initiative is focused on enabling digital adoption amongst students, which is a central part of MDEC’s three strategic framework pillars: Digital Jobs, Digital Businesses and Digital Investments. To achieve its vision of enabling a people first society, the agency continues to set the foundation for our young leaders to thrive in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), further supporting the nation’s efforts to realise the Malaysia 5.0 vision, leading to shared prosperity for all.

“MDEC’s Creativity @ Schools program is crucial in our effort to develop talent and interest in the digital creative field among students. It is important that we lay the foundations from the ground up to ensure that Malaysia has the relevant talents to support the digital creative content industry. This together with initiatives like our Digital Content Grant, are crucial in the development of Malaysia’s digital content industry, a key component of our digital economy,” said Gopi Ganesalingam, MDEC’s Vice President for Digitally Powered Businesses.

“By cultivating interest for the digital creative content field among students in the early phase, we’ll be able to build a sustainable talent pool to further enhance and grow the industry, which will help in making Malaysia a digital creative content hub and further help position the country as the Heart of Digital ASEAN,” Gopi added.

To further nurture and develop Malaysia’s Digital Creative Content industry, MDEC is ramping up its efforts in providing skilling opportunities, tools and resources as well as financial assistance to help businesses within this industry thrive and be competitive industry leaders. One of the initiatives includes the Digital Content Grant, a Pelan Jana Semula Ekonomi Negara (PENJANA) initiative to support local digital creative companies in developing, producing, co-producing and marketing their digital content in animation.

Details on

Creativity @ Schools program, awards as well as the full list of winners can be found at https://titan.mdec.my/kre8tif/creativity-at-schools-animation-award-winners-list/
Digital Content Grant: https://titan.mdec.my/digital-economy-initiatives/for-the-industry/entrepreneurs/digital-creative-content/

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About Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)
Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) is a government agency under the purview of the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia Malaysia entrusted to lead Malaysia’s digital economy forward. Incorporated in 1996 to oversee the development of the MSC Malaysia initiative, MDEC’s primary mandate today is to accelerate the growth of digitally-skilled Malaysians, digitally-powered businesses and digital investments in Malaysia. MDEC is focused on creating inclusive, high-quality growth through the nationwide digitalisation initiatives that are in line with the Government’s Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 and firmly establishing Malaysia as the Heart of Digital ASEAN.

#MYMDEC #HeartofDigitalASEAN #SayaDigital

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Brand & Strategic Partnerships
Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)
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				Wed 9 Nov 2022 \| 11:00 – 11:45 PANEL SESSION : SOUTHEAST ASIA – DIGITAL CONTENT TALENT POWERHOUSE Cita Ballroom Description The digital content sector, broadly covered as animation, games, visual effects and its related production, development, distribution and commercialisation ecosystems, is essentially a creative industry driven by innovative studios and talented individuals and teams. The very nature of these individuals, skillsets and capabilities are the fuel of the creative industry. The Southeast Asian landscape for these talents is as diverse as the multi-ethnic cultures, languages and traditions of over 680 million people in the region. This panel session will talk about recent research, led by MDEC in partnership with more than ten regional industry associations and over 150 studios and schools.
Nazliyah Ali Sector Head, Industry Partnership, Talent Corp Malaysia				Nazliyah primarily oversees the Oil, Gas and Energy (OGE) and Communications Content and Infrastructure (CCI) in TalentCorp’s Industry Partnership department. She has established profound relations with key players, large organisations, and leading associations of the OGE and CCI sector to drive collaborations for talent development. With over 12 years of client management, business development and sales experience in property development, advertising and banking, Nazliyah started out in TalentCorp in 2012 working on the Malaysian professional and student diaspora programmes, before transferring to Industry Partnership where she continues to engage employers, focusing on addressing mismatches between the talent market supply and demand. Prior to TalentCorp, Nazliyah was a Client Management Manager at a public relations agency where she managed prominent corporate accounts in several sectors. Nazliyah holds an Honours Degree in Business Administration (Marketing) from Universiti Teknologi MARA.

Eka Chandra AINAKI, Indonesia				Eka Chandra is the Secretary General of AINAKI and CEO of IOTA Studio. He has been involved in the creative industry for more than 10 years. Their latest development is a platform called IOTA Kids which helps studios or creators monetize their IPs in Indonesia and the SEA market.

Cris Dumlao SIKAP, Philippines				Cris Dumlao is one of the founding members of SIKAP and its current Vice President. She has 20 years industry experience, having produced content being shown in the Asian region. She is also a multi-award creative entrepreneur, representing the Philippines in pitch competitions worldwide. Cris is currently an independent animation producer, a 3D animation specialist, and an animation consultant for Kampilan Productions, LLC and Animation Vertigo, Inc.

