🌏 Europe-Asia Co-Productions Take Center Stage in new Spotlight Asia Program

The Marché’s first-ever intercontinental initiative aims to foster fruitful film collaborations between Europe and Asia.

The Marché du Film, in partnership with Ties That Bind (organised by Fondo Audiovisivo FVG, EAVE, Far East Film Festival, TAICCA) and Focus Asia, is launching a new international initiative in Cannes titled Spotlight Asia. The program aims to foster more film collaborations between Asia and Europe and will welcome professionals from both continents looking to build and boost their industry networks and creative connections.

The first-ever dynamic program will feature several roundtable discussions, short presentations and networking events throughout the 2023 Marché du Film, taking place in Cannes from 16-24 May.

The collaborative events will zoom in on everything potential co-producers from Europe and Asia need to know to navigate the different levels of working together across all formats, from fiction to animation.

This is especially important given that since the pandemic, film professionals from Asian countries are returning – and 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.

Celebrating this triumphant return in Cannes, the Marché du Film hopes that this new Spotlight Asia program will provide the needed solutions to make the co-production process between Asia and Europe as seamless as possible, 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 in the same room and guide producers through their different funding systems.

“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.” – Guillaume Esmiol, Executive Director of the Marché du Film

We are thrilled to launch in partnership with Marché du Film the first edition of Spotlight Asia. Spotlight Asia highlights the creative and business possibilities between Asia & Europe and reflects the newly extended scope of Ties That Bind as a unique 360° Europe-Asia hub for professionals across the value chain.” – 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 National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS), 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.