More than 5,400 participants are currently attending the 10-day festival, hosted by Singapore's Media Development Authority.

Experts agreed that strong economic growth in Asia has led to a boom in demand for entertainment content from the region.

Edward Pressman, chief executive officer of Edward R. Pressman, a film corporation based in the United States, said industry research showed that content from Asian producers would likely surpass US content by 2025.

Christopher Chia, chief executive officer of the Media Development Authority, said that the rapid growth of Asia's film industry had attracted producers from around the world, as well as growing interest from banks, international private financiers and investors.

In the Asia Factual Forum (AFF) held on Monday, local and international documentary makers - including National Geographic, History Channel and Discovery Channel - agreed that the world market wanted more content from Asia.

Funding is often the critical issue in producing content. Although Asian countries would make the content, most of the money for the films or shows comes from the West. In this regard, Singapore has positioned itself as a gateway to bridge the East and West.

Global content producers and distributors said Asian producers must first have good ideas to attract investors. Then the producers must have a solid financial plan, including for distribution and presales in the local market, so that investors would take the financial risk with them, said Parminder Vir, a consultant for the United Kingdom-based Ingenious World Cinema.

Tony Chow, president of Singapore's Association of Independent Television Production Companies, said separately in the forum that many people were interested in Asia because it has become a new world power. Meanwhile, Asian audiences primarily watch documentaries for entertainment.

''Singaporean independent documentary makers are eager to explore the international market, but we are too small to go alone, so we want to seek partners to go together,'' said Mr Chow, adding that the global market for documentaries was worth US$600 million annually.

Co-production with international partners could be another gateway for Asian documentaries to break through financial and transnational barriers, he said.

Michele Schofield, director for content and programming at AETN All Asia Networks, which owns the History Channel and the Crime and Investigation Network, said western broadcasters, which dominate the documentary market, now wanted co-production to share the costs.

Mika Kanaya, a producer for international co-productions at Japan's NHK, encouraged factual content makers to produce with high definition (HD) equipment if they wanted to co-produce programmes airing in Japan. Ms Kanaya said that NHK was willing to act as a technology supporter. Global networks such as National Geographic and History Channel do not require HD yet.

Craig Thompson, executive producer of Ballinran Productions Ltd, a media consultant, said expensive technology should not hinder Asian documentary makers as the cost of new technology would be coming down.

''Actually, the main challenge is to find funds,'' said Thompson.