The two-day BRICS WAVES Bazaar 2026 concluded in Mumbai on Friday with a series of international partnerships, co-production announcements and institutional collaborations aimed at strengthening cooperation among BRICS nations and the Global South in the creative industries.
Organised by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting through the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), the event brought together representatives from 20 BRICS member and partner countries, providing a platform for collaboration in film, television, animation, visual effects, gaming, media and digital content.
More than 900 industry delegates participated in the event, with over 275 curated business-to-business (B2B) meetings involving producers, studios, broadcasters, film commissions, investors, technology companies and government representatives. The discussions focused on promoting co-productions, investment, technology partnerships and long-term creative collaboration.
NFDC Managing Director Prakash Magdum said the event demonstrated the growing potential for cooperation among BRICS countries in the creative economy.
“BRICS WAVES Bazaar has showcased the immense potential of creative collaboration among BRICS nations and partner countries. The partnerships and conversations initiated here mark the beginning of stronger co-productions, business collaborations and creative exchange,” he said.
Among the key outcomes of the event was the exchange of a Letter of Intent between the NFDC and Brazil’s RioFilme to strengthen audiovisual cooperation and facilitate Brazilian participation in WAVES 2027, further expanding India-Brazil collaboration in the film sector.
The NFDC and the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) also announced continued cooperation with Russia’s Gosfilmofond to explore formal collaboration in film archiving and preservation.
Representatives from South Africa, Russia, Thailand and Kazakhstan jointly announced plans for the Global South Film Festival 2027 to promote cinematic and cultural collaboration among emerging economies.
The event also witnessed a Record of Meeting between the Media & Entertainment Association of India (MEAI) and Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to deepen bilateral cooperation in the film sector.
Several industry-led partnerships were unveiled during the Bazaar. The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) signed a memorandum of understanding with Graphiti Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. to collaborate on content creation, industry partnerships, academic programmes and talent development.
Brazil-based media platform The South Global News announced a new initiative to promote communication and cultural exchange across BRICS countries, while producers from India, Brazil, Portugal and France announced the feature film Portuguese Man ‘O War’. An India-Russia co-production titled KOROVA was also officially unveiled.
International collaborations extended beyond films, with Czech production company Movie s.r.o. and India’s Cinema4Good announcing a historical epic on industrialist Tomáš Baťa involving collaborators from India, the Czech Republic, China, South Africa and the UAE.
South Korea’s nCORE Inc. and UAE-based VisionX announced the launch of Calivision AI Studio in India to develop AI-driven cinematic and immersive storytelling.
Industry leaders also unveiled the BRICS Independent Producers Alliance (BIPA), envisioned as a permanent international platform to connect producers across BRICS nations through investment, education, innovation and collaborative projects.
The Bazaar also featured announcements in animation and gaming, including the launch of premium micro-drama platform KLIP, the unveiling of ETV’s upcoming Indian anime television series, and Vaibhavi Studios’ new anime feature film TRIO.
The Assam AVGC-XR Development Association signed strategic agreements with the Game Developers Association of India, the Media & Entertainment Association of India and the Indian Comics Association to promote game development, comics, intellectual property distribution and international market access. The Indian Comics Association and MEAI also signed an agreement to enhance global collaboration and delegation exchanges.
