Seven weeks of back-to-back Asia market and festival frenzy kicks off this week, beginning today with the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) and followed on Wednesday with the TIFFCOM market in Tokyo (29-31 Oct) and the Ubud Writers Festival in Bali (29 Oct-2 Nov).

Next is Taiwan’s TAICCA-backed TCCF (4-7 Nov), the JAFF Market in Yogyakarta (29 Nov-1 Dec), part of the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF), and the ATF (2-5 Dec) and Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), both cornerstones of the Singapore-government’s 12-day multi-event Singapore Media Festival (SMF), which runs from 26 Nov-7 Dec.  

The three-day TIFFCOM market, running parallel to the the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), opens on Wednesday with a focus on Southeast Asian co-production, the future of Japanese IP in global adaptations and Thai BL/GL, along with current trends in Turkish remakes. 

In Bali, 150 speakers take to the stage for  four days of conversations, masterclasses, workshops and special sessions that are part of the Ubud Writers Festival. A highlight is Thursday’s fund-raising dinner with William Dalrymple, Pico Iyer, Banu Mushtaq and others in support of the Emerging Writers Programme and the YLAI Library Project, dedicated to building five child-friendly libraries in the Gianyar region.  

Shifting to Taiwan from 4 Nov, the annual event opens with the launch of global funds –  the NT$9.6-billion Taiwan-Korea Entertainment & Cultural Content Fund and the NT$6-billion Far Eastern Creative Entertainment Fund. In addition to Asia’s best/most comprehensive pitch, TCCF is also ground zero for other funding/production initiatives. These include the official launch of Joint Journey Creative (JJC), which is already part of a three-party venture to boost the development of romantic series. 

Returning for a second edition after its 2024 debut, the three-day JAFF Market gathers filmmakers, producers, and financiers from across Southeast Asia. This year’s event is part of the 20th-anniversary celebrations of the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF), which is supported by Indonesia’s Ministry of Creative Economy. The festival includes the JAFF Future Project – a partnership with Australia’s Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) and Lorna Tee’s mylab. 

The Future Project, designed as a development and co-production hub, features 10 early-stage fiction and docu titles from across the Asia Pacific. Organisers say this year’s selection “showcases filmmakers whose works capture the region’s creative diversity, cinematic innovation, and growing spirit of cross-border collaboration”. The projects include Korean director Park Kiyong’s "Ghost Island"; and Eddie Cahyono’s "My Mother".

The 36th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) hosts 120 film screenings from about 45 countries, including James Thoo’s "The Sandbox" (Singapore), Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s Thailand-Singapore co-pro "A Useful Ghost", and Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s "Cactus Pears" from India. The opening film on 26 November is "Girl" / "女孩", a coming-of-age drama written and directed by Shu Qi.