Nop Dharmavanich TACGA, Thailand				Nop Dharmavanich is an animation director, Motion graphics designer, and brand builder, the founder of award Tomogram studio and former President of the Thai animation and computer graphics association (TACGA) Nop graduated from Savannah college of art and design majoring in Computer Art. He has worked in almost all aspects of the industry from interactive, motion design, animation, and VFX. One of his well-known works as a director was “The story of Mahajanaka” an animation that involved more than 14 animation studios in Thailand. Nop was a president of TACGA from 2018-2022, which gave him opportunities to work with many private and public organizations, both domestic and international, in developing and strengthening the animation industry, studios as well as digital content education in Thailand. Now, he is a vice president of TACGA and a committee of the National Film Board of Thailand.

Jasni Zain (Moderator) Head, Research & Partnerships MDEC				Jasni is the Head of Research & Partnerships for Digital Content Development within the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). Currently overseeing industry research and exploring partnerships opportunities, he also has led national and industry strategy formulation and funding programs for industry and studios within the space of animation, games, visual effects and new media. He has over 22 years experience across a range of industries, and has served the last 13 years in the public sector concentrating on tech, outsourcing, national economic planning and the creative content industry.

Wed 9 Nov 2022 \| 11:00 – 11:45 PANEL SESSION : SOUTHEAST ASIA – DIGITAL CONTENT TALENT POWERHOUSE Cita Ballroom Description The digital content sector, broadly covered as animation, games, visual effects and its related production, development, distribution and commercialisation ecosystems, is essentially a creative industry driven by innovative studios and talented individuals and teams. The very nature of these individuals, skillsets and capabilities are the fuel of the creative industry. The Southeast Asian landscape for these talents is as diverse as the multi-ethnic cultures, languages and traditions of over 680 million people in the region. This panel session will talk about recent research, led by MDEC in partnership with more than ten regional industry associations and over 150 studios and schools.
Nazliyah Ali Sector Head, Industry Partnership, Talent Corp Malaysia Nazliyah primarily oversees the Oil, Gas and Energy (OGE) and Communications Content and Infrastructure (CCI) in TalentCorp’s Industry Partnership department. She has established profound relations with key players, large organisations, and leading associations of the OGE and CCI sector to drive collaborations for talent development. With over 12 years of client management, business development and sales experience in property development, advertising and banking, Nazliyah started out in TalentCorp in 2012 working on the Malaysian professional and student diaspora programmes, before transferring to Industry Partnership where she continues to engage employers, focusing on addressing mismatches between the talent market supply and demand. Prior to TalentCorp, Nazliyah was a Client Management Manager at a public relations agency where she managed prominent corporate accounts in several sectors. Nazliyah holds an Honours Degree in Business Administration (Marketing) from Universiti Teknologi MARA.

Eka Chandra AINAKI, Indonesia Eka Chandra is the Secretary General of AINAKI and CEO of IOTA Studio. He has been involved in the creative industry for more than 10 years. Their latest development is a platform called IOTA Kids which helps studios or creators monetize their IPs in Indonesia and the SEA market.

Cris Dumlao SIKAP, Philippines Cris Dumlao is one of the founding members of SIKAP and its current Vice President. She has 20 years industry experience, having produced content being shown in the Asian region. She is also a multi-award creative entrepreneur, representing the Philippines in pitch competitions worldwide. Cris is currently an independent animation producer, a 3D animation specialist, and an animation consultant for Kampilan Productions, LLC and Animation Vertigo, Inc.

Nop Dharmavanich TACGA, Thailand Nop Dharmavanich is an animation director, Motion graphics designer, and brand builder, the founder of award Tomogram studio and former President of the Thai animation and computer graphics association (TACGA) Nop graduated from Savannah college of art and design majoring in Computer Art. He has worked in almost all aspects of the industry from interactive, motion design, animation, and VFX. One of his well-known works as a director was “The story of Mahajanaka” an animation that involved more than 14 animation studios in Thailand. Nop was a president of TACGA from 2018-2022, which gave him opportunities to work with many private and public organizations, both domestic and international, in developing and strengthening the animation industry, studios as well as digital content education in Thailand. Now, he is a vice president of TACGA and a committee of the National Film Board of Thailand.

Jasni Zain (Moderator) Head, Research & Partnerships MDEC Jasni is the Head of Research & Partnerships for Digital Content Development within the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). Currently overseeing industry research and exploring partnerships opportunities, he also has led national and industry strategy formulation and funding programs for industry and studios within the space of animation, games, visual effects and new media. He has over 22 years experience across a range of industries, and has served the last 13 years in the public sector concentrating on tech, outsourcing, national economic planning and the creative content industry.

