Marché du Film Conference Maps a Film Business in Transition

By Pickle April 21, 2026

The Marché du Film’s conference program from May 13 looks set to be shaped by two big forces: Japan’s expanded presence as Country of Honour and a heavy AI agenda that cuts across creativity, rights, production and distribution. Across the first days of the market, the conversations will range from Japanese IP and anime to sovereign AI, voice rights, virtual production and the business of co-productions.

India At Cannes in Marche Du Film Conferences

India at Cannes will be represented by a May 13 session on unlocking the orange economy and Eros Innovation’s Cannes Next panel on sovereign AI for culture across Asia.

Japan takes centre stage

Japan will be one of the clearest storylines of the week, with multiple panels built around its Country of Honour status. On May 14, the market will host Japan – Country of Honour | The Future of Japanese IP in Global Adaptations and The Global Impact of Japanese Intellectual Property, followed on May 15 by sessions on filming incentives in Japan, Japanese animation distribution, and the Japanese LBE and XR ecosystem. For buyers, producers and streamers, that points to a major pitch around Japanese IP as a scalable global export rather than just a domestic content pipeline.

The practical side of Japan’s push is equally important. Panels such as The Incentives and Production Services for Filming in Japan and Made in Japan suggest that the country is also using Cannes to sell itself as a production base, not just a source of stories. With co-production, location services and IP adaptation all in the frame, Japan is positioning itself as one of the market’s most strategically relevant territories.

AI dominates the debate

AI will be everywhere in the conference rooms, especially on May 13 and 14. The opening day alone includes Golden Rooster Roundtable: Optimizing Artistic Creativity & Production Workflows in the Era of AI, Cannes Next | AI & Advanced Science Transforming Cinema: Japanese Showcase of Innovation, and Cannes Next | AI Meets IP: Voice, Rights and Creative Control. That mix shows the market moving beyond novelty and into operational questions about how AI changes workflow, legal control and creative authorship.

The AI conversation continues through the week with panels on AI in Asia, AI-powered creation, large cultural models, AI agents for sales teams and how AI is already changing filmmaking. The presence of legal, technology and studio voices suggests this year’s debate will be less about whether AI belongs in film and more about where the guardrails should be. For the industry, that means Cannes is likely to produce more friction than hype, especially around ownership, consent and monetisation.

Business beyond the screen

The 2026 program also shows a broader business agenda that goes well beyond content development. Sessions on capital flows, co-production, film financing, incentives, piracy, and the economics of streaming indicate a market focused on deal-making as much as storytelling. Panels on regions including Africa, Hong Kong, Brazil, Latin America, the Arab world and the Kurdistan Film Fund underline how aggressively countries are using Cannes to attract capital and partnerships.

That matters because Marché du Film is no longer just a marketplace for films; it is increasingly a platform for policy, financing and technology alignment. The conference slate reflects that shift clearly, especially with sessions on greening streaming, cultural value, public funding and the role of brands as stakeholders. In other words, Cannes is setting up 2026 as a year where the business model of cinema may be debated as intensely as the films themselves.

What to watch

The key takeaway from the opening conference stretch is that Japan and AI are not separate tracks but overlapping narratives. Japan is presenting itself as a global IP engine and production destination, while AI is being framed as both a creative tool and an industrial risk. Add in the market’s strong emphasis on financing, rights and international collaboration, and the May 13 onward program looks designed to reflect a film business in transition rather than a market simply returning to normal.

For trade observers, the most useful sessions will be the ones that connect culture to commerce: Japanese IP adaptation, AI and rights, incentives and production services, and the practical economics of co-production. Those panels are likely to define the tone of the market far more than the ceremonial launches.