[Feb 25 2010]

SINGAPORE: This year's Media Fiesta will kick off in March. And you can go on a journey of change in the media world and check out how the media can be used to shape the way you work, live and play.

The annual festival will showcase homemade innovative software and games. Among them is the wizQubes, which draws children into a three-dimensional world of fairytales.

Another is the eBook Reader that uses E-ink display to give the user a sense of reading a real book.

The fiesta cuts across traditional, new and future media, and reflects the rapid changes in the media world.

Dr Christopher Chia, CEO of Media Development Authority (MDA), said: "One of these changes is convergence where the technologies and the media content and the usage of it have changed beyond the traditional forms of media. So one of our primary objectives for the Media Fiesta is to show Singaporeans or those living in Singapore what the changes might mean to them."

Also featured will be the "Know Your Film Ratings" exhibit. It allows the public to get to know how films are rated.

Explaining the relevance of this exhibit, Dr Chia said: "The number of people who want to make films and the number of films that has actually been imported into the country has grown exponentially over the last few years. So it's a good time now to do that.

"Previously, when it was a smaller number, as long as you work with the filmmakers to do that and they understand, that was sufficient. But there are many budding filmmakers out there. And it's better to let people know what criteria we use."

MDA classifies 800 films and 15,000 videos in Singapore each year.

The fiesta, which will be held from March 5-27, is backed by a strong industry presence. It will be spread across venues such as Cathay Cineplex, Woodlands Regional Library and iluma at Bugis.