SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 3 December 2021 – True Colors Film Festival (TCFF) returns from today offering audiences across Asia free streaming of 10 Features, 20 short films and 4 Dialogues. Presented by The Nippon Foundation, the films present new and radical human perspectives about life and the pursuit of happiness. Highlights include:

• The world’s first Oscar-nominated film featuring a DeafBlind Actor, 2021 Oscar-nominated FEELING THROUGH;
  
• The first Screen Actors Guild-registered musical with a fully-inclusive cast and crew, BEST SUMMER EVER (2020);
• Oscar-winning & National Film Award-winning: THE SILENT CHILD (2017), HELIUM (2013) and MY FERAL HEART (2015);
• True Colors Festival documentaries, CLOTHES IN CONVERSATION and THE FUTURE IS NOW!: Official Selection, Fashion Film Festival Milano (13-18 January 2022); New York Film Award, Official Selection, London Fashion Film Festival 2021;
• Filmbankmedia bonus program exclusively for Japan and Singapore presents NOMADLAND (2021), winner of three Oscars for best picture, best director and best actress at the 93rd Academy Awards this year, and ZOOTOPIA (2016) multiple award winning animated film.  
• Dialogues: Hear from US director Doug Roland (FEELING THROUGH) and cast Robert Tarango and Steven Prescod; Tunku Mona Riza (REDHA) from Malaysia with Singaporean actor and educator, Aidli Mosbit ; US director Amanda Lukoff (THE R-WORD) with sibling and self-advocates, Singaporeans Tasneem Majeed and Allan Cai; US photographer Rick Guidotti with Tokyo-based photographer and multimedia artist, Lily Shu, and Singaporean actor and host Oon Shu An .

“There’s no shortage of options for streaming movies on demand, but here you’ll discover a selection not found anywhere else, award-winning films and Dialogues about Perspectives that will entertain, challenge and inspire,” says Audrey Perera, Executive Producer of the festival. 

Features can be watched on The Projector Plus by viewers across Asia, Shorts and Dialogues can be viewed around the world via Vimeo , and the bonus program can be viewed on Filmbankmedia exclusively in Japan and Singapore. For more information about the full program, visit the TCFF 2021 website . For updates, sign-up for the TCFF 2021 mailer .

True Colors Film Festival 2021 is a free online event which launches on December 3, International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). The first True Colors Film Festival, held in 2020, drew an audience of almost 8,000 from 39 countries.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp7ZhaKBBbc

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 3 December 2021 – True Colors Film Festival (TCFF) returns from today offering audiences around the world free streaming of 20 short films and 4 Dialogues. Presented by The Nippon Foundation, the films present new and sometimes radical human perspectives about life and the pursuit of happiness. Highlights include:

• The world’s first Oscar-nominated film featuring a DeafBlind Actor, 2021 Oscar-nominated FEELING THROUGH and its ‘making of’ documentary, CONNECTING THE DOTS;
• Oscar-winning short films THE SILENT CHILD (2017) and HELIUM (2013);
• Official Selection of the Fashion Film Festival Milano from 13-18 January 2022,  THE FUTURE IS NOW!, a True Colors Festival documentary.
• ON BEAUTY, inspired by the work of photographer and founder of Positive Exposure, Rick Guidotti, who challenges the ‘universal’ beauty standard espoused by the fashion industry.
• Dialogues: Hear first-hand from US director Doug Roland (FEELING THROUGH) and his cast Robert Tarango and Steven Prescod; Tunku Mona Riza (REDHA) from Malaysia who chats with Singaporean actor and educator, Aidli Mosbit; US director Amanda Lukoff (THE R-WORD), with sibling and self-advocates, Singaporeans Tasneem Majeed and Allan Cai; and US photographer Rick Guidotti with Tokyo-based photographer and multimedia artist, Lily Shu, and Singaporean actor and host Oon Shu An.
• “There’s no shortage of options for streaming movies on demand, but here you’ll discover a selection not found anywhere else; a one-stop shop of award-winning films and dialogues about Perspectives that will entertain, challenge and inspire,” says Audrey Perera, Executive Producer of True Colors Film Festival 2021. 

Shorts and Dialogues can be viewed around the world via Vimeo, Features can be watched on The Projector Plus by viewers across Asia, and the bonus program can be viewed on Filmbankmedia only in Japan and Singapore. For more information, visit the TCFF 2021 website. For updates, sign-up for the TCFF 2021 mailer.

