MAM
First-ever digital edition of Japanese Film Festival 2020 opens today in India
New Delhi: Japan Foundation New Delhi announced the launch of the Fourth edition of Japanese Film Festival (JFF) 2020 in India, today. The one-of-a-kind 10-day digital Film Festival will be held from 4th to 13th December’20. The expansive movie list this year entails 30 of Japan’s most acclaimed films of varied formats and subjects across categories including animation, feature drama, romance, thriller, classic and documentary. Day one of the festival kick-started with the screening of classic and contemporary films, ‘Key Of Life’, ‘The Flavour of Green Tea over Rice’ and ‘Project Dream- How to Build Mazinger Z’s Hanger’.
The Fourth edition of the Japanese Film Festival is accessible to everyone across the country due to the virtual access and patrons can enjoy the best of Japanese cinema from the safety of their homes. From the carefully curated list of films, three movies will be screened each day and will be available for 24 hours on the festival watch page, https://watch.jff.jpf.go.jp/page/india/. Patrons can enjoy unlimited access to multiple movies from the film line-up without any subscription cost. The films selected will be screened in Japanese with English subtitles for the viewer’s convenience.
Commenting on the opening of JFF 2020, Mr. Kaoru Miyamoto, the Director-General of the Japan Foundation New Delhi said, “We are very excited to open the Film Festival in India. The last few months have been reassuring to see the excitement across our platforms. India is an important and growing market for the Japanese arthouses as there is notable inclination and interest for Japanese culture amongst Indians. We have closely mapped audience demand and accordingly created a list 30 popular Japanese films suited to cater to a wider audience base addressing to varied age groups. The response so far has been overwhelming also from cities like Hyderabad, Jaipur etc. in addition to the metros.”
He further added, “We are delighted and grateful for the special place that the festival has carved for itself in the Indian landscape. The last three editions have received a staggering response and, we are hopeful that the festival will be successful and bigger with the first-ever digital edition.”
The Japanese Film Festival 2020 is showcasing a diverse line-up of popular Japanese films like Sumikkogurashi: Good to be in the corner, Production I.G Animation: Tokyo Marble Chocolate, Production I.G Short Animation: (Drawer Hobs), One Night, 0.5mm, Ecotherapy Getaway Holiday, Our 30-Minute Sessions, Little Nights, Little Love, Stolen Identity, Tremble All You Want, The Great Passage, RAILWAYS, Café Funiculi Funicula and more.
Adding fervor to the 10-day Film Festival, the Japan Foundation New Delhi is holding ‘Young Critic Contest’. The contest seeks participation of young elementary and middle school students to write critical responses to the selected animation films from the Festival’s movie line-up. Six winners will be declared by December 24, 2020 and will be awarded a Certificate of Excellence along with exclusive Japanese Film Festival goodies.
For more information on the movie line-up, registration process, festival schedule and dates, you can log onto the Festival watch page, https://watch.jff.jpf.go.jp/. You can also check out the official social handles for regular updates.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/japanesefilmfestivalindia/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JapaneseFilmFestivalIndia/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JFF_India
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
