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BEIJING -- Singapore is hooking up with two muscular Asian shingles, South Korea's CJ and China's Polybona, for the first project to emerge from its Intl. Film Fund launched at Cannes this year.

"Neon Sign," believed to be the first China-South Korea-Singapore film co-production, will be helmed by Korean Pil Gam-Sung ("Musa") and is slated for release in 2011.

"Neon Sign" will be produced by Bang Prods. (Singapore) and Nabi Pictures (South Korea).

Pic is a road movie set in Yunnan, a province in the southwest of China, focusing on a Korean pop idol on the run from the paparazzi.

Asia has proven resilient in the face of the economic crisis and the recent global recession has spurred a greater cooperation between Asian countries on production and also in terms of the themes chosen. The pic also reflects a growing focus on China, where domestic B.O. is booming and many co-prods are choosing to lense.

Polybona, one of China's leading private distribs and production companies, has been aggressively looking for projects. It has raised a major war chest from venture capitalists and is planning a stock market listing.

"We've been looking for opportunities to work with CJ Entertainment and MDA for some time, and 'Neon Sign' has nicely pulled together the strengths and resources of all the parties as a showcase for pan-Asian co-production and cooperation," said Jeffrey Chan, CEO of Distribution Workshop and chief operating officer of Bona Intl. Film Group.

The Intl. Film Fund is the first of a number of initiatives launched by the Media Development Authority of Singapore aimed at encouraging projects to lense in the city-state, providing locally based production and post-production companies with the opportunity to exec produce and/or co-produce films of global appeal with international partners.

The Singapore government has earmarked $156 million over five years to develop the media content sector, which comes on top of $340 million it has already committed to interactive digital media research and development over five years.

(Tatiana Siegel in Hollywood contributed to this report.)