TIFFCOM, the contents market that takes place alongside Tokyo Worldwide Movie Pageant (TIFF), had a tricky experience through the pandemic, transferring on-line in 2020 and solely managing to come back again as a bodily occasion for the primary time final 12 months.
However with a brand new dwelling on the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Commerce Heart in Hamamatsucho, the market appears to be discovering its ft in a crowded autumn competition season, partly due to the world’s renewed curiosity in Japanese movie, TV and anime content material.
With Japan-set sequence resembling Shogun and Tokyo Vice additionally drawing audiences globally, and mainland China, as soon as the massive draw within the area, turning into much less outward-looking, the worldwide business is turning into way more open to collaborating with Japan.
And the curiosity is reciprocated as a youthful technology of Japanese filmmakers and producers are difficult long-held perceptions that their native business is insular and gradual transferring. More and more, Japanese authorities organisations are additionally supporting worldwide collaboration by way of initiatives resembling a new 50% locations incentive, which has been utilized by productions together with Tokyo Vice, Searchlight Footage’ Rental Household and Bollywood movie One Day, produced by Aamir Khan.
Now that it’s again as an in-person occasion, TIFFCOM is aiming to facilitate this rising change between Japan and different worldwide content material industries. “The home audiovisual content material market in Japan has largely recovered to pre-pandemic ranges, primarily due to robust animation movies and sequence, however there may be an growing want to provide content material with a global market in thoughts,” says TIFFCOM CEO Yasushi Shiina.
He provides that finally 12 months’s TIFFCOM, round two thirds of customer registrations, together with patrons, have been from abroad, with vital contingents travelling from Europe, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Whereas the variety of individuals is anticipated to be across the similar this 12 months, the market has greater than doubled the variety of seminars, which have a concentrate on the “abroad methods of Japan and different Asian nations, providing useful info to assist form future enterprise methods,” Shiina says.
TIFFCOM CEO Yasushi Shiina
Among the many packed seminars line-up are classes on how Japanese anime has reached worldwide markets; case research on the export methods of three Japanese broadcasting and programming corporations; and a masterclass with Tokyo Vice producer Alex Boden, held as a part of the annual MPA/DHU/TIFFCOM Pitching Contest.
As well as, the Korean Movie Council (KOFIC) and Seoul Movie Fee will speak concerning the funding accessible to overseas productions planning to shoot in Korea or arrange worldwide co-productions with Korean corporations; China’s Street Footage will share insights on the distribution of Japanese content material within the big mainland China market; and a bunch of Thai producers and broadcasters will speak concerning the worldwide success of Thailand’s BL (boy’s love) style.
TIFFCOM may also be marking the signing of the long-awaited Japan-Italy co-production settlement with a case research on Italian co-production, in addition to a pitching session for tasks from Italian and Asian producers. Italy is just the second nation that Japan has signed a co-production treaty with, following mainland China (though it additionally has a standard assertion of coverage with Canada).
Italy may also catch the attention of this 12 months’s Tokyo Hole Financing Market (TGFM), the place 5 Italian co-production tasks will likely be offered, together with 15 different movie and animation tasks which have a minimum of 60% funding in place and include Asian components.
“The return to an in-person format final 12 months led to a big improve within the participation of producers and traders. Simply as co-production movies are the norm in Europe, we hope to see extra collaboration amongst filmmakers throughout Asian nations, fostering the expansion of co-productions in Asia,” Shiina says.
Among the many characteristic movies being offered at TGFM are Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s 9 Temples To Heaven, produced by Apichatpong Weerasethakul; Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s Morte Cucina, and Mariko Tetsuya’s Japan-Taiwan-US co-production Earlier than Anybody Else.
Launched for the primary time final 12 months, Tokyo Story Market is one other main strand of TIFFCOM, aiming to construct bridges between worldwide producers and Japanese e-book, manga and other forms of publishers.
“Japan is a treasure trove of authentic works, resembling manga, novels and light-weight novels, that are in excessive demand amongst producers. Due to this fact, we felt it was vital to supply a platform for Japanese publishers to take part,” Shiina explains.
“Many publishers discovered it useful to straight interact with abroad producers they don’t normally work together with, and so they have requested that the Tokyo Story Market proceed.”
Whereas TIFFCOM is rising, Shiina concedes that it’s a busy time of 12 months for business professionals, with Busan’s Asian Contents and Movie Market (ACFM) lately concluded in South Korea and the American Movie Market (AFM) kicking off in Las Vegas subsequent week. However he provides that sustaining shut ties with Tokyo Worldwide Movie Pageant is necessary, so there are not any plans to alter the market’s schedule independently. The occasion’s new dwelling can also be proving standard with individuals and is comfortably near TIFF’s new venues within the stylish Ginza and Hibiya districts.
“There are movie festivals and markets being held someplace around the globe each month of the 12 months,” says Shiina, acknowledging the impossibility of carving out an unique time slot. “We’ll simply work in direction of guaranteeing that each TIFF and TIFFCOM are acknowledged as important occasions and are at all times marked on the annual calendars of business professionals each in Japan and abroad.”
TIFFCOM is happening October 30-November 1, whereas the competition opened on October 28 and runs till November 6.
