Strange news today out of Singapore, as the Media Development Authority is announcing plans to start a new film market there in June 2011.

I say strange because Asia already has Filmart in Hong Kong in March, the Asian Film Market in Busan in October, and TIFFCOM in Tokyo, a couple of weeks after Busan. AFM and TIFFCOM are both rather quiet, and others have tried and failed to launch film markets in the past (most notably Bangkok, which used to have a market in February in the mid-2000s).

Singapore’s MDA says that it hopes to use the June slot, a month after Cannes, to focus on Southeast Asian countries and to launch Hollywood films in China.

Of course I wish them well (especially if they want to fly me over to participate). Certainly the MDA has the resources and the ambition to give it a good shot. But it is hard to imagine Asia needed another film market at this point. Especially one at that time of year — half of the big summer films launch in May and June, so really they are left with July and late releases.