YOUTUBE STAR NAMEWEE’S “BANGLASIA” TO LAUNCH GLOBAL FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN ON KICKSTARTER4 min read
Reading Time: 3 minutesSINGAPORE, 3RD DECEMBER 2015 ““ In conjunction with Singapore International Film Festival 2015 (SGIFF), Award-winning director and YouTube sensation Namewee is running a 40-day global fundraising campaign on kickstarter.com to raise US$ 500,000 to complete the director’s cut version and secure worldwide release of his feature-length action-comedy film, BANGLASIA. Dubbed the “most ambitious ever film crowdfunding project in Asia in terms of pledge amount”, this campaign is announced in partnership with US media platform 8sian Media, which holds exclusive global distribution rights and Asian digital entertainment network WebTVAsia, its exclusive digital campaign partner.
BANGLASIA, starring Namewee with a multi-ethnic Asian cast such as leading Bangladeshi actor Nirab Hossain, Malaysian comedian Saiful Apek and Singaporean actress Atikah Suhaimi, tells of a group of multi-cultural individuals coming together during a time in which their cultural tolerance and understanding are being tested.
The Malaysian-made film was screened at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2015 (OAFF) and New York Asian Film Festival 2015 (NYAFF) of which NYAFF festival director Goran Topalovic said: “We are proud to host the premiere of a movie that is hilarious and surreal comedy that touches on issues of political corruption, mass hysteria about immigration, and out-of-control nationalism.”
Namewee, who attended the New York screening in July, was encouraged by the full-house turnout and rave reviews from fans, said, “This story is inspired by various real life events I witnessed in my own country Malaysia. Despite its highly anticipated release in 2014, unfortunately it was banned and that greatly disappointed me and my fans. With this crowdfunding campaign to raise further funds, I have great hope that the world will finally get to see the Director’s Cut of this film.” “This Kickstarter Project is all-or-nothing, if we unable to collect the desired amount of fund before the deadline, Banglasia will not get the truly justice deserved!”
Fred Chong, producer of BANGLASIA, also remarked, “In my many collaborative projects with Namewee, this is our most ambitious yet. This project is unique because we are leveraging on the combined influence of an international online star (Namewee: No. 1 YouTube channel in Malaysia with 140 mil channel views), an Asian network with a very successful brand marketing track record (WebTVAsia: 500 mil views on its Little Apple viral video campaign), and 8sian Media, a US media platform focused on Asian content that has over 200 million views per month.”
Rex Wong, CEO of 8sian Media said, “As a US-based media technology company with a strong Asia focus, we are proud to support Namewee in his effort to bring high quality Asian productions to the global market, with the creative marketing expertise of WebTVAsia. This could very well be key benchmark for future Asian film crowdfunding initiatives.”
This Kickstarter campaign offers a six-tiered rewards scheme based on donor’s monetary contribution, with the highest tier of US$ 10,000 giving the donor a guaranteed red-carpet appearance with Namewee and other stars during an upcoming official screening, plus a credit mention as an Executive Producer of BANGLASIA.The Kickstarter campaign will launch on 9 December 2015.
Full details of the campaign can be found here.
For more information, please refer to Namewee’s Facebook.
BANGLASIA made its South East Asia Premier Screening in Singapore on 3 December 2015.
About Namewee
Namewee is one of Asia’s most well-known entertainment personalities, being multi-talented and wearing many hats as singer, songwriter, director, actor and YouTuber. He was an early adopter of social media in 2005 and is now a major digital influencer with over 580,000 subscribers on YouTube (No. 1 in Malaysia) and 1.48 million followers on Facebook. His first three self-directed-and-acted films, NASI LEMAK 2.0, HANTU GANGSTER AND KARA KING, have broken various box office records and received multiple awards at film festivals across the world. He also received YouTube’s Independent Artiste of the Year 2014, and WebTVAsia Awards 2015 Most Popular Video awards. To appreciate more of Namewee’s works, please subscribe his channel and follow him on Facebook.
About WebTVAsia
WebTVAsia was launched in 2014 as a digital entertainment brand with one of the fastest growing Asian multi-platform networks across YouTube, Dailymotion, Youku-Tudou, Tencent, Whaley TV, LETV, etc delivering over 3 billion views to over 5 million subscribers globally. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur and regional offices in Beijing, Bangkok, and Taipei, together with its over 500 content partners and creators, WebTVAsia produce the most wanted premium content targeting the digital-savvy millennial audience. WebTVAsia was the lead campaign manager for the Little Apple Global Campaign, dubbed the “new Gangnam Style” that generated over 500 million views and 30,000 parody versions worldwide. In Oct 2015, Asia’s biggest creator awards, WebTVAsia Awards was held in Kuala Lumpur to celebrate and recognize the most popular creators from 12 Asian countries.
For more information, please visit WebTVAsia.
