MUMBAI: The plot is thickening around AI and entertainment, but TIFFCOM 2026 wants the artists holding the pen. Asia’s leading content market, affiliated with the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), will return for its 23rd edition from October 28 to 30, with a keynote examining how emerging technology can work alongside storytellers rather than simply take over their tools.
The three-day event will be held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center HAMAMATSUCHO-KAN, bringing together film, television and animation rights holders, buyers, producers and industry executives from around the world.
Among the key sessions will be a keynote featuring AGBO Partner Chris Brearton and Chief Scientific Officer Dominic Hughes. The session will explore the artist-led use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and other emerging technologies, and how technology and storytelling can be brought together in the creative process.
AGBO, the technology-enabled studio founded by Russo Brothers directors of the latest Avengers films, has positioned innovation at the centre of its approach to next-generation storytelling. Brearton, who leads the studio’s business operations, and Hughes, whose background spans algorithms, machine learning and AI, will examine how emerging tools can become creative partners for artists.
The conversation will look beyond the familiar question of whether AI should be used in entertainment and instead focus on how creators and technologists can work together as the technology develops.
Brearton brings experience across media strategy, operations and global entertainment, while Hughes contributes expertise in algorithms, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Together, their session will examine the changing relationship between technology and the creative process across film, television, gaming and interactive entertainment.
The wider TIFFCOM programme will combine industry conferences with project and intellectual property markets, pitching sessions and networking opportunities. The event is designed to facilitate international co-productions and content business by putting rights holders and potential buyers in the same marketplace.
With AI moving from a technology conversation into everyday production and creative workflows, the AGBO keynote gives TIFFCOM 2026 a timely question to put on the agenda: as the tools get smarter, how can the people telling the stories remain firmly in the creative driving seat?
