The Tokyo International Film Festival’s annual content market, TIFFCOM, said Friday that it will launch a new program designed to help Japanese and international producers secure financing for film, TV and anime projects.
The inaugural Tokyo Gap-Financing Market (TGFM) will be held Nov. 4-6, midway through the Tokyo film festival, which remains scheduled to take place Oct. 31-Nov. 9. The program will begin accepting applications today.
TGFM will select 20 projects to pitch to established film professionals from around the globe, including producers, sales agents, distributors, financiers, broadcasters and other potential funders. The organizers stressed that they are aiming to match high-caliber, well-developed projects with an influential set of invited funders.
“The goal of the TGFM is to get the projects on track and, as a result, to produce higher-quality films that will be selected by international film festivals and markets,” the organizers explained in a statement.
TGFM is open only to fictional works. Feature films and animations must have a running time of at least 70 minutes and be intended for theatrical distribution. The producers must show that they have secured at least 60 percent of the budget. Eligible TV projects must be a minimum length of 5×26 minutes and have 50 percent of financing in place.
Although organizers are proceeding at full speed, the fate of Tokyo’s film festival and market will depend on whether the coronavirus pandemic is significantly contained by November. On Thursday, Japan’s government extended a nationwide state of emergency until the end of May. Nearly all cinemas in the country are closed and film and television production has halted.
