How TIFFCOM Is Positioning Japan As A Hub For Co-Productions, Locations & Global IP

TIFFCOM, the contents market that takes place alongside Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), had a tough ride during the pandemic, moving online in 2020 and only managing to come back as a physical event for the first time last year. 

But with a new home at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center in Hamamatsucho, the market seems to be finding its feet in a crowded autumn festival season, in part thanks to the world’s renewed interest in Japanese film, TV and anime content.

With Japan-set series such as Shogun and Tokyo Vice also drawing audiences globally, and mainland China, once the big draw in the region, becoming less outward-looking, the international industry is becoming much more open to collaborating with Japan. 

And the interest is reciprocated as a younger generation of Japanese filmmakers and producers are challenging long-held perceptions that their local industry is insular and slow moving. Increasingly, Japanese government organisations are also supporting international collaboration through initiatives such as a new 50% locations incentive, which has been used by productions including Tokyo Vice, Searchlight Pictures’ Rental Family and Bollywood film One Day, produced by Aamir Khan. 

Now that it’s back as an in-person event, TIFFCOM is aiming to facilitate this growing exchange between Japan and other international content industries. “The domestic audiovisual content market in Japan has largely recovered to pre-pandemic levels, mainly thanks to strong animation films and series, but there is an increasing need to produce content with an international market in mind,” says TIFFCOM CEO Yasushi Shiina. 

He adds that at last year’s TIFFCOM, around two thirds of visitor registrations, including buyers, were from overseas, with significant contingents travelling from Europe, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. While the number of participants is expected to be around the same this year, the market has more than doubled the number of seminars, which have a focus on the “overseas strategies of Japan and other Asian countries, offering valuable information to help shape future business strategies,” Shiina says.  

Among the packed seminars line-up are sessions on how Japanese anime has reached international markets; case studies on the export strategies of three Japanese broadcasting and programming companies; and a masterclass with Tokyo Vice producer Alex Boden, held as part of the annual MPA/DHU/TIFFCOM Pitching Contest. 

In addition, the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) and Seoul Film Commission will talk about the funding available to foreign productions planning to shoot in Korea or set up international co-productions with Korean companies; China’s Road Pictures will share insights on the distribution of Japanese content in the huge mainland China market; and a group of Thai producers and broadcasters will talk about the international success of Thailand’s BL (boy’s love) genre. 

TIFFCOM will also be marking the signing of the long-awaited Japan-Italy co-production agreement with a case study on Italian co-production, as well as a pitching session for projects from Italian and Asian producers. Italy is only the second country that Japan has signed a co-production treaty with, following mainland China (although it also has a common statement of policy with Canada). 

Italy will also be a focus for this year’s Tokyo Gap Financing Market (TGFM), where five Italian co-production projects will be presented, along with 15 other film and animation projects that have at least 60% funding in place and contain Asian elements. 

“The return to an in-person format last year led to a significant increase in the participation of producers and investors. Just as co-production films are the norm in Europe, we hope to see more collaboration among filmmakers across Asian countries, fostering the growth of co-productions in Asia,” Shiina says. 

Among the feature films being presented 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 Before Anyone Else. 

Introduced for the first time last year, Tokyo Story Market is another major strand of TIFFCOM, aiming to build bridges between international producers and Japanese book, manga and other kinds of publishers. 

“Japan is a treasure trove of original works, such as manga, novels and light novels, which are in high demand among producers. Therefore, we felt it was necessary to provide a platform for Japanese publishers to participate,” Shiina explains. 

“Many publishers found it valuable to directly engage with overseas producers they don’t usually interact with, and they have requested that the Tokyo Story Market continue.”

While TIFFCOM is growing, Shiina concedes that it’s a busy time of year for industry professionals, with Busan’s Asian Contents and Film Market (ACFM) recently concluded in South Korea and the American Film Market (AFM) kicking off in Las Vegas next week. But he adds that maintaining close ties with Tokyo International Film Festival is important, so there are no plans to change the market’s schedule independently. The event’s new home is also proving popular with participants and is comfortably close to TIFF’s new venues in the trendy Ginza and Hibiya districts. 

“There are film festivals and markets being held somewhere around the world every month of the year,” says Shiina, acknowledging the impossibility of carving out an exclusive time slot.  “We’ll just work towards ensuring that both TIFF and TIFFCOM are recognized as essential events and are always marked on the annual calendars of industry professionals both in Japan and overseas.” 

TIFFCOM is taking place October 30-November 1, while the festival opened on October 28 and runs until November 6.