Crossing borders, building connections

Jun 13, 2019

By Melissa Fernando
A group of over 35 media practitioners from 15 countries came together for the first SIGNIS Asia TV Conference held at the Gedung Pastoral Keuskupan in Indonesia.

The conference, which opened with a spectacular cultural performance assisted by the team from SIGNIS Indonesia led by Fr Antonius Lalu, was jointly organised by SIGNIS Asia TV Desk May 20-24.

Spearheaded by Francis Kim, the head of SIGNIS Asia TV Desk, a professional broadcaster from Korea, it aimed to build a referral of network whilst expanding resources via the sharing of skills and know-hows in conjunction with the theme TV Programme in the Digital Era.

The Founder and President of Loyola Productions, Fr Edward Siebert from the US, in his keynote address, A Jesuit’s Journey in Hollywood, said that personal transformation is not a passive process.
His enlightening lecture on Digital Media Production in the Catholic Space reminded the delegates that God speaks to us through our imagination. We are to seek a cinematic method of praying to God in answering the call to spread the good news digitally.

The first day of conference also featured a young Indonesian YouTuber, Laurent Rando, who shared the background to his successes and downfalls as a millennial influencer in his lecture on Format and Content of YouTube Production.

The bubbly personality of the talented facilitator, Bernard Factor Canaberal from the Phillippines, further hyped up the event days in high spirits, drawing the diverse group of delegates into participative and interactive mode.

Kisang Lee, a well known TV personality from South Korea, found the conference and workshops significant and engaging, as this is his first time being involved in a SIGNIS event.

He looks forward to establishing a continuous effort to bring forth more media professionals from his country to join the pool of resources.

In line with the theme, Augustine Anthuan, former Executive Producer from Mediacorp, Singapore, played a vital role in weaving his years of experience into his lecture themed #MediaforSocialGood.

Anthuan encouraged the delegates in creating an entire story based on quotable quotes, to push boundaries by going where you must, going where you can.

The TV professionals and video producers, from 15 countries of Asia, presented their TV programmes and shared the format of their video contents, after which they were also grouped for discussions on proposing a project that entails cross border production, hence encouraging co-production.

A challenge to derive a plausible idea within the short frame of time, but pushing through a bottleneck situation, with a worthy end result geared each one to make it happen, though a slight setback in penning down the commitment of working towards actually producing the idea was not well defined.

Pakawat Kraisomsuk, a young producer and editor from the Catholic Social Communications of Thailand said, “I wish there was more sharing on methods and know-hows, to develop each one’s skill, to be on par with the current challenges.”

However, he agreed that overall, the conference benefitted him.

CommLab’s young journalists presented their upcoming project in Nepal about the Migrant workers. The team is producing a documentary and are determined to be the voice of the voiceless.

Lawrence John, Vice President of SIGNIS World, encouraged the delegates to take ownership of the TV Desk, making full use of the opportunity for networking and co-producing via the SIGNIS platform.

Msgr Antonius Subianto Bunjamin, OSC, the Bishop from the Diocese of Bandung, closed the conference by stressing on building bridges beyond the Catholic Church.