Tokyo Gap Financing Market Unveils 24 Projects & Partnership With Canada’s Frontières
Tokyo Gap Financing Market (TGFM), which is being held during this year’s TIFFCOM contents market in Tokyo (October 28-30), has announced a line-up of 24 projects from Asia, Europe and the Americas for this year’s edition.
Projects include five works selected in partnership with Canada’s Frontières Market, the international genre film co-production market organized by the Fantasia International Film Festival.
Tania Morissette, Deputy Director of Frontières, said: “Frontières is thrilled to partner with TGFM at TIFFCOM to present our first showcase in Asia. This partnership is a fantastic opportunity to connect our genre filmmaking communities, open new doors for emerging projects, and build meaningful bridges between our markets.”
Frontières projects include The Saddest Stories On Earth, from Vietnam’s Diep Nguyen Hoang, who joined last year’s TGFM with Busan-selected title 1982, and a body horror by Brazil’s Gabriela Amaral Almeida, whose previous work was selected for Tokyo International Film Festival competition (see full line-up below).
Other horror projects in the TGFM line-up outside of the Frontières partnership include The Land Of Jinn, based on a Kyrgyz legend, produced by a team comprising new Indonesian filmmaker Kevin Rahardjo and Indonesian production outfit KawanKawan Media.
The line-up also includes Trinity, a thriller from acclaimed Singaporean director Boo Junfeng and producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, and Vincci Cheuk’s Hong Kong-Japan co-production 38.83.
Animation projects include an omnibus horror from the production team behind The Violinist, winner of the top prize at this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
Now in its third year, a cooperation between TGFM and Cinecittà, part of the Italian Ministry of Culture’s Directorate-General for Cinema and Audiovisual Media, brings three projects including Italian-Japanese international co-productions.
TGFM is an industry platform presenting feature film projects in the funding stage with opportunities for one-on-one meetings with industry experts to support project development and budget fulfilment. Projects participating in TGFM must have secured at least 60% of their total budget and must include an Asian element.
With the cooperation of Imagica Group, the first-ever open pitch event will be held on the afternoon of October 28. A total of 10 projects out of 24, including 5 from the newly-partnered Frontières Showcase, will present their pitches.
TGFM is being held October 28-30 during TIFFCOM at the Tokyo Port City Takeshiba Port Studio. Tokyo International Film Festival is running October 26 to November 4 at venues in Ginza.
TOKYO GAP FINANCING MARKET 2026:
FEATURE FILM – FICTION:
38.83 (Hong Kong, Japan)
Dir: Vincci Cheuk
Prod Co: The Fool
Brackish Zone (Working Title) (Japan)
Dir: Yusaku Matsumoto
Prod Co: Nagoya Broadcasting Network
Cher (Thailand)
Dir: Songsak Mongkothong
Prod Co: Benetone Films
Dig (Japan)
Dir: Takafumi Sakabe
Prod Co: Basil Co
TBA (Japan)
Dir: TBA
Prod Co: Toei Company
The Land Of Jinn (Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan)
Dir: Kevin Rahardjo
Prod Co: Kawankawan Media
Nature Boy (Brazil)
Dir: Matias Mariani
Prod Co: Primo Filmes
Shirjara: Song Of Grandmother (Nepal)
Dir: Bikash Subedi
Prod Co: Kingdom Network
Trinity (Taiwan, France, Singapore, Poland, Greece, Japan, Germany, Brazil, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines)
Dir: Junfeng Boo
Prod Co: Peanut Pictures, Filmagic Pictures, Gaïjin
Uncle (Taiwan)
Dir: Hao-Hsuan Yen
Prod Co: Flash Forward Entertainment
Where We Bury The Pigeon (Japan)
Dir: Akira Yamamoto
Prod Co: LesPros Entertainment Inc
Yellow Chrysanthemum (Brazil, Japan, Germany, France)
Dir: André Hayato Saito
Prod Co: MyMama Entertainment, Superfilmes Cinematográfica
FEATURE FILM – ANIMATION:
Back To Tomioka (France, Poland, Belgium, Hungary)
Dir: François-Marc Baillet
Prod Co: Foliascope
Formiga (Brazil)
Dir: Bruno Bask
Prod Co: Mono Animation
Mahora (Japan)
Dir: Ayumi Moriyama
Prod Co: OLM Inc.
Princess Zonof (Japan)
Dir: YKBX
Prod Co: P.I.C.S.
FRONTIÈRES SELECTION FEATURE FILM – FICTION:
The Saddest Stories On Earth (Vietnam)
Dir: Diep Nguyen Hoang
Prod Co: OKIA Hanoi Film Production
She, Crocodile (Brazil, Spain)
Dir: Gabriela Amaral Almeida
Prod Co: South
Vampire And Cop (Kazakhstan)
Dir: Adilkhan Yerzhanov
Prod Co: NIET Distribution
Wild Zero Overdrive (Japan, Canada)
Dir: Tetsuro Takeuchi
Prod Co: Takegei Company
FRONTIÈRES SELECTION FEATURE FILM – ANIMATION:
A Banquet For Hungry Ghosts (Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Ireland)
Dir: Spencer Ooi
Prod Co: Robot Playground Media
ITALIAN SELECTION FEATURE – FICTION:
Aeternum (Italy)
Dir: Jordan River
Prod Co: Delta Star Pictures
The Blue Breaks (Japan, Italy)
Dir: Takuya Uchiyama
Prod Co: Antropica
The Sweet Years (Italy, Japan)
Dir: Igort (Igor Tuveri)
Prod Co: Jean Vigo Italia S.R.L.
