Asian Alliance

May 13, 2009 With a strong taste for Hollywood blockbusters and, from country to country, varying levels of media freedom, government support, film industry infrastructure and preparedness to deal with economic crisis, Southeast Asia is the very definition of untapped cinematic potential. In 2008, for instance, Vietnam more than doubled domestic distribution, opening its 100th movie screen (for 85 million people), while neighboring Laos produced its first commercial feature in 33 years ("Good Morning, Luang Prabang"). [...] with the three movies going to the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, it's not hard to argue that filmmakers from the Philippines occupy the vanguard of a new wave of Southeast Asian moviemaking.

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.