				Wed 9 Nov 2022 \| 14:15 – 15:00 PANEL SESSION : UNDERSTANDING THE METAVERSE – FUD & FOMO (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt & Fear Of Missing Out) Cita Ballroom Description Learn how IP & Brand Owners can work together with Metaverse Platforms and what are the future prospects.
George Wong CEO Reactive Labs				George Wong is the Head of Malaysia & Singapore of The Sandbox, a leading decentralized virtual world and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands. Concurrently, he’s the Chief Executive Officer for Reactive Labs, a blockchain advisory covering corporate structuring, tokenomics & Web 3.0 implementation, the Sub-committee Chairperson for NFTs & Metaverses in ACCESS Blockchain Association Malaysia, the Chief Technology Officer for Finnax Asia and the Honorary Secretary for Women in Blockchain Asia. His early MNC corporate career in Sony Malaysia, saw him managing up to a MYR120 million business portfolio, winning internal domestic and & international awards for explosive business growth & marketing innovation. Prior to this, he has ventured more than 20+ start-ups and initiatives from retail to publishing & most notably in the investment and blockchain space. He has managed a variety of investment-related firms, supported the growth of a regional investment community, and even successfully completed an ICO in 2018

Noriman Saffian Head of Monsta MetaLabs Monsta				Noriman Saffian is the Head of Monsta MetaLabs. With 12 years of experiences in the animation industry, he’s been involved in multiple Monsta’s IP (BoBoiBoy, Mechamato, Papa Pipi) projects from the production to the marketing of the animated shorts, TV series, full length animated movies and even branded content. He now leads a new division in Monsta, that builds and develops immersive digital experience of Monsta’s IP in the metaverse for audiences to interreact, socialize and play.

Jazni Zain (Moderator) Head, Research & Partnerships MDEC				Jasni is the Head of Research & Partnerships for Digital Content Development within the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). Currently overseeing industry research and exploring partnerships opportunities, he also has led national and industry strategy formulation and funding programs for industry and studios within the space of animation, games, visual effects and new media. He has over 22 years experience across a range of industries, and has served the last 13 years in the public sector concentrating on tech, outsourcing, national economic planning and the creative content industry.

Wed 9 Nov 2022 \| 14:15 – 15:00 PANEL SESSION : UNDERSTANDING THE METAVERSE – FUD & FOMO (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt & Fear Of Missing Out) Cita Ballroom Description Learn how IP & Brand Owners can work together with Metaverse Platforms and what are the future prospects.
George Wong CEO Reactive Labs George Wong is the Head of Malaysia & Singapore of The Sandbox, a leading decentralized virtual world and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands. Concurrently, he’s the Chief Executive Officer for Reactive Labs, a blockchain advisory covering corporate structuring, tokenomics & Web 3.0 implementation, the Sub-committee Chairperson for NFTs & Metaverses in ACCESS Blockchain Association Malaysia, the Chief Technology Officer for Finnax Asia and the Honorary Secretary for Women in Blockchain Asia. His early MNC corporate career in Sony Malaysia, saw him managing up to a MYR120 million business portfolio, winning internal domestic and & international awards for explosive business growth & marketing innovation. Prior to this, he has ventured more than 20+ start-ups and initiatives from retail to publishing & most notably in the investment and blockchain space. He has managed a variety of investment-related firms, supported the growth of a regional investment community, and even successfully completed an ICO in 2018

Noriman Saffian Head of Monsta MetaLabs Monsta Noriman Saffian is the Head of Monsta MetaLabs. With 12 years of experiences in the animation industry, he’s been involved in multiple Monsta’s IP (BoBoiBoy, Mechamato, Papa Pipi) projects from the production to the marketing of the animated shorts, TV series, full length animated movies and even branded content. He now leads a new division in Monsta, that builds and develops immersive digital experience of Monsta’s IP in the metaverse for audiences to interreact, socialize and play.

Jazni Zain (Moderator) Head, Research & Partnerships MDEC Jasni is the Head of Research & Partnerships for Digital Content Development within the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). Currently overseeing industry research and exploring partnerships opportunities, he also has led national and industry strategy formulation and funding programs for industry and studios within the space of animation, games, visual effects and new media. He has over 22 years experience across a range of industries, and has served the last 13 years in the public sector concentrating on tech, outsourcing, national economic planning and the creative content industry.

Wed 9 Nov 2022 \| 16:15 – 17:00 PANEL SESSION : FUNDS & GRANTS – SHOW ME THE MONEY (Hybrid) Cita Ballroom
Vincent Paolo Naval (Virtual Appearance) FPO Program Supervisor, FDCP Film Philippines Office Vincent Paolo Naval is from the Film Philippines Office under the Film Development Council of the Philippines. He has been with the agency for a year and have been exposed to much of the industry of Film Financing and Grants. He currently works on the financial and service assistance programs of the film commission in the Philippines and would be happy to share with what they have to offer, from Film Grants, Locations, and even production assistance.

