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.