True Colors Film Festival 2021 is a free online event that launches on December 3, coinciding with International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD). Now in its second edition, the first True Colors Film Festival, held in 2020, drew an audience of almost 8,000 from 39 countries.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp7ZhaKBBbc

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 3 December 2021 – On 16 November, the international independent third-party testing, inspection and certification organization TÜV Rheinland organized this webinar with the support from Invest Hong Kong, and German Chamber of Commerce, Hong Kong (GCC) to address the microplastics challenge along the global textile and garment supply chain.

Link to Youtube video

Among the webinar speakers were:

Rakesh Vazirani, Head of Sustainability Services, Business Stream Products, TÜV Rheinland together with

Emily Choi, Senior Manager of Consumer Products, Invest Hong Kong,

Dr. Lei YAO (Gloria), Director of Project Development, The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA),

Dr. Frank Lam, Assistant Professor of Engineering Education, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST),

Dr. Cindy Lam, Lecturer, Department of Ocean Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and

Gundolf Klaehn, Head of Environmental Component, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

Mr. Bjoern Lindner, President of the GCC, stated in the opening speech that the German business community has long placed significant emphasis on sustainability and protection of our natural world at its core. One-third of the GCC members come from the supply chain industry, and are happy to see how all stakeholders work together to address the microplastics issue.

TÜV Rheinland shared background and summaries on its textiles-microplastics research/initiatives and introduced the concept of linking data about microplastics shedding at the pre-consumer stage, the fabric composition/design stage, and what is detected during testing at the garment/fabric level (as per TMC, AATCC methods).

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 35% of the ocean’s microplastics come from synthetic textiles. Microplastics shedding at the finished product level can be correlated with microplastics shedding at the pre-consumer stage in production processes depending on wet processes, fiber construction depending, fiber composition, etc. The full related data could perhaps tell a story to designers and manufacturers that they be able to configure their production processes in order to eliminate microplastics shedding, so the idea is to combine consumer stage data with pre-consumer stage data.

Dr. Cindy Lam and Dr. Frank Lam from HKUST developed the Smart Fish for real-time detection of microplastics in the ocean. The Smart Fish aims to replace lab-based testing for microplastics, which can be used in the future for different scenarios, including the textile industry.

Dr. Gloria Yao from HKRITA spoke about an ongoing project for microplastic fibre separation through sweeping acoustic waves. It expects the project at industrial scale, to agglomerate the filtered microplastic to form a cluster in macroscopic scale to provide convenience for any feasible after-treatment.

Gundolf Klaehn from GIZ introduced the Promoting Sustainability in the Textile and Garment Industry on Asia (FABRIC) program, which supports initiatives and innovation fostering the transitional change of the sector with the focus on reduction of harm to the environment and improving labour and living conditions.

In his closing remarks, KC Lam, Head of Consulate and Chamber Engagement, Invest Hong Kong stated: “We have started to educate the consumer on microplastics. They will soon be demanding better and higher standards for companies to live up to.”  Microplastics have become a plastic pollutant of oceans on a global scale. Shaping solutions will include approaches based on detection and removal, product design and lifecycle thinking, as well as the involvement of key stakeholders.

TÜV Rheinland, as a trusted partner providing a suite of assurance services affecting interactions between people, technology, and the environment, will facilitate the development and implementation of these solutions.

#TÜVRheinland

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach – 3 December 2021 – Crypto has had futures for some times and only recently has its structure developing more sophisticated in the traditional financial ecosystem. In early 2019, there was only $275 million of crypto collateral locked in the DeFi economy while it hits the milestone high of $200 billion today.

With the announcement of Facebook rebranding itself into “Meta”, which referred to metaverse, a virtually-reality platform. More traditional giants are fastening their pace into “decentraland”. Stablecoin, which designed to maintain a stable value relative to a national currency or other reference assets, is making its waves in global traditional economy.

“Although Bitcoin and Ethereum are currently the dominant cryptocurrencies, their prices fluctuate, which will hinder real-world adoption,” said Eric from Capricorn Foundation”while emerging with the traditional finance sector,  neither businesses nor consumers want to face unnecessary risks. What I can foresee right now, for the adoption of crypto into real world business is stablecoin, and its advantages of being stable, reliable will definitely redefine our finance ecosystem.”