Walid Omar Executive Producer Lil Critter Workshop Walid Omar founded Lil Critter Workshop after a successfully running a studio for 12 years. He has executive produced and funded two original Lil Critter series, Hogie the Globehopper (Netflix, Discovery Kids) and the Asian TV Award-winning Buck and Buddy (CITV, Cartoon Network APAC) and grown the Lil Critters Workshop studio in Kuala Lumpur as a go-to destination for animation service work. The former MIPTV Producer to Watch is setting up a UK animation development studio in the UK this year.

Tang Chi Sim Founder & CEO Omens Studio Chi Sim is a tech and media entrepreneur who was technical co-founder of Amoeba Interactive and earth9.com, which he helped built and exited, and currently devotes his time as Founder and CEO to award-winning animation and digital media company Omens Studios and film company Taipan Films. Chi Sim is primarily responsible for financing, business and product development. A graduate of the National University of Singapore’s Computer Science department, Chi Sim previously worked as an engineer at Microsoft before venturing into entrepreneurship. He enjoys the creative process and holds a patent for collaborative group information management.

Mohan Low (Moderator) Director MDEC Director of Digital Creative Content at MDEC, he helps drive the mission to develop the digital creative content industry in Malaysia. He has over 15 years of experience in the digital content space, leading teams across games development, games commercialization and ecosystem building. Mohan has launched over 30 games during the course of his career. His passion has also led him to mentor over a 100 game projects and organize gaming culture events. He currently works towards building Malaysia into a regional digital content hub.

Wed 9 Nov 2022 \| 09:45 – 10:45 DIGITAL CONNECTIONS: GLOBAL KIDS’ MEDIA TRENDS Cita Ballroom
Sam Harris Director Auger Insights Sam is a deeply experienced researcher and strategist with a background in media, youth audiences, and platform development. Using a range of classic and modern research methodologies – and utilising his background in marketing, consulting, and content creation – Sam regularly works with brands to unlock powerful insights about core consumers and their ever-evolving needs.

Ligia Talludec Director 121 Insights Brazil A language specialist and trained UX and qualitative researcher with over 15 years of experience in the industry, Ligia is praised for her ability to combine fresh, innovative thinking with marketing clarity to answer big business questions. For over a decade, Ligia was part of Kantar’s qualitative team, focused on International and institutional inter-company projects. She is a champion for UX and CX areas, conducting F2F and online IDIs to test different interfaces (from e-commerce websites to mobile prototype apps), working with highly demanding key clients in the Technology Industry

Bonnie Wang Researcher & Semiotician Freelancer Bonnie is an experienced strategist, qualitative researcher and semiotician with an education background in visual sociology, strategy and management in HK and Europe. She started her career with consumer and market knowledge in P&G Germany, before joining The Behavioural Architects to understand the irrationality of human behaviour. After 4.5 years in Flamingo connecting brands with Chinese culture, she worked at InnateMotion helping brands defining their social purposes, before she started freelancing in London and Shanghai. Bonnie specialised in media and entertainment, fashion, beauty, tech, and placemaking. Some of her key clients include Dior, Adidas, Dyson, and Mercedes

Pam Goldfarb Liss Founder LitBrains With more than 30-years of experience, Pam enjoys the never-know-what’s-coming-next fun of interviewing consumers especially kids, teens and their parents. She has interviewed on subjects from pasta, hamburgers and tax software to prescription drugs, hospital stays, baby bottles and online privacy with clients including Philips Avent, Barilla, Bayer, Coca Cola, Deluxe, General Mills, Google, Glaxo-Smith-Kline (GsK), Horizon Organic, Microsoft, Nickelodeon, Procter & Gamble, United Healthcare and Zillow. An industry advocate devoted to ensuring kids and teens are not just productive in focus groups but feeling safe and encouraged to be. For more than a decade, Pam created and taught a course: ‘Moderating Kids and Teens’ at RIVA Market Research Institute. Now, Pam has taken this course online with more live and on-demand workshops on moderating with kids and teens in her new Mission Kid Possible powered by LitBrains-Igniting Ideas! at www.litbrains.com. Pam is also an active industry speaker and presenter. She has served four years as a board director on the Qualitative Research Consultants Association. Pam also participates in other annual events devoted to creativity including the Creative Education Foundation and its Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) and also enjoys attending their partner event, the Florida Creativity Institute.

