The new Triple Green CineCapital fund launched at the JAFF Market in Yogyakarta at the weekend makes its way to Singapore this week for a presentation during the Singapore International Film Festival industry days.  

The fund is backed by Singapore-based producer Leonard Lai and Vietnam’s Hang Trinh, who aim to disburse some US$3 million into the feature film industries of Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The venture will avoid art-house titles and focus on commercial film genres such as action, thriller, horror, family drama, romantic comedy and animation.

Lai said he expected some 60% of the fund’s disbursements to go towards production investments, with a further 20% going towards distribution. This category, he told ContentAsia, would likely see the fund providing minimum guarantee payments or co-investments alongside a territory-delimited distributor in licenses for specific film titles.

A further 15% of the value of the fund comes under the label ‘production incentives’. In this instance, the fund itself would be designated as producer and apply for grants or other soft money from government sources.

The remaining 5% comprises sponsorship, which is a growing source of film finance in other parts of the region, such as Korea, and which Lai envisages expanding into Indonesia. On a case-by-case basis sponsorship income could be treated as production finance or a film’s revenue.

Operations begin immediately and are expected to run four years until the fund closes at the end of 2029. Lai says this would mean 16-23 production investments and 15-30 distribution positions.

Lai runs a company called Little Green White and has been a backer of several of Jack Neo’s “Ah Boys” franchise films. Hang Trinh is CEO and founder of Vietnam producer and distributor Skyline Media - By Patrick Frater