Malaysia-based finance solution team has just release their concept of adopting stablecoin concept into real world finance with their Capricorn Protocol, which actively cooperates with various DeFi applications, such as lending, that has stable currency usage scenarios. Using collateral as value support, the Capricorn Protocol will fully utilize its advantages to empower traditional business.

• DHL, the first international forwarder, commences pioneering operations on the brand new China-Laos railway
• Relief for peak season logistics rates with costs up to 50% less than airfreight with similar transit times
• Vientiane and Kunming are well-positioned as multimodal hubs for China-ASEAN trade

SHANGHAI, CHINA – Media OutReach – 3 December 2021 – DHL Global Forwarding, the leading international freight specialist division of Deutsche Post DHL Group,  is the first international forwarder to launch a two-way rail freight service between Kunming, China and Vientiane, Laos, via the newly opened China-Laos railway. The rail service is first-of-its-kind in the market, shortening transit time between Kunming and Vientiane from two days via road to about  20 – 24 hours.

DHL’s new two-way rail service will cut transit time between Kunming and Vientiane from 2 days to 20-24 hours

Faster, cheaper freight between China and Southeast Asia

Rail-truck solution between China & Southeast Asia: Hubs in Kunming and Vientiane

“The China-Laos Railway is a historic moment for the region. It strategically places Kunming as a hub for the Indochina market as the gateway to ASEAN economies,” said Steve Huang, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Greater China. “ASEAN has a combined GDP of US$2.55 trillion and is predicted to be the fourth largest single market in the world by 2030. We see a very bright future for trade and economic activity in the region, which will translate to increased demand for logistics.”

“China is ASEAN’s largest trading partner, growing close to 40% year on year. The new rail service connecting China and Laos will transform Laos from a land-locked country to a land-linked hub, creating closer trade linkages between Laos and China, and to all economies in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including ASEAN. Businesses moving goods between China and ASEAN countries now have a strong viable alternative between air and ocean freight, and can tap further into DHL’s robust road freight and multimodal network in the Southeast Asia region,” Thomas Tieber, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding Southeast Asia said.

Peak season relief: Faster, Cheaper freight from China to ASEAN – Costs up to 50% less than airfreight, with similar or faster transit times
Leveraging the new railway, DHL’s scheduled service runs in both directions between China and ASEAN markets, including Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, providing an attractive, highly cost efficient alternative in a time when logistics costs are at an all time high.

The two-way service combines trucking from all over China to the hub in Kunming, running through the China-Laos railroad, then onward with DHL’s established road network service  and back, with significant cost savings and competitive transit times, providing a viable transportation alternative. Examples of the services include:

• Chengdu – Bangkok – road/rail services are 78% cheaper and 2 days faster than airfreight
• Kuala Lumpur – Chengdu – road/rail services are 70% cheaper, same transit time compared to airfreight
• Shanghai – Singapore – road/rail services are 38% cheaper, 4 days longer compared to airfreight

The brand new China-Laos Railway is one of the six international economic corridors under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Laos section of the railway is 414-km that connects Kunming (China) to Boten, Laos’ northern border with China, to Vientiane in the south, on its border with Thailand. The route will cut the journey time from Vientiane to the Chinese border to less than four hours, compared to 15 hours by road. At Boten, the railway will connect with the BRI network at Kunming, China, through another 595-km railway link, providing Laos with a land link to global and regional supply chains.

Note to editors:

Find out more about DHL’s road and multimodal logistics offerings, with its road freight services on the rise in Southeast Asia, and a rail freight service from Xi’an in China to Hamburg and Neuss in Germany, that cut transit time down by over 40 percent.  Read more on DHL’s Logistics of Things.

DHL – The logistics company for the world

DHL is the leading global brand in the logistics industry. Our DHL divisions offer an unrivalled portfolio of logistics services ranging from national and international parcel delivery, e-commerce shipping and fulfillment solutions, international express, road, air and ocean transport to industrial supply chain management. With about 400,000 employees in more than 220 countries and territories worldwide, DHL connects people and businesses securely and reliably, enabling global sustainable trade flows. With specialized solutions for growth markets and industries including technology, life sciences and healthcare, engineering, manufacturing & energy, auto-mobility and retail, DHL is decisively positioned as “The logistics company for the world”.

DHL is part of Deutsche Post DHL Group. The Group generated revenues of more than 66 billion euros in 2020. With sustainable business practices and a commitment to society and the environment, the Group makes a positive contribution to the world. Deutsche Post DHL Group aims to achieve zero-emissions logistics by 2050.

#DHL