Having participated in international film festivals, Sir Run Run Shaw was a firm believer in the importance of film festivals in showcasing the best a region had to offer. He also believed that film festivals provided good opportunity for those in the industry to renew fraternal ties. When Mr Masaichi Nagata, President of Daiei, Japan, mooted the idea of forming a federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia to hold annual film festivals in Asia, Sir Run Run was one of his closest supporters.

As a result, the South East Asian Film Producers Federation was inaugurated in Manila in 1953, with Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaya, Philippines and Thailand as members.

The first Asian Film Festival was held in Tokyo on May 1954. It attracted 11 feature films and 10 non-dramatic films. The Golden Award was won by a Japanese film, Konjiki Yasha, and the Silver Award by a Thai film, Sante Venus.

For over two decades, the studios operated out of Singapore and independently out of Hong Kong bagged almost every category of award from Best Picture to those for outstanding technical achievements.

Thousands would line the streets to see their favourite Shaw stars as they disembarked at the airport and went about the city.

Over the week long festival, hundreds of interviews would be conducted by the scores of press corps from all over the world.

In its production heyday, Shaw films from both Singapore and Hong Kong dominated the festival, winning scores of awards for acting and production value. The closest rivalry to Shaw came from the MP & GI Productions of Cathay's Yung Hwa studio in Hong Kong.

The Federation was renamed Asian Film Producers' Federation in 1957 when membership was enlarged to include South Korea. From 1982, the federation changed its constitution and name to include the Pacific. Today, The Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia Pacific (FPA) is the organising body for the Asia-Pacific Film Festival. Each year, the Board of Directors

selects a different member as the festival's host city. Participating member cities are Bangkok, Bombay, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Manila, Moscow, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Tashkent, Tbilissi, Tehran, Tokyo and Wellington. The most recent one, the 47th Asia Pacific Film Festival, was held in Seoul on Oct 1-4, 2000.