EXNW Summit In Vancouver Unveils Speakers; Aims To Build Canada-Asia Ties 

Speakers including Fresh Off The Boat’s Hudson Yang, Beach House Pictures’ Donovan Chan and Joonsuh Park from Korean drama producer JTBC-SLL are among the speakers confirmed for the second edition of the East By Northwest (EXNW) Summit in Vancouver (July 26-28). 

Organized by Canada’s Racial Equity Screen Office (RESO) in association with Gold House, the event is designed to foster business and creative ties between the content industries in Canada and East Asia. 

EXNW organizers said the event would also address wider issues in the Canadian screen industry, including policy reform, education, financing, distribution and talent development. They also noted that initiatives by the Canadian industry to promote Indigenous storytelling, diversity and digital innovation “are gaining momentum”. 

The panel line-up includes a session on co-production and global audiences, with speakers including JTBC-SLL’s Joonsuh Park, former Amazon and Netflix Asia content exec Erika North, Third Culture Content’s Janice Chua and AGC Studios’ Aghi Koh; while a further session is drilling down into Canada-Asia co-production with Donovan Chan of Singapore’s Beach House, which was recently acquired by Fremantle, BBC Asia’s Ryan Shiotani, A+E Korea’s Youngson Soh and Creative BC’s Bob Wong. 

Hudson Yang and Jeff Yang of the US’ Huje Productions are speaking on a panel about talent launching their own production companies, which also features Canadian filmmaker Fawzia Mirza (Queen Of My Dreams), producer Brian Yang and Vancouver-based talent agent Andrew Ooi. 

A financing panel features speakers including Ryan Wang of US-China outfit Outpost Capital, Storyboard Media’s Phil Kim and George Huang and Welly Yang of US and Taiwan-based Formosa Fund. 

“From thought-provoking panels to interactive workshops and networking sessions, EXNW provides a dynamic platform for creators to exchange ideas, forge meaningful partnerships, and drive the development of content tailored for international markets,” said Barbara Lee, RESO Founder and EXNW Creator & Executive Producer. 

Los Angeles-based Gold House, which is collaborating on the event, is non-profit that describes itself as the “leading cultural ecosystem builder that unites, invests in, and champions Asian Pacific creators”. 

Outside of the conference, which held its first edition last year, RESO said it has travelled to South Korea and Singapore’s Asia Television Forum (ATF) over the past year in its mission to forge trans-Pacific relationships. 

The Korea trip was part of a Canadian government trade mission, while the trip to ATF, which may result in wider Canadian participation at the Singapore conference and market this year, was supported by Creative BC, Telefilm Canada and other Canadian agencies.

“Canadian cultural producers have little to no presence in the Asia-Pacific creative industries. The entertainment industry has made inroads and investments into European markets, with established pipelines and a recurring presence in the form of pavilions and delegations to film festivals and other markets–but there has been none for Canada within the Asia-Pacific since the pandemic,” Lee said.