Haruna McWilliams Head Of Accounts Tokyoesque Haruna is a Strategist with 20+ years with global experience in Japan, UK, US, Singapore and now the Netherlands. A native Japanese, who grew up in Europe and was educated at an international school, made her very curious about how cultures around the world are different but also similar. Her experience in advertising, branding and media also made her an expert in ‘making sense’ of what’s happening in cultures and societies, and predicting where cultures are shifting to. She is currently Head of Accounts at Tokyoesque, where she makes Japan make sense for the world, and vice versa.

Alexander Brown Marketing Assistant Tokyoesque Alex is the marketing assistant at Tokyoesque. Having graduated in 2021 with a Master of Arts in Japanese from the University of Edinburgh, during which time he studied in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, he has since worked in manga translation with Amimaru before joining Tokyoesque at his current position. The cultural studies aspect of his degree, and also his time spent studying and working in Kyoto, allowed him to tackle manga translation with a wealth of cultural knowledge to draw upon, helping him to rapidly advance to higher projects.

Debbie Bray Co-Founder Hook Research Debbie has been carrying out qualitative research for 20 years for the UK’s biggest media brands. She is a youth audience expert and her experience means that she is regularly asked to talk at conferences and contribute thought leadership about the media lives of young consumers. Debbie has supported the biggest youth audience content owners in the UK and globally – working across a range of new and classic IPs to help her clients produce content that speaks to the ever-evolving tastes of young people around the world.

Nick Fisher Co-Founder Hook Research Nick has 20 years experience in media consultancy. In this time, he has specialised in research, strategy and creative development for media providers. He has a huge deal of kids experience, having worked with many of the major kids platforms and channels around the world (Warner, BBC, Disney, Viacom). In particular, Nick has developed a deep expertise in the global animation landscape, having worked on a vast range of heritage and new IP launches over the course of his many years in the industry.

Tue 8 Nov 2022 \| 17:15 – 18:15 PANEL SESSION : THE BUSINESS OF DIGITAL COMICS – FUTURE TRENDS AND THE NEXT BEST THING! (Virtual) Cita Ballroom
Stu Levy Founder & CEO TOKYOPOP Stu Levy is an international entrepreneur, producer, director and writer across mediums including graphic novels, film, television and new media. Founder of the pioneering media company TOKYOPOP, Stu is known for establishing the manga market in North America. As a producer, Stu has a number of live-action and animated feature films and television shows in various stages of development, including adaptations of Alex Unlimited and Mail Order Ninja. He produced English adaptations of television and home video anime series including the hits Initial D, GTO, and Rave Master. His first major studio feature film as Executive Producer was Priest, released theatrically worldwide in 2011 through Sony Pictures. Stu has directed two feature films (his feature documentary Pray for Japan and his award-winning feature debut Van Von Hunter), the 8-episode docu-reality series America’s Greatest Otaku, and several music videos. Stu wrote the Princess Ai and Juror 13 graphic novels, as well as Karma Club and Sailor Moon novels. Fluent in Japanese and a licensed California attorney, Stu served as chair of the Producers Guild of America’s International Committee, its Online Video Committee, and the PGA Producers Showcase (ProShow); and a Board Member of its New Media Council. His philanthropic activities over the years have included Japan’s Tohoku tsunami recovery, projects with Make-a-Wish Foundation, and literacy advocacy. Besides speaking at numerous industry events and guest lecturing to students, Stu’s a melted ball of paddy for his two little children, an avid endurance athlete who compares himself to the Energizer bunny sans ears, a very amateur composer, and an iPhone-photo-trigger-happy foodie.

Hieu Tran Co-founder & Head of Operations INKR Global Hieu is the co-founder and head of operations at INKR Global (inkr.com), a fast-growing digital comics platform with a simple mission: to make comics universally accessible. They help bring amazing comics and manga to the world by working directly with the creators and publishers, helping to localize the content and distribute it on their platform. INKR is currently with over 100+ leading publishers and creators from Japan, Korea, China, US, South East Asia, distributing over 1,700 diverse comics, and they hope to work with more and more talented creators and publishers around the world.

Usamah Zaid Yasin (Speaker/Moderator) Founder & Executive Director WAU Animation Usamah Zaid is the Founder & Executive Director of WAU Animation, the studio behind Ejen Ali, the highest viewed animation series across all FTA TV stations in Malaysia. Partnering with Media Prima, a local media giant, Ejen Ali stormed into the scene alongside 2 gaming apps and has won numerous accolades, including “Best Short Animation” at the Malaysia Film Festival. Usamah has been in the industry for over 16 years. Prior to WAU, he was one of the pioneers of Les’ Copaque and co-created Malaysia’s iconic twins, Upin & Ipin after graduating from Multimedia University with a degree in Film and Animation.

