Annecy Winner ‘The Violinist’ Found Its Italian Co-Producers at Tokyo Market, Director Ervin Han Tells Anime Co-Production Panel

A meeting at TIFFCOM in 2023 brought Italian co-producers to “The Violinist,” the animated feature that went on to win 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’s Robot Playground Media, spoke at “Anime’s New Frontier: Structuring & Financing International Co-Productions,” a session at TIFFCOM, the content market of the Tokyo International Film Festival. Speakers agreed that international anime co-productions work best when overseas partners are involved early, with financing, deal structures and rights management considered from development through release. Kawano Masao, program manager at Into Global, moderated.

Han co-directed and produced “The Violinist.” On his first TIFFCOM visit, he met Italian producer Cristiano Bortone and his team at Altri Occhi, who later joined the film as co-producers. This year, Han returned as producer to pitch “A Banquet for Hungry Ghosts,” an animated feature about food, horror and temptation, with partners from Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and Ireland.

Han described “The Violinist” as a story of friendship over a decade. The film itself also took 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 France’s Foliascope, said co-production itself was nothing new and stressed the importance of platform partnerships, pointing to France’s investment obligations for streaming services. Under French rules, streamers must put at least 20% of the revenue they earn in France into European or French-language original film and audiovisual production, rising to 25% for some services that offer films within 12 months of their theatrical release. The rule applies to animation as well as other genres. Urroz named Netflix, Disney+, Crunchyroll, Prime Video and HBO Max as the leading platforms in France.

Sakurai Taiki, CEO of Salamander Inc., drew on more than 25 years in anime and over 100 titles to stress the importance of people and talent. “Partners are the key to success,” he said.

Asked how to find co-production partners, Urroz said, “Be creative, and don’t forget that every project is also a journey of a group of people.”