Taking place at the same time as Tokyo International Film Festival, the TIFFCOM contents market complements the festival’s mission to encourage international exchange but through its more business-oriented focus on international co-production and the globalization of Japanese IP.
Since it returned as a physical event after the pandemic in 2023, the market has steadily expanded its activities beyond traditional sales booths to also include pitching contests, a projects market, networking opportunities and a packed seminar schedule covering a wider range of topics. Last year the market drew more than 4,088 participants, with 42% coming from outside Japan.
“According to post event surveys, around 80% of participants said they found new business partners at TIFFCOM, demonstrating its growing value as a networking platform,” says TIFFCOM CEO Yasushi Shiina.
“This year we’re going to continue our focus on international co-production and global collaboration, while placing stronger emphasis on connecting Japanese IP with overseas partners. We also want to build closer ties with Southeast Asia. Our aim is to support the development of networks that extend, not only across East Asia, but throughout the entire Asian region.”
Japanese IP is currently much in demand following a smoking hot year in which animated feature Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle earned $239M (JPY36BN) in Japan and more than $649M worldwide. Released over the summer, the highly-anticipated anime sequel became the biggest Japanese film of all time globally and the highest-grossing international film in the U.S., beating Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).
But while the global appeal of Japanese anime and manga is nothing new, this has also been a year in which Japanese live-action features started to make waves. Shiina points out that Lee Sang-il’s Kokuho, which is Japan’s Oscars submission, stunned the industry by grossing $107m at the Japanese box office earlier this year, the kind of business usually only achieved by hot anime titles.
“At the Cannes Film Festival, ten Japanese films were officially selected, further underscoring Japan’s growing presence in international cinema,” Shiina observes. “Also in television, there has been a steady increase in international format sales and major broadcasters have begun establishing studios dedicated to developing projects for the global market.”
The strength of Japanese IP will be explored through TIFFCOM’s busy seminar line-up, which includes sessions with Sony Pictures International Productions chief Shebnem Askin, and Tetsu Fujimura, CEO of consulting firm Filosophia and executive producer of Netflix’s live-action series One Piece, adapted from a popular manga.
Fujimura will talk about why Japanese IP is currently attracting so much global attention and its future potential, while Askin will share insights on Sony’s international remakes business, which includes a Thai adaptation of 50 First Dates and a Mexican remake of Japanese property Shall We Dance?
Meanwhile, TIFFCOM attendees will also be able to get their hands on some Japanese IP directly through the rebranded Tokyo IP Market: Adaptation & Remake. Previously known as the Tokyo Story Market, the three-year-old initiative brings together publishers holding rights to Japanese manga, novels and games. This year, its scope has been expanded to also include production companies holding remake rights.
In addition to the IP focus, TIFFCOM’s seminar line-up includes sections dedicated to international co-production, animation, Asian films and series and Japanese TV.
TIFFCOM managing director Kaori Ikeda explains that the market will be exploring co-productions between Japan and both Southeast Asia and Italy this year. “We see many promising projects emerging from Southeast Asian filmmakers and sense a growing expectation for co-production with Japan,” Ikeda says.
That potential will be explored through a seminar with speakers including Thai filmmakers Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Soros Sukhum, Indonesian producers Shanty Harmayn and Christian Imanuell and Italian producer Stefano Centini, who co-produced Ratanaruang’s Morte Cucina. Yoonhee Choi, CEO of Korea’s Barunson E&A (Parasite), and Japanese producer Shinya Kawai will also discuss the potential for regional co-production.
Japan signed an official co-production agreement with Italy last year and a session hosted by Japan’s Yomiuri TV will focus on animated series Pino & Shinoby, which it recently co-produced with Italian animation outfit Studio Bozzetto.
“Several productions are now underway under the Japan-Italy co-production agreement, with one project close to completion,” Ikeda says.
“Until recently, Italy had rarely been a partner in Japan’s international co-productions, so seeing such an immediate response clearly demonstrates the significance of the agreement. The opening of this new door to co-productions with Europe not only expands funding opportunities for filmmakers but also enhances creative diversity.”
Italy is also a focus of this year’s Tokyo Gap Financing Market (TGFM), which will present three Italian projects selected through Cinecitta and the Directorate General for Cinema of Italy’s Ministry of Culture.
In total, TGFM will present 23 projects, including several from Southeast Asia, such as Four Seasons In Java from Indonesia’s Kamila Andini; 1982 from Vietnam’s Diep Nguyen Hoang; and two projects from the Philippines – Filipinana directed by Rafael Manuel and Hum, directed by Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan and produced by Alemberg Ang.
Last year’s TGFM projects included Pen-ek’s Morte Cucina, which is playing in this year’s TIFF competition, and Mariko Tetsuya’s Dear Stranger, a co-production between Japan, France, U.S. and UK, which played in Busan and will screen at TIFF in the Nippon Cinema Now section.
Meanwhile, TIFFCOM’s seminar line-up will also include sessions on animation with speakers including Shrek The Third and Monster Hunt director Raman Hui and Samuel Choy, general manger of Hong Kong’s Bliss Concepts, which produced the popular McDull franchise.
In addition, Japanese broadcasters including TBS, Nippon TV, NHK, Asahi Television and Wowow will discuss their international expansion strategies, while other sessions will focus on Turkish remakes, Thailand’s BL and GL series, and China’s increasingly popular drama series production.
The Motion Picture Association is hosting a seminar to discuss Japan’s film policy with Elvis producer Schuyler Weiss, Shogun producer Eriko Miyagawa, Living Films’ Apinat ‘Ob’ Siricharoenjit and Film Solutions’ Junko Kusunoki.
TIFFCOM is taking place October 29 to 31 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center in Hamamatsucho district, which is just a few train stops away from Tokyo International Film Festival’s main venues in Hibiya-Ginza. The festival is running from October 27 to November 5.
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