A chance meeting at TIFFCOM in 2023 set the stage for an international partnership behind 'The Violinist,' the animated feature that went on to claim the top prize at France's Annecy International Animation Film Festival this year, Singaporean filmmaker Ervin Han told a panel at the Tokyo market.
Han, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based Robot Playground Media, was speaking at 'Anime's New Frontier: Structuring & Financing International Co-Productions,' a session held as part of TIFFCOM, the content market of the Tokyo International Film Festival. Kawano Masao, program manager at Into Global, moderated the discussion, whose participants agreed that international anime co-productions deliver the best results when overseas partners come on board early. Financing, deal structures and rights management, they said, should be weighed from the development stage all the way through release.
Han co-directed and produced 'The Violinist.' During his first visit to TIFFCOM, he met Italian producer Cristiano Bortone and his team at Altri Occhi, who later signed on as co-producers of the film. This year, Han returned to the market as a producer to pitch 'A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts,' an animated feature centered on food, horror and temptation, backed by partners from Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and Ireland.
Han described 'The Violinist' as a story of friendship spanning a decade, noting that the production itself mirrored that timeline, taking 10 years from conception to completion. 'With different roles in my projects, I find promotion is even more challenging than production,' he said.
Ilan Urroz, CEO of French studio Foliascope, told the audience that co-production in itself was nothing new and emphasized the growing importance of platform partnerships. He pointed to France's investment obligations for streaming services, under which streamers must channel at least 20 percent of the revenue they generate in France into European or French-language original film and audiovisual production. The threshold rises to 25 percent for certain services that make films available within 12 months of their theatrical release, and the rules cover animation alongside other genres. Urroz identified Netflix, Disney+, Crunchyroll, Prime Video and HBO Max as the leading platforms operating in France.
Sakurai Taiki, CEO of Salamander Inc., drew on a career of more than 25 years in anime and over 100 titles to underline the human side of the business. 'Partners are the key to success,' he said, stressing the value of people and talent in getting projects made.
Asked how producers should go about finding co-production partners, Urroz offered simple advice: 'Be creative, and don't forget that every project is also a journey of a group of people.'
