“THE Bridge” By Double Vision Crosses Over Into Award Territory

KUALA
LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 31
August 2020 – The
second season of “The Bridge” by Malaysian production company Double Vision was
recently nominated for four categories including “Best Asian Drama for a
Regional / International Market” at the inaugural ContentAsia Awards.

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The category is for drama
programming made in Asia for more than a single market in the region, or for a
regional or international/global audience.

 

It was also nominated for Best
TV Format Adaptation (Scripted) in Asia while the show’s executive producer TJ
Lee was nominated for Best Director of a Scripted TV Programme. Malaysian actor
Bront Palarae, who plays the character Megat Jamil in the show, was nominated
for Best Male Lead in a TV Programme.

 

The ContentAsia Awards honour
the best of Asian content and are hosted by Content Asia, one of the region’s
foremost entertainment industry information platforms.

“The Bridge is one of the
biggest shows to come out of Southeast Asia although it did take us a while to
get noticed. But we persevered and to be recognised at the inaugural
ContentAsia Awards as among the best in Asia is a great validation of our work!”

 

“To be recognised at the same
level as some of the region’s largest and very established players is testimony
to Double Vision’s potential and capability to produce high quality content,”
she added.

Season One — broadcast on Hong
Kong-based over-the-top (OTT) video streaming platform Viu, HBO Asia and
Malaysia’s largest terrestrial broadcaster, Media Prima — was the first Asian
adaptation of the original Swedish-Danish production of Hans Rosenfeldt’s
Nordic noir crime television series.

A unique deal structure for
the first season — which was Malaysia’s entry for “Best Drama” and “Best
Adaptation of an Existing Format” at the 2019 Asian Academy Creative Awards —
saw the three broadcasters unprecedentedly sharing broadcast rights across 27
territories for the premiere of the licensed format show from international
distribution house Endemol Shine Group.

“This is the first time a
high-end scripted format has been adapted for Southeast Asian TV as well as the
first time a Malaysian-produced show was broadcast, on its first run, in so
many territories across the world,” said Double Vision’s Head of Production and
Executive Producer, Min Lim.

 

The 10-episode second season,
which also marks the first time the format was expanded to include a third
country — Indonesia in this case — was commissioned in 2019 by Viu and HBO
Asia.

 

It also expanded its
on-screen talent pool to include actors from four South East Asian countries —
Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

 

Made entirely in natural
language (a mix of English, Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia with a
smattering of Cantonese), the second season went to air simultaneously in June
2020 on Viu and HBO Asia’s channels and services HBO, HBO Go and HBO On Demand,
across 24 territories.

 

“The success of The Bridge
demonstrates that Malaysian companies have the creative and technical expertise
to produce award level content as well as the talent to bring it to life.” 

 

Season Two of The Bridge
picks up one year after the end of Season One with another cross-border
incident when a yacht registered in Singapore runs aground in Malaysia and on
board are a dead Indonesian family.

About Double Vision Sdn Bhd

Based
in Malaysia, and supported by its production hubs in Indonesia and the
Philippines, Double Vision is an award-winning production house that is part of
the Vision New Media Group, the largest media group of its kind in the ASEAN
region. The company is also one of Malaysia’s oldest production houses, having been
in the business of telling stories and producing creative content for over 35
years. It is the first Malaysian company to garner both International Emmy and
Asian Television Awards nominations.

 

Double
Vision produces dramas, sitcoms, telefeatures, reality/game shows, magazine
shows, documentaries, children’s programmes and variety shows; as well as
engages in co-productions with regional broadcasters like MediaCorp Singapore,
ABSCBN and GMA of the Philippines, and TVB Hong Kong.

 

It
is also is the partner of choice for Malaysian as well as international media
giants such as Astro, STAR, Viu, Warner Brothers, Discovery Networks, NBC
Universal, Scripps Networks, A&E and many others.