FEATURES
Japan’s Yuichi Iwanaga, Takayuki Toyama upsize Samansa; English-language platform for Southeast Asia rolls out in 2024, first original films on the way
10 October 2023
Japanese short-film platform, Samansa, soft launches in Korea by the end of this month, expanding its domestic footprint for the first time and counting down to the 2024 debut of its freemium tiers.
The platform also has its first original film – "Iron Lung" – in post-production and another in production. "Iron Lung" premieres in December.
With Randy McGraw on board as chief content officer, the platform is eyeing rollouts in Thailand and Indonesia and says a default English-language platform will be up and running by Q1 2024.
Set up in 2022 by Japanese co-founders Yuichi Iwanaga and Takayuki Toyama, Samansa currently offers more than 850 short films from around the world on a subscription basis and has about 200,000 monthly active users in Japan.
The company is backed by a mix of international and Japanese VCs, including the East Ventures, W Inc, MUFG Innovation Partners and X Tech.
McGraw, who joined this month, says the vision is to build on Samansa’s Japanese DNA to create an international company.
The localisation model involves delivering professional-grade subtitling for every short film, in each market’s language.
“We don’t believe in crowdsourcing subtitles,” McGraw says. “We believe in the creative element of subtitles and we spend money on it.”
Samansa has its origins in co-founder Takayuki’s frustration with the lack of avenues to showcase his short films after their festival runs.
“After using your savings and crowdfunding money from parents, friends and even strangers, there’s not much left after making a short film,” he says.
“You submit it to film festivals and win a couple of awards but that’s it. The short film just sits there and does nothing.”
Samansa gives a second life to short film and enables Takayuki to scout for new filmmakers and develop original short films with them.
The platform currently adds one new film to its library nearly every day, and plans to produce at least four new original short films every quarter.
McGraw says Samansa offers capital and a global platform to directors, producers and writers, as well as the beginnings of a community Samansa plans to...
Japanese short-film platform, Samansa, soft launches in Korea by the end of this month, expanding its domestic footprint for the first time and counting down to the 2024 debut of its freemium tiers.
The platform also has its first original film – "Iron Lung" – in post-production and another in production. "Iron Lung" premieres in December.
With Randy McGraw on board as chief content officer, the platform is eyeing rollouts in Thailand and Indonesia and says a default English-language platform will be up and running by Q1 2024.
Set up in 2022 by Japanese co-founders Yuichi Iwanaga and Takayuki Toyama, Samansa currently offers more than 850 short films from around the world on a subscription basis and has about 200,000 monthly active users in Japan.
The company is backed by a mix of international and Japanese VCs, including the East Ventures, W Inc, MUFG Innovation Partners and X Tech.
McGraw, who joined this month, says the vision is to build on Samansa’s Japanese DNA to create an international company.
The localisation model involves delivering professional-grade subtitling for every short film, in each market’s language.
“We don’t believe in crowdsourcing subtitles,” McGraw says. “We believe in the creative element of subtitles and we spend money on it.”
Samansa has its origins in co-founder Takayuki’s frustration with the lack of avenues to showcase his short films after their festival runs.
“After using your savings and crowdfunding money from parents, friends and even strangers, there’s not much left after making a short film,” he says.
“You submit it to film festivals and win a couple of awards but that’s it. The short film just sits there and does nothing.”
Samansa gives a second life to short film and enables Takayuki to scout for new filmmakers and develop original short films with them.
The platform currently adds one new film to its library nearly every day, and plans to produce at least four new original short films every quarter.
McGraw says Samansa offers capital and a global platform to directors, producers and writers, as well as the beginnings of a community Samansa plans to build via in-person events.
“It’s very early in testing this concept, but the genre of short film lends itself well to this type of activity and so far, so good,” McGraw says. – Sara Merican
Previous
Next
