When Ochre Pictures’ "Sisters of the Night" premieres in Singapore in July this year, creator and executive producer Jean Yeo strikes another victory for period drama.

Chinese-owned regional streamer, iQiyi, is milking every advantage in Thailand, with calculated bets on high-visibility titles and leveraging star power and production relationships across properties.

Viewers never get to see what Korean teen Inhyung Chung’s face looks like after her long-awaited surgery. All we see, when she comes to, is a bloody mass of bandages, and a man’s voice saying, “Damn, I’m in trouble”, along with two surgically enhanced faces with limited expression ranges.

Founded in 2018 by Singaporean creatives Tan Si En and Kris Ong, Momo Film Co first focused on producing short films by Southeast Asian filmmakers.

The good news for formats in Asia is that 2022 marked the first growth in the number of formats commissioned/on-air in five years. But even if volume is up 16%, adaptations in the region remain well down on 2018’s heyday, and while there are wins, these are patchy as the sector reshapes.

Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto talks about fear, horror, musicals, laughs lost in translation and the difference that streaming has made to his life as a filmmaker.