Tue 8 Nov 2022 \| 11:00 – 11:45 PANEL SESSION: FRAMED MEMORIES – TELLING YOUR STORY THROUGH MUSIC Cita Ballroom Andrew Bong CEO, Media Music Composer & Producer, Ventura Interactive, Laundry Music Andrew Bong is a media music composer & producer from Sarawak (Borneo), Malaysia. He is known for his music works in Upin & Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal (in The Best Animated Feature Film Oscar 2020 shortlist). To date (2022), he has composed music for many Malaysian animations. The titles include Framed Memories, Kuihpocalyse, and The Dalang’s Last Tale, featured in Hollywood Variety news as the Spectrum Trilogy (a co-production with the best animation studio in Singapore) (2019). These animated short trilogy garnered many awards and became official selections in many film festivals such as the Spark Animation 2019 (Oscar-qualifying). Andrew’s recent music scoring works include “Sebayan”, “Borih: The Bidayuh Paddy Priestess”, and “The Pillar of Strength”. He also penned the music score for MIFFEST (Malaysia International Film Festival 2022) opening film, Driving Mr.Palarae starring Bront Palarae (Stone Turtle) & Calvin Wang (Crazy Rich Asian). In July 2022, he wrapped up an original score for a Taiwanese feature film that premiered recently at The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN 2022 Edition) in Korea, “Warning From Hell”, directed by Danny Pang.

Irwan Junaidy (Speaker/Moderator) Chief Creative Officer The R&D Studio Irwan Junaidy graduated with an architecture degree from the UK. He has a passion for telling stories and building make-believe worlds, particularly those that are inspired by the people, arts and cultures of South East Asia. Irwan is the co-founder of The R&D Studio, an award-winning content development studio based in Malaysia. The studio produced Wizards of Warna Walk – the first long form scripted live action television series by Disney in South East Asia. He also directed the animated short films Batik Girl and The Dalang’s Tale, which has travelled to over 70 film festivals and won 12 international awards around the world.
Mclelun Lee Mixed Media Artist / Developer The R&D Studio Mclelun studied computer programming but has a passion and talent for design and arts who happens to be colour-blind. He enjoys painting, game development and experimenting with a variety of softwares.

				Tue 8 Nov 2022 \| 11:00 – 11:45 PANEL SESSION: FRAMED MEMORIES – TELLING YOUR STORY THROUGH MUSIC Cita Ballroom
Andrew Bong CEO, Media Music Composer & Producer, Ventura Interactive, Laundry Music				Andrew Bong is a media music composer & producer from Sarawak (Borneo), Malaysia. He is known for his music works in Upin & Ipin: Keris Siamang Tunggal (in The Best Animated Feature Film Oscar 2020 shortlist). To date (2022), he has composed music for many Malaysian animations. The titles include Framed Memories, Kuihpocalyse, and The Dalang’s Last Tale, featured in Hollywood Variety news as the Spectrum Trilogy (a co-production with the best animation studio in Singapore) (2019). These animated short trilogy garnered many awards and became official selections in many film festivals such as the Spark Animation 2019 (Oscar-qualifying). Andrew’s recent music scoring works include “Sebayan”, “Borih: The Bidayuh Paddy Priestess”, and “The Pillar of Strength”. He also penned the music score for MIFFEST (Malaysia International Film Festival 2022) opening film, Driving Mr.Palarae starring Bront Palarae (Stone Turtle) & Calvin Wang (Crazy Rich Asian). In July 2022, he wrapped up an original score for a Taiwanese feature film that premiered recently at The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN 2022 Edition) in Korea, “Warning From Hell”, directed by Danny Pang.

Irwan Junaidy (Speaker/Moderator) Chief Creative Officer The R&D Studio				Irwan Junaidy graduated with an architecture degree from the UK. He has a passion for telling stories and building make-believe worlds, particularly those that are inspired by the people, arts and cultures of South East Asia. Irwan is the co-founder of The R&D Studio, an award-winning content development studio based in Malaysia. The studio produced Wizards of Warna Walk – the first long form scripted live action television series by Disney in South East Asia. He also directed the animated short films Batik Girl and The Dalang’s Tale, which has travelled to over 70 film festivals and won 12 international awards around the world.

Mclelun Lee Mixed Media Artist / Developer The R&D Studio				Mclelun studied computer programming but has a passion and talent for design and arts who happens to be colour-blind. He enjoys painting, game development and experimenting with a variety of softwares.

				Wed 9 Nov 2022 \| 16:15 – 17:00 PANEL SESSION : FUNDS & GRANTS – SHOW ME THE MONEY (Hybrid) Cita Ballroom
Vincent Paolo Naval (Virtual Appearance) FPO Program Supervisor, FDCP Film Philippines Office				Vincent Paolo Naval is from the Film Philippines Office under the Film Development Council of the Philippines. He has been with the agency for a year and have been exposed to much of the industry of Film Financing and Grants. He currently works on the financial and service assistance programs of the film commission in the Philippines and would be happy to share with what they have to offer, from Film Grants, Locations, and even production assistance.

