Busan’s Asian Film Market kicked off yesterday (Oct 8) with a patter of business including Thai sales company Gmm Tai Hub (GTH) selling thriller Countdown to Indonesia and Taiwan.

The film went to Taiwan’s Cai Chang Inc and Indonesia’s PT Inter Solusindo Film. Directed by Nattawut Poonpiriya, it stars Paracha Chirativat in a New Year’s Eve tale of horror.

Like several other sales companies attending the market, GTH is also selling a film which is playing in the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) official selection: Seven Something, an omnibus on love and life celebrating the company’s seventh anniversary. The film is making its international premiere in BIFF’s A Window on Asian Cinema section.

Asian Film Market organisers have so far this year registered 658 buyers and sellers and 1,072 participants, similar to last year’s total of number of 1,080 participants by the end of the market. Sellers have noted market screening slots are more popular and harder to come by this year with 71 films in a total of 80 slots – up from 60 in 63 slots last year.

The market will run with the Asian Project Market (APM) until Oct 11. This year, APM will have inaugural awards from French broadcaster Arte and post-production company Technicolor from Thailand.

At the concurrent Busan Cinema Forum, where participants are discussing the politics of film restoration and preservation in the digital era, the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) announced the launch of the Asian Film Preservation Fund.

With a primary focus on classic genre films from East Asia, the fund aims to start out by striking new subtitled prints of classic Asian films and expand with the cooperation of like-minded organisations.

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