Busan’s Asian Film Market wrapped with a record number of participants and the Asian Project Market (APM)’s top Busan Award going to Kim Jee-woon’s Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade.

Kim’s sci-fi action spy project is to be a live-action version of the Japanese animation written by Oshii Mamoru. Currently in the scriptwriting stage, Lewis Kim (The Host) is attached as producer with his new company Lewis Pictures Inc. 

See below for full list of APM winners

The Asian Film Market reported a record 4,000 film industry professionals visited the market. It saw a 16% increase on last year with a total of 1,272 market badge holders from 733 companies and 49 countries.

Combined with the BIFCOM locations and post-production convention, the market hosted a total of 92 booths from 198 companies and 32 countries. They each had more than 50 meetings on average to make a total of over 10,000 meetings with an estimated 50 expected to result in deals.

First-timers included Wild Bunch and Reel Suspects from France, WestEnd Films from the UK and Fortissimo Films and Universe Films from Hong Kong.
 
This year, the European Film Promotion (EFP) doubled the size of its umbrella stand and its number of participating companies.

Susanne Davis, Film Sales Support (FSS) project director at EFP said: “The combination of the festival, where you can get an extra boost of attention, and market working together closely helps directors and producers cross over to meet business people. It’s a big plus that is not always the case at other events. There’s a growing, wide range of territories you can catch – from Japan to the whole Asia-Pacific. The sales agents were really busy with meetings from the beginning, all day long.”

Although foot traffic in the corridors seemed quiet, many booths were continually engaged in meetings.

Michael Favelle, director of Odin’s Eye Entertainment, said: “It’s been incredibly busy. A lot of new buyers, especially from Korea but also a lot of general buyