Month: September 2025

by JAFF Market

In recent years, much of the discourse around streaming services and cinemas has revolved around competition. Will Netflix replace the cinema? Are theaters becoming obsolete? These questions, while valid, may overlook a deeper truth emerging across the film industry especially in Southeast Asia.

Rather than one replacing the other, streaming and cinemas are evolving into a dual-track distribution ecosystem. In Indonesia as in many parts of the world, filmmakers are no longer forced to choose between a theatrical release or a digital one. Instead, they’re finding new market strategies in combining both.

This hybrid model is becoming increasingly common: a film might debut at a festival, enjoy a limited theatrical run, and then stream globally weeks later. For some, the exposure begins online and then moves to the bigger screen  via special screenings, community showings, or niche theatrical releases based on digital momentum.

A Screen for Every Story: How Streaming and Cinemas Serve Different Roles

Streaming has made content more accessible than ever. For viewers in remote areas or for those with limited mobility or income, streaming platforms offer a way  to watch new content. Platforms like Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, and regional players such as Vidio and Catchplay+ offer content tailored by algorithms, often introducing viewers to stories they wouldn’t encounter otherwise.

But for all the convenience of digital, the cinema hasn’t lost its magic. Large-scale action films, horror thrillers, and sweeping historical dramas continue to draw crowds, not just because of their content, but because of the social and immersive quality of going to the movies. In Indonesia alone, over 126 million cinema tickets were sold in 2024. For many audiences, watching a film in the dark with strangers, reacting collectively, remains irreplaceable.

Global Trends, Local Shifts: Why Cinema Isn’t Dying, It’s Adapting

And yet, globally, the cinema business is facing turbulence.

In the United States, the number of theaters dropped from 7,000 in 2005 to around 5,500 by 2019, with another 3,000 screens disappearing by 2023. In Australia, average cinema visits have dropped from 11 times per year in the 1990s to fewer than 5 today. Even in China, a country that once rivaled the United States in box office numbers, ticket sales fell 23% in 2024. Argentina too saw a decline as it recorded 4.66 million admissions during the 2025 winter break, its lowest winter break ticket sales since 2009.

These shifts are real, but they are not the end of cinema. In places like France and Georgia, cinema attendance is recovering, thanks to strong local industries and supportive public policies. Independent cinemas in Los Angeles are thriving on curated programming and nostalgia. And a recent study in Australia found that 43% of young people would still choose the cinema even if the same film were available online.

The Indonesian Playbook: Embracing Hybrid Distribution with Strategy and Heart

In Indonesia, filmmakers are adapting. Many now plan during the development phase  whether a film is best suited for theatrical release, digital streaming, or both. Genre plays a role where romantic comedies and horror films often open in theaters, while slower-paced dramas and documentaries may find greater impact online. Beyond genre, other strategies come into play.. A theatrical release can build credibility for a streaming deal. Streaming, in turn, can give smaller films a second life after cinemas.

As Linda Gozali, Market Director of JAFF Market, explains “It’s no longer a battle between platforms. It’s about pairing strengths. A film might launch at a festival, play in theaters in one country, and stream in another. Each platform can help extend the story’s journey.”

But hybrid distribution isn’t without risk. As streaming platforms dominate content discovery, algorithms, while efficient, can marginalize local stories that don’t fit global trends. Young filmmakers worry that if their work doesn’t get boosted by recommendation engines, it will be lost in a sea of content. This is where curation, community screenings, and festivals like JAFF continue to play a vital role.

For now, it’s not a zero sum competition between streaming and cinemas. Both coexist in a complex and evolving relationship. For filmmakers, the challenge is not about picking a side. It’s about understanding how to use both paths to reach their audiences.

And for viewers, it’s no longer a question of whether to stream or go to the movies. It’s about choice: choosing the right film, in the right moment, on the right screen.

by JAFF Market

As Southeast Asia’s screen industries continue to evolve, one thing is becoming clear: cross-border collaboration is no longer just a creative experiment, it’s a necessity. From financing and talent development to distribution and market access, international co-productions now sit at the heart of the region’s filmmaking future.

This shift is especially visible at JAFF Market, the industry platform of the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF). Designed as a meeting ground for producers, funders, and creative talent across Asia, JAFF Market has emerged as a vital hub where co-productions are seeded, shaped, and launched. Among its most notable initiatives is the JAFF Future Project (JFP), a program dedicated to supporting bold, globally relevant projects that emerge from Southeast Asia and beyond.

The Silent Village and the promise of shared storytelling

One standout from the 2024 JFP lineup was The Silent Village, a Malaysian-Indonesian feature directed by Ho Yuhang, co-written with Indonesian screenwriter Prima Rusdi, and produced by Lorna Tee under the Paperheart banner. Inspired by real-life shaman-linked serial killings that shook Indonesia in the 1980s and 1990s, the film follows a detective investigating a woman’s body found in a sugarcane field, slowly uncovering a web of trafficking, silence, and political tension.

It’s a haunting, socially rooted narrative that resonated with audiences and buyers alike. But the project stood out for more than its story. The Silent Village became a case study in how regional co-productions can thrive when there’s shared vision, structured support, and access to the right networks. The project walked away from JAFF Market 2024 with two key accolades: the Kongchak Award and the BSM Award, validating both its artistic potential and market viability.

As Linda Gozali, Market Director of JAFF Market explains, “Co-producing isn’t just about finding funding. It’s about deepening your story, layering it with different perspectives, cultural insights, and lived experiences. That’s why JAFF Market exists: not just as a marketplace, but as a space for creative intelligence to meet.”

A growing regional ecosystem for co-production

Too often, co-productions are reduced to budget-splitting exercises. JAFF Market promotes a more holistic approach, one that aligns creative goals with a distribution strategy and that nurtures real trust across countries. The numbers reflect that momentum: in its first year, JAFF Market hosted 6,723 participants from over 20 countries, with 151 exhibition booths and 243 curated meetings supporting 10 selected projects through the JFP.

This ecosystem is not just benefiting filmmakers. Regional institutions from cultural agencies to national film boards are beginning to treat JAFF Market as part of their cultural diplomacy infrastructure. Countries like Malaysia, South Korea, and the Philippines now include JAFF Market in their industry calendars, recognizing it as a valuable node where policy, funding, and talent intersect.

JAFF Market’s reach is also expanding into East Asia and Oceania, deepening ties with partners in Japan, Korea, and Australia. As Ajish Dibyo, Executive Director of JAFF Market explains, 

“Creative industries need structured spaces to build trust, especially when working across languages, legal systems, and production cultures. JAFF Market helps bridge those gaps with intentionality and care.”

That same spirit of inclusion extends beyond film. With programs like JAFF Content Market (JCM), creators in animation, games, and serialized digital formats are also finding space to access international co-production networks and unlock new distribution models. The goal is not just to support feature films but to build a resilient, multi-format content ecosystem.

Looking ahead: flexibility, strategy, and shared ambition

Co-productions come with real-world challenges from navigating censorship to negotiating IP rights and bridging language barriers. But with the right support including legal mentorship and strategic pitching, those challenges can be overcome. JAFF Market is actively helping creators move through that complexity, offering both structure and community.

For many Southeast Asian filmmakers, this means rethinking distribution strategy from the start. Should the film premiere at a festival? Run theatrically? Go straight to OTT? Or, all of the above? These questions now shape everything from genre choices to narrative structure.

Ultimately, projects like The Silent Village show what can happen when teams are bold, open, and strategically aligned. The result isn’t just a film, it’s a roadmap. A signal that Southeast Asian storytelling is stepping confidently into a future that’s regionally grounded, globally resonant, and collectively built.

Busan, 21 September 2025 – JAFF Market, the industry arm of Indonesia‘s Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival has inked a data partnership with Cinepoint to document the country’s striking film market reversal, where domestic productions now regularly beat Hollywood imports at the box office.

The collaboration was unveiled at the Asian Contents & Film Market in Busan, positioning the deal as key to understanding Indonesia’s rapid ascent in regional cinema.

Through the partnership, Cinepoint will serve as JAFF Market’s official data provider, offering comprehensive tracking of theatrical performance, genre trends and production metrics across Indonesia’s expanding cinema network.

“JAFF Market is an ideal partner to turn data into impact,” said Sigit Prabowo, co-founder and president commissioner of Cinepoint. “Together, we’re building an ecosystem that supports smarter decisions and long-term, sustainable growth.”

The collaboration comes as Indonesia’s film landscape undergoes a fundamental shift. Local titles that once struggled against imported blockbusters have now claimed the dominant position, with homegrown productions attracting significantly more admissions than international films since 2022 — a complete reversal from the previous decade.

The data reveals that audience loyalty has structurally realigned toward Indonesian storytelling, with local films now drawing 30-40 million annual admissions compared to imports’ 20-25 million range. This marks a dramatic turnaround from earlier years when imported titles commanded roughly double the audience of domestic productions.

“Working with Cinepoint allows us to deliver integrated and actionable insights to industry players,” said Gundy Cahyadi, head of analytics at JAFF Market. “Our analytics team at JAFF Market is closely examining cinema admissions, screen growth, content output, and evolving audience behavior with greater clarity. These insights are critical to building a real-time, evidence-based decision-making framework for producers, distributors, platforms, and policymakers.”

Horror has emerged as the breakout genre, with producers now releasing dozens of scary movies annually — a post-pandemic boom that has placed multiple horror titles among Indonesia’s biggest box office hits ever. The success has spawned various hybrid formats mixing horror with comedy, religious themes and action.

Animation and comedy are also showing strong growth, signaling diversification beyond the drama productions that once dominated local output.

JAFF Market’s forecasts, backed by Cinepoint data, project Indonesian cinema admissions will climb from 126 million in 2024 to 100 million annually for local films alone by 2026. Annual production is expected to jump from 152 titles to approximately 200 within four years.

The theatrical infrastructure is expanding to support this growth, with screen counts projected to increase from over 2,200 currently to 2,700 by 2030. Much of this expansion targets smaller cities where cinema culture is still developing.

Despite the impressive numbers, per-capita attendance remains below 0.5, suggesting substantial room for further audience development as the country’s economy and urbanization continue advancing.

“It’s no longer about choosing between screens,” said Sekarini Seruni, business director of JAFF Market. “Indonesian films now launch through festivals, theaters, and digital platforms; each channel plays a unique role in amplifying a story’s reach.”

The partnership will inform discussions at JAFF Market 2025, scheduled for Nov. 29-Dec. 1 in Yogyakarta. The second edition of the market, sponsored by Amar Bank, will feature project development programs, content markets, talent initiatives and industry screenings.

The event runs alongside JAFF’s 20th anniversary festival, which will present retrospectives and premieres from Nov. 29-Dec. 6.

“Together, JAFF and JAFF Market are defining Indonesia’s place in the global film ecosystem,” Seruni said. “We’re not just celebrating growth, we’re shaping the next decade of Southeast Asian cinema.”

By: Gita Fara – Head of Program, JAFF Market

Success for a filmmaker in Asia’s rapidly growing yet uneven film landscape, requires more than vision. It requires the infrastructure that supports creative voices at every stage of the process, from concept to screen to global distribution. That’s exactly what JAFF Market, the industry platform of the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF), is designed to provide.

JAFF Market is a single space where six distinct initiatives unfold simultaneously over three days. Each initiative is built to support a specific phase of the content value chain, but together they create a holistic system of support, interaction, and growth.

At one end of the venue during the three-day event, you might find film projects being pitched at the JAFF Future Project. Here early-stage ideas and works-in-progress are sharpened to move to the next stage. Just meters away, the JAFF Content Market brings together original IP creators with producers, studios, and IP buyers seeking compelling new material for screen adaptation, offering a clear pathway for IP to make its way to audiences.

Talent Day invites emerging professionals into curated workshops and meetings with seasoned industry figures, helping them chart their career paths and build their professional networks. Meanwhile, the Film & Market Conference anchors the market’s industry dialogue. Thought leaders and professionals from across sectors convene in panels, keynotes, and roundtable sessions, to tackle the most pressing topics of the moment: co-production strategies, digital rights management, sustainability in storytelling, and cross-sector collaboration.

All day long, curated selections from JAFF light up the Market Screening where both released and unreleased titles are presented to industry delegates. These screenings often spark conversations that lead to distribution opportunities, festival interest, and unexpected partnerships.

What sets JAFF Market apart is how it places incubation, development, and industry access side by side. This unique design encourages spontaneous and meaningful interactions across disciplines and stages of production. Creators connect with partners in real time, ideas evolve through chance encounters, and innovation emerges not just through formal deals but through ongoing dialogue. This fluid structure nurtures a more complete ecosystem where creativity and commerce move together, shaping new possibilities for the future of storytelling.

In Indonesia, where annual cinema admissions surpassed 35 million by May 2025, JAFF Market is an active driver of industry momentum. JAFF Market doesn’t just celebrate the rise of local cinema; it helps shape its trajectory by fostering collaboration, empowering talent, and opening new avenues for growth across the creative economy.

As Southeast Asia continues to emerge as a global storytelling powerhouse, platforms like JAFF Market are more essential than ever. Its model offers a blueprint for how local infrastructure can scale to meet global opportunity. This isn’t just a film market, it’s the infrastructure  setting the new creative economy in motion.

By: JAFF Market

Asian cinema is undergoing a renaissance. From South Korea’s global breakthrough to the rise of Southeast Asian storytellers, the region is making its mark on the international stage. Yet behind every Cannes selection or streaming platform hit is a story that almost didn’t happen. The gap between a filmmaker’s vision and the resources needed to realize it is still vast, especially for emerging voices.

This is where JAFF Future Project steps in. Positioned at the crossroads of artistry, access, and industry, it is not just a showcase, but a dynamic networking platform. Using a speed-dating format, JAFF Future Project creates targeted opportunities for filmmakers to meet potential partners such as investors, producers, distributors, festival programmers, funders, and online collaborators, all in one place.

JAFF Future Project is designed to address the challenges that filmmakers in Indonesia and across much of Asia face: limited funding, fragmented industry connections, and the absence of efficient entry points into the global market. JAFF Future Project simplifies this process of finding partners by offering a curated environment designed for connection and deal-making.

Over three days, selected filmmakers will participate in curated networking rounds, one-on-one meetings, and group mixers, each arranged with a clear purpose of finding partners whether to secure financing, explore co-productions, negotiate distribution, or unlock new creative and business partnerships.

Participants are selected based on originality, market relevance, and the readiness to engage with potential partners. Once in the program, participants are matched with industry figures best aligned to their project’s needs. The emphasis is on stories rooted in regional authenticity, but with the capacity to connect to global audiences.

“For us, the key is creating the right meeting at the right moment,” said Meiske Taurisia, JAFF Future Project Advisor. “In the film industry, timing is everything. A single meeting can spark an international co-production, open funding channels that were previously out of reach, or set a project on course for a premiere at a major festival. Our role is to ensure each meeting has direction and strategic potential—not just casual introductions, and build the foundation for collaborations that can take a project to the next stage.”

JAFF Future Project is built on trust. Trust in bold creators and in the power of introducing them to the right partners at the right time. The next generation of storytellers from Asia are already here; they just need a direct path to the networks that can bring their stories to life.

In its first edition, the results spoke volumes. Projects like Pangku by Reza Rahadian, which participated in the program, went on to secure a market screening at Marché du Film at Festival de Cannes 2025. More importantly, the project connected with partners who could carry it forward, proof that the right meeting can change a project’s trajectory.

Participants consistently cite the value of these connections: finding collaborators across borders, gaining insight into funding landscapes, and forming relationships that extend well beyond the market. The program also fosters a peer network of filmmakers who champion each other’s work long after the event ends.

