About Tokyo Docs

This year marks the 6th anniversary of Tokyo Docs. The event was founded in 2011, the year of the Great East Japan Earthquake, with the aim of promoting international co-productions of documentary films. It seems like only yesterday that we established the forum with the firm conviction that documentary films are the most effective way of communicating messages that transcend borders.

Thanks to everyone’s support, Tokyo Docs has grown steadily year after year and has given life to a number of excellent international co-productions. It’s also made documentary filmmakers in Japan more aware of pitching as an original method for presenting their own unique ideas. We are delighted to see an increasing number of young producers willing to take on fresh challenges. As news of our achievements has spread throughout the international documentary community, the profile of Tokyo Docs has been raised dramatically.

Since 2013, we have worked actively to promote exchanges between producers from Japan and the rest of Asia. This has resulted in several international co-productions based around the unifying theme of “Colors of Asia.” These documentaries were broadcast widely across Japan and in other nations that took part. We’ll be producing more films in this series this year, along with accepting new proposals as our efforts to devote more resources to this initiative continue.

For this year’s Tokyo Docs, we received 101 project proposals, of which 19 were selected for the general pitching session and eight for the “Colors of Asia” pitching session.

This year, we have started a new Master Class as Tokyo Docs Academy's new program. This is an intensive training course aimed at nurturing new talents and developing high-quality projects. A German producer has given guidance to three filmmakers, and we look forward to seeing how others evaluate their work.

Financing is always a concern for documentary filmmakers. So we’re pleased to tell you that we’ve increased our development funding available for excellent projects to five million yen this year. We hope to introduce outstanding documentaries from Japan and elsewhere in Asia to the rest of the world and, by doing so, promote a greater global awareness of this region.

I’d like to thank everyone connected to Tokyo Docs for their deep understanding and warm support. I sincerely hope you will continue to stand behind our endeavors in the future.

Yukihiko Amagi
Chairperson, Tokyo Docs Organizing Committee
President, Tokyo TV Forum (NPO)