The Cannes Market has hitched up with the Ties That Bind and Focus Asia organizations to launch Spotlight Asia, a new industry support structure. Debuting during this year’s Cannes film festival, the program aims to foster greater film collaboration between Asia and Europe.
Spotlight Asia will take the form of a series of round table discussions, short presentations and networking events between May 16-24. They will cover genres ranging from fiction to animation.
The collaborative events will especially focus on the tools that potential co-producers from Europe and Asia need to equip themselves with in order to navigate the different forms of cooperative working, ranging from introducing existing funding opportunities to helping navigate each country’s specific laws and production functionalities.
It will also be the first time that the Marché du Film welcomes international film fund representatives to gather under the same room in order to guide producers through their different funding systems.
“Since the pandemic, film professionals from Asian countries are returning in big numbers to the Marché du Film. The number of participants from Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia has already doubled and there are five times more registered participants from Taiwan,” said Cannes Market organizers.
“We strongly believe the launch of this program is both timely and crucial to foster future co-productions between Asia and Europe and we are so happy to launch it in collaboration with our partners from Ties That Bind. We are delighted to receive such support and enthusiasm for this initiative from these international film funds who are so instrumental in the co-production process between these two thriving continents,” said Guillaume Esmiol, executive director of the Marché du Film.
“Spotlight Asia highlights the creative and business possibilities between Asia and Europe and reflects the newly-extended scope of Ties That Bind as a unique 360° Europe-Asia hub for professionals across the value chain,” said Kristina Trapp, CEO of EAVE.
Spotlight Asia is supported by the British Film Institute (BFI), the Canada Media Fund, the Center Val de Loire Ciclic, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICAA) / Spain AVS Bureau (ICEX), the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, the Netherlands Film Fund, the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI), the Polish Film Institute, Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) and VIPO | Visual Industry Promotion Organization. Ties That Bind is also backed by the Fondo Audiovisivo FVG, EAVE, Far East Film Festival and TAICCA.
Among the presentations and panel discussions are sessions on: Post-Pandemic Shifts in Audiences and Industry Dynamics in Key Asian Markets; a roadmap to the Asia-Europe funding landscape; networking for producers and funds; and collaboration possibilities for European-Asian animation.