Walid Omar Executive Producer Lil Critter Workshop				Walid Omar founded Lil Critter Workshop after a successfully running a studio for 12 years. He has executive produced and funded two original Lil Critter series, Hogie the Globehopper (Netflix, Discovery Kids) and the Asian TV Award-winning Buck and Buddy (CITV, Cartoon Network APAC) and grown the Lil Critters Workshop studio in Kuala Lumpur as a go-to destination for animation service work. The former MIPTV Producer to Watch is setting up a UK animation development studio in the UK this year.

Tang Chi Sim Founder & CEO Omens Studio				Chi Sim is a tech and media entrepreneur who was technical co-founder of Amoeba Interactive and earth9.com, which he helped built and exited, and currently devotes his time as Founder and CEO to award-winning animation and digital media company Omens Studios and film company Taipan Films. Chi Sim is primarily responsible for financing, business and product development. A graduate of the National University of Singapore’s Computer Science department, Chi Sim previously worked as an engineer at Microsoft before venturing into entrepreneurship. He enjoys the creative process and holds a patent for collaborative group information management.

Mohan Low (Moderator) Director MDEC				Director of Digital Creative Content at MDEC, he helps drive the mission to develop the digital creative content industry in Malaysia. He has over 15 years of experience in the digital content space, leading teams across games development, games commercialization and ecosystem building. Mohan has launched over 30 games during the course of his career. His passion has also led him to mentor over a 100 game projects and organize gaming culture events. He currently works towards building Malaysia into a regional digital content hub.

				Wed 9 Nov 2022 \| 09:45 – 10:45 DIGITAL CONNECTIONS: GLOBAL KIDS’ MEDIA TRENDS Cita Ballroom
Sam Harris Director Auger Insights				Sam is a deeply experienced researcher and strategist with a background in media, youth audiences, and platform development. Using a range of classic and modern research methodologies – and utilising his background in marketing, consulting, and content creation – Sam regularly works with brands to unlock powerful insights about core consumers and their ever-evolving needs.

Ligia Talludec Director 121 Insights Brazil				A language specialist and trained UX and qualitative researcher with over 15 years of experience in the industry, Ligia is praised for her ability to combine fresh, innovative thinking with marketing clarity to answer big business questions. For over a decade, Ligia was part of Kantar’s qualitative team, focused on International and institutional inter-company projects. She is a champion for UX and CX areas, conducting F2F and online IDIs to test different interfaces (from e-commerce websites to mobile prototype apps), working with highly demanding key clients in the Technology Industry

Bonnie Wang Researcher & Semiotician Freelancer				Bonnie is an experienced strategist, qualitative researcher and semiotician with an education background in visual sociology, strategy and management in HK and Europe. She started her career with consumer and market knowledge in P&G Germany, before joining The Behavioural Architects to understand the irrationality of human behaviour. After 4.5 years in Flamingo connecting brands with Chinese culture, she worked at InnateMotion helping brands defining their social purposes, before she started freelancing in London and Shanghai. Bonnie specialised in media and entertainment, fashion, beauty, tech, and placemaking. Some of her key clients include Dior, Adidas, Dyson, and Mercedes

Pam Goldfarb Liss Founder LitBrains				With more than 30-years of experience, Pam enjoys the never-know-what’s-coming-next fun of interviewing consumers especially kids, teens and their parents. She has interviewed on subjects from pasta, hamburgers and tax software to prescription drugs, hospital stays, baby bottles and online privacy with clients including Philips Avent, Barilla, Bayer, Coca Cola, Deluxe, General Mills, Google, Glaxo-Smith-Kline (GsK), Horizon Organic, Microsoft, Nickelodeon, Procter & Gamble, United Healthcare and Zillow. An industry advocate devoted to ensuring kids and teens are not just productive in focus groups but feeling safe and encouraged to be. For more than a decade, Pam created and taught a course: ‘Moderating Kids and Teens’ at RIVA Market Research Institute. Now, Pam has taken this course online with more live and on-demand workshops on moderating with kids and teens in her new Mission Kid Possible powered by LitBrains-Igniting Ideas! at www.litbrains.com. Pam is also an active industry speaker and presenter. She has served four years as a board director on the Qualitative Research Consultants Association. Pam also participates in other annual events devoted to creativity including the Creative Education Foundation and its Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) and also enjoys attending their partner event, the Florida Creativity Institute.

