Producers at the ABU-UNESCO Childrens TV Programme Item-Exchange Meeting and Workshop held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 4-9 July last, were highly commended for the quality of their work and encouraged to continue contributing to the cause for more and more local content television material for children.
Those from less developed countries in the region, were especially singled out in light of often insufficient human and technical support and extremely limited resources available to them for this purpose.
A marked improvement on the overall quality was evident since the 12th meeting and workshop held in 2004, which was attributable not only to more hands-on training and coordination, but to the creativity and determination of the producers themselves.
Thirty-five participants from 21 countries in Asia and the Pacific took part in this years event, as well as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Prix Jeunesse, Deutschewelle and other important observers. Over the 13 years of its existence, this event has consolidated into a platform where childrens programme producers in Asia and the Pacific meet together and exchange ideas to further develop their production skills. The increasing interest and participation of organizations such as those mentioned above, signal the wide potential of this forum as a world event. While there exists an on-going childrens item exchange with EBU, and ABU programmes are screened at URTNA/PEC Nairobi, this year, for the first time, and in further collaboration with the EBU, participants had the opportunity to screen, enjoy and exchange programmes for broadcast in different categories not only from Europe and Africa, but Latin America as well. A total of 158 items were viewed and discussed, a third of which represented non-Asian productions for children.
Moreover, EBU and Prix Jeunesse are keen to develop an international exchange of such items and plan to examine this question in a meeting later this year with broadcasting unions such as: EBU, ABU, URTNA, ASBU, CBU, as well as broadcasters in Latin America.
In anticipation of the imminent introduction of an ABU Childrens documentary co-production, the 2-day Workshop on the theme of Childrens Documentary productions, focused on basics such as storytelling, cinematography, sound effects and ethics as well as best practices from the EBU Documentary Exchange. Participants benefited specially from the experience of Ms Marion Creely, Executive Producer for the EBU Childrens Documentary Exchange, who facilitated this activity.
A half day workshop on childrens drama conducted by Ms Hyunsook Chung, Executive Producer of the First ABU Childrens Drama Co-Production, evoked considerable interest and enlightenment particularly after the screening of 3 episodes from this Childrens Drama Co-Production series. The uniqueness and creativity of the project, a showcase of cultural diversity in action, as well as the advantages to be gleaned were main attractions in this regard.
The dates for the 14th ABU-UNESCO Childrens TV Programme Item-Exchange Meeting and Workshop have been fixed for 3 - 8 July 2006. The venue is yet to be confirmed.
This success of this activity was boosted by a grant within the context of UNESCOs programme for production and dissemination of local content material and building capacity of content producers, while a 2004 contribution from the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) assisted in laying the foundation for Childrens drama co-productions.
Source:UNESCO
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