Although it falls in a crowded autumn calendar between Toronto, Pusan, Mipcom and AFM, Tiffcom is still a good place to source increasingly strong Japanese content such as manga and animations, as well as films for remakes, TV dramas and music properties.

The mostly local market is also striving to be more international. Tiff chairman Tatsumi Yoda says this year it will have "a mixture of 50:50 foreign and local participation".

"Tiffcom is only in its fifth year," he explains. "It has grown quickly in a relatively short period of time. It is unique for sourcing any type of key entertainment content from Japan, and I think it will be very successful this year, too. But we see it as a given task to push every year to make it a more international event as well."

Although most deals are left to be closed at the AFM, Tiffcom is a good place to sell international content to the large local market. The well-organised event takes place on a busy trade floor, as opposed to a series of hotel-room offices as in AFM or Pusan.

This year, international participants will include Fortissimo, MK2, Wild Bunch, The Weinstein Company, Rapid Eye Movies, CJ Entertainment, Showbox Mediaplex, Edko, Golden Harvest, Media Asia, Sahamongkol, Easternlight and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Asia Pacific.

All the major Japanese companies will be in attendance buying and selling, including Kadokawa, Amuse, Shochiku, Asmik Ace, Gaga, Avex, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Media International Corporation and Nikkatsu.

Deals made last year included Shochiku's raft of sales to Asian territories of the action thriller Midnight Eagle, which opened Tiff 2007.

Early access to projects

In addition to the main market, the Tokyo Project Gathering (TPG) co-production market offers an early opportunity to tap into everything from live-action films, TV programmes, animation and motion-picture rights to adapting novels and comics, as well as seminars and symposiums.

This year, TPG (October 21-24) is showcasing 34 projects, down from 38 last year. The selection includes locals such as A Goldfish Of The Flame from veteran Japanese director Seijun Suzuki (Raccoon Princess), Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle from the well-established effects house Tsuburaya Productions, and Tsutenkaku from Nana director Kentaro Otani.

International projects include Wee Li Lin's Singaporean wedding stalker film Forever (working title), which was well-received at PiFan's new genre projects market earlier this year, as well as an untitled film from Philip Seymour Hoffman's Cooper's Town Productions, Zero Chou's Scarlet, produced by the prolific Taiwan-based Three Dots Entertainment, and Park Heung-shik's Karma, produced by South Korea's Min Film.

Two projects will also be presented in collaboration with the Shanghai festival's China Film Pitch & Catch (Cfpc) projects market, including Taiwanese director Leste Chen's award-winning project The Last Rainstorm.

On the hospitality side, Tiffcom and TPG say they plan to provide more networking opportunities at diverse parties and other events.