The Agency for Cultural Affairs will expand its program to finance the showing of Japanese movies overseas and the production of films at home, according to agency officials.
The measures are aimed at boosting the popularity of domestic films abroad and nurturing talent in the industry.
The agency plans to request 2.6 billion yen in the fiscal 2003 budget for the expanded project, double the amount earmarked for the current fiscal year.
The agency will help show independently produced films at overseas cinemas, hoping that successful screenings will bring in box-office revenues to help finance more movie projects. It will also set up booths at international film festivals where producers and distributors negotiate distribution rights.
Such booths will show films other than those nominated at the festivals so they can get a fair chance to be noticed and distributed overseas, the officials said.
The agency will also help provide young movie directors and writers with opportunities to make films by helping underwrite five to 10 movies, they added.
Japan's movie industry reached its heyday around 1960 and has long been on the wane since then, in terms of both the number of films produced and the number of cinema-goers.
It has shown some signs of revival in recent years, however, with the notable example of "Spirited Away" ("Sento Chihiro no Kamikakushi"), a 2001 blockbuster animation film. A new law has also been enacted to promote arts and culture among Japanese people.