Haruna McWilliams Head Of Accounts Tokyoesque				Haruna is a Strategist with 20+ years with global experience in Japan, UK, US, Singapore and now the Netherlands. A native Japanese, who grew up in Europe and was educated at an international school, made her very curious about how cultures around the world are different but also similar. Her experience in advertising, branding and media also made her an expert in ‘making sense’ of what’s happening in cultures and societies, and predicting where cultures are shifting to. She is currently Head of Accounts at Tokyoesque, where she makes Japan make sense for the world, and vice versa.

Alexander Brown Marketing Assistant Tokyoesque				Alex is the marketing assistant at Tokyoesque. Having graduated in 2021 with a Master of Arts in Japanese from the University of Edinburgh, during which time he studied in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, he has since worked in manga translation with Amimaru before joining Tokyoesque at his current position. The cultural studies aspect of his degree, and also his time spent studying and working in Kyoto, allowed him to tackle manga translation with a wealth of cultural knowledge to draw upon, helping him to rapidly advance to higher projects.

Debbie Bray Co-Founder Hook Research				Debbie has been carrying out qualitative research for 20 years for the UK’s biggest media brands. She is a youth audience expert and her experience means that she is regularly asked to talk at conferences and contribute thought leadership about the media lives of young consumers. Debbie has supported the biggest youth audience content owners in the UK and globally – working across a range of new and classic IPs to help her clients produce content that speaks to the ever-evolving tastes of young people around the world.

Nick Fisher Co-Founder Hook Research				Nick has 20 years experience in media consultancy. In this time, he has specialised in research, strategy and creative development for media providers. He has a huge deal of kids experience, having worked with many of the major kids platforms and channels around the world (Warner, BBC, Disney, Viacom). In particular, Nick has developed a deep expertise in the global animation landscape, having worked on a vast range of heritage and new IP launches over the course of his many years in the industry.

				Tue 8 Nov 2022 \| 17:15 – 18:15 PANEL SESSION : THE BUSINESS OF DIGITAL COMICS – FUTURE TRENDS AND THE NEXT BEST THING! (Virtual) Cita Ballroom
Stu Levy Founder & CEO TOKYOPOP				Stu Levy is an international entrepreneur, producer, director and writer across mediums including graphic novels, film, television and new media. Founder of the pioneering media company TOKYOPOP, Stu is known for establishing the manga market in North America. As a producer, Stu has a number of live-action and animated feature films and television shows in various stages of development, including adaptations of Alex Unlimited and Mail Order Ninja. He produced English adaptations of television and home video anime series including the hits Initial D, GTO, and Rave Master. His first major studio feature film as Executive Producer was Priest, released theatrically worldwide in 2011 through Sony Pictures. Stu has directed two feature films (his feature documentary Pray for Japan and his award-winning feature debut Van Von Hunter), the 8-episode docu-reality series America’s Greatest Otaku, and several music videos. Stu wrote the Princess Ai and Juror 13 graphic novels, as well as Karma Club and Sailor Moon novels. Fluent in Japanese and a licensed California attorney, Stu served as chair of the Producers Guild of America’s International Committee, its Online Video Committee, and the PGA Producers Showcase (ProShow); and a Board Member of its New Media Council. His philanthropic activities over the years have included Japan’s Tohoku tsunami recovery, projects with Make-a-Wish Foundation, and literacy advocacy. Besides speaking at numerous industry events and guest lecturing to students, Stu’s a melted ball of paddy for his two little children, an avid endurance athlete who compares himself to the Energizer bunny sans ears, a very amateur composer, and an iPhone-photo-trigger-happy foodie.

Hieu Tran Co-founder & Head of Operations INKR Global				Hieu is the co-founder and head of operations at INKR Global (inkr.com), a fast-growing digital comics platform with a simple mission: to make comics universally accessible. They help bring amazing comics and manga to the world by working directly with the creators and publishers, helping to localize the content and distribute it on their platform. INKR is currently with over 100+ leading publishers and creators from Japan, Korea, China, US, South East Asia, distributing over 1,700 diverse comics, and they hope to work with more and more talented creators and publishers around the world.

Usamah Zaid Yasin (Speaker/Moderator) Founder & Executive Director WAU Animation				Usamah Zaid is the Founder & Executive Director of WAU Animation, the studio behind Ejen Ali, the highest viewed animation series across all FTA TV stations in Malaysia. Partnering with Media Prima, a local media giant, Ejen Ali stormed into the scene alongside 2 gaming apps and has won numerous accolades, including “Best Short Animation” at the Malaysia Film Festival. Usamah has been in the industry for over 16 years. Prior to WAU, he was one of the pioneers of Les’ Copaque and co-created Malaysia’s iconic twins, Upin & Ipin after graduating from Multimedia University with a degree in Film and Animation.

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