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Professionals from the film industry including producers, distributors, sales agents, and financiers often congregate at film markets around the world that usually run alongside film festivals. One of the leading events is the European Film Market that takes place during the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) in the German capital in February.  Taking place a few months later in May, the Cannes film market, Marché Du Film brings together the largest number of film professionals at a market with 15,000 participants from 140 countries each year.

In North America the American Film Market (AFM) is a premier destination for much of the global film industry in November where $1 billion in distribution and financing deals are completed every year according to the event organizers. Unlike Berlin and Cannes, it’s a standalone event. The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), however, does host a market that recently concluded on September 16. It projects to have 12,000 registered participants by 2030. 

Turning to Asia, the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART) that kicks off every March is one of the leading events for the film business in the region together with Busan’s ACFM (Asian Contents & Film Market). ACFM will be celebrating its 20^th edition this month as leading figures from the Korean and wider global film industry will be in Korea’s second biggest city for the Busan International Film Festival’s (BIFF) 30^th edition.  Owing to the long public holiday in Korea in early October that lasts a week, the festival and market were brought forward to September. 

Not unlike BIFF, the market has grown as the Korean content industry has turned into one of the leading cultural sectors in the world thereby further strengthening ACFM as a global business platform. Every year, more than 2,700 content professionals attend the event from over 50 different countries.  ACFM located at the BEXCO exhibition center puts together a range of programs and initiatives each year including the Asian Cinema Fund (ACF), the Asian Project Market (APM) and the Producer Hub. The exhibition Hall at BEXCO situated close to the Busan Cinema Center will also feature sales booths connecting buyers and sales agencies. ACFM will also introduce three new programs this year: InnoAsia explores the intersection between technology and content creation while The A is a summit on the trends that shape the Asian film industry with a report also published. Doc Square provides documentary filmmakers and industry professionals with a networking platform.

Given ACFM begins on September 20, we will profile the market focusing on four different areas: Asian Project Market (APM), the Producer Hub & International Co-productions, IP and the Busan Story Market, and AI & InnoAsia.

Asian Project Market (APM)

At the heart of the ACFM is the Asian Project Market (APM) - Asia’s first co-production market - that was launched in 1998 as the Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP) and has connected Asian filmmakers with global investors. To date there have been over 700 projects with more than 319 completed works that has included Jang Kun-jae’s Because I Hate Korea (2023) that opened in BIFF in 2023, Lee Mirang’s Concerning My Daughter (2023) that premiered in BIFF’s Vision section in the same year. It also supported Koji Fukada’s Love Life (2022) that competed for the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in 2022.

This year APM features 30 projects from 15 countries across Asia. Titles include Zhang Yaoyuan’s Buy My Car, an international co-production between Japan and China, Kim Hyoeun’s The Descent from Korea, Difficult Daughters, an Indian production by British director Soni Razdan, and the Canada / Afghanistan co-production Sama by Brishkay Ahmed.

The 30 projects will also compete for 13 APM Awards that will be announced at an award ceremony on September 23. These awards provide recipients with cash prizes and support. The APM Busan Award sponsored by the Busan Metropolitan Government gives USD 15,000 in support to a chosen APM project. The CJ ENM Award, for instance, will give the winning international project USD 10,000.   

ACFM also supports projects through the Asian Cinema Fund that comprises of the Script Development Fund (3 selections), the Post-Production Fund (4 selections) and the Asian Network of Documentary (AND) fund (7 selections). 14 projects were selected from 850 submissions. This year it has also launched the Co-production Support Fund – USD 50,000 for one feature or theatrical animation project - that will be awarded to an international project that is co-produced with Korea.

Producer Hub & International Co-productions

Central to ACFM is international co-productions with much of the market focused on such projects. The Producer Hub gives producers from different countries an opportunity to share their insights on investment, production, filming, tax incentives and market trends. In its first year Korea was selected as the Focus Country; this year Canada was chosen. This comes after Canada was also selected as a focus country at the Jeonju International Film Festival in May as Korea and Canada celebrate the 2024-2025 Canada-Korea Year of Cultural Exchanges. 

This year’s Producer Hub consists of a total of 13 institutes from 10 countries that includes the Association of Indonesian Film Producers, Cinema Do Brasil as well as the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), Producers Guild of Korea (PGK) and the Busan Film Commission. The British Film Institute (BFI) is one of several new partners and there will be a UK-RoK Film Industry Networking Reception during the market hosted by the British Embassy Seoul.  

At the Market Conference, ACFM is collaborating with the US conference organizer Winston Baker and will host a film and content investment forum on September 22. Simon Cornwell, CEO of the British production company The Ink Factory, is among one of the panelists. He produced Park Chan-wook’s BBC series The Little Drummer Girl (2018). The three sessions will examine the crisis in film exhibition, financial investment strategies in the Asian Film industry and achievements in Asian animation.

There will also be other sessions, which includes a talk between producers from Japan and Korea on Co-production and Global Funding, a separate discussion will be held on Film Support in Korea and Japan. In addition, there will be a KOFIC and AFiS (Busan Asian Film School) Co-production talk. Fellows at AFiS will present their film projects at a pitching event, while the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) – located next to AFiS in Busan – is part of an ongoing joint training and exchange program with the French National Centre of Cinema (CNC).  

In 2020 the market was changed to its current name to reflect changes in the content market with the blurring between film and television. It was formerly called the Asian Film Market (AFM). The market’s pivoting towards the wider content industry is on display in the Busan Story Market (BSM), which is a platform where companies can showcase and trade a range of IPs such as webtoons, graphic novels, original stories and books. 

As part of the BSM there are 19 selections from Korea, six selections from Taiwan and a further six from Japan. Authors and creators are matched with industry professionals from a range production companies, investors, distributors, while they are also given pitching opportunities. Selected IPs include the Korean webtoon The Case of Joseon Queen Selection by Kang Dahye and Wolwoo, the Taiwanese web novel Bodacious!: Archdemons by Tymo Lin and the Japanese TV drama 30,000,000 Yen produced by NHK.

The Busan Story Market Conference that runs during ACFM consists of various panels including ones centering on IP with the BSM pitch & Match – Korean IP event along with a talk by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAECCA) and Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO). They will share their thoughts on developing original IP and supporting its growth across the different platforms.

AI & InnoAsia

Two buzz words that continue to generate much discussion in the Korean film industry are IP and AI. The latter is a major focus in the InnoAsia section that features booths that highlight the present and future of big tech as well as conferences, investment events and a showcase of AI films. Exhibitors include leading players in the world of high tech (Megazone Cloud, AWS), government organisations such as KOFIC and the Korea Content Agency (KOCCA) along with startups.

AI dominates much of the conference sessions that include one titled “Connecting Innovation: Coexistence Strategy for the Global Cloud and AI Content Industry” while KOFIC will co-host a panel on “The Cinematic Singularity: Creating Beyond Boundaries with AI.” MIT professor Pat Pataranuporn will also be the closing keynote speaker drawing on his own research as he reflects on how pioneering technologies will shape storytelling in the AI era. Artificial intelligence will also be the subject of various other discussions including one on the complex legal disputes hosted by the ACFM and the Korean Entertainment Law Society.

ACFM is not alone in its exploration of AI, the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) this year also held a number of AI-related events including conferences, while it also had an AI film competition in what is a further sign of where the industry is heading.  

The Asian Contents & Film Market will be held between September 20 and 23, while the Busan International Film Festival runs from September 17-26. 

Written by Jason Bechervaise

Edited by kofic