The impact goes beyond individual projects. By enabling connections across the content value chain from script consultants, line producers, and post-production houses to sales agents and legal advisors, the program strengthens the entire ecosystem.

With Indonesia’s cinema admissions for 2025 already surpassing 35 million , JAFF Future Project ensures that audience growth is matched by a pipeline of quality, diverse, and globally competitive content.

To keep pace with an evolving industry, future editions will look to expanding regional mobility, growing its alumni network, and integrating more directly with buyers and digital platforms. Sustainable funding from cultural institutions and private investors will be key to scaling its reach.

JAFF Future Project is not just about giving projects a head start. It’s about creating the encounters that turn ideas into deals, and deals into screens that resonate worldwide. This is what a modern networking platform can do: connect the next wave of filmmakers with the partners who can help them ride the wave.

By: Sekarini Seruni – Business Director, JAFF Market
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Film markets have long been the domain of producers, distributors, and sales agents, the traditional players of the entertainment economy. But as the boundaries between media sectors continue to blur, a new model of engagement is emerging. At JAFF Market 2025, that model comes into sharp focus. The convergence of feature film with other sectors like streaming, publishing, and social media is not an anomaly; it is the future.

Where film markets have often served as a platform for film deals, JAFF Market has evolved into a dynamic laboratory of cross-sector collaboration. It is a space where storytellers engage directly with strategists, and where filmmakers find common ground with innovators working across creative domains and with new technologies. More than sponsorships or side conversations, they are co-creative relationships that redefine the boundaries of narrative, funding, and audience experience.

Across Asia and around the world, content has become one of the most valuable currencies. For instance, fashion brands are working with leading auteurs to craft cinematic campaigns to deepen consumer connections. Tech companies are partnering with filmmakers to enhance immersive experiences through AI and analytics. The implications are clear: content is no longer confined to screens, it is embedded across industries.

JAFF Market is uniquely positioned to harness this transformation. Rooted in the values of independent cinema yet expansive in its outlook, the market has curated a space that encourages productive collisions between the creative and corporate worlds. In 2025, Amar Bank’s participation in JAFF Market symbolizes this strategic alignment between business and the creative economy. Amar Bank is at the forefront of alternative financing models tailored for the creative economy to empower creators through access to capital.

Along with Amar Bank, at JAFF Market we encourage others to tap into this momentum. JAFF Market is an open invitation to step in, collaborate, and co-create bold new storytelling experiences. By collaborating with filmmakers, transform ideas into products, experiences, and strategies that extend far beyond the screen. JAFF Market is not just a space to pitch projects ; it’s a vibrant launchpad where bold ideas are realized, and cross-sector innovation comes to life.

What makes these partnerships work is a shared commitment to storytelling where all participants are united by the power of narrative. JAFF Market was created not just for film professionals, but for anyone who believes that stories can shape both culture and commerce. That spirit of inclusivity is what drives true innovation.

Cross-sector innovation does not come without challenges. Gaps in communication, differing timelines, and complex IP negotiations can slow progress. However, JAFF Market’s curated meetings and mentorships help overcome those hurdles. By emphasizing mutual learning and shared intent, the JAFF Market is designed to foster meaningful collaboration rather than opportunistic deals.

As the creative economy continues to expand, JAFF Market is paving the way for more structured innovation. Expect to see cross-sector incubators, co-financing labs, and knowledge-sharing networks that bring film closer to innovation-driven sectors and beyond. The goal is not to dilute cinematic expression but to empower it, ensuring stories find new life, new formats, and new audiences.

The real magic of JAFF Market lies in its capacity to surprise. It is the unexpected encounter between creative minds from different fields that sparks new forms of innovation. When creators and corporations collide with respect, curiosity, and vision, the result is more than a deal. It becomes a new blueprint for how industries can shape culture together.

JAFF Market is more than the evolution of the film industry. It embodies the future of the content economy, where every brand can become a narrative partner and every story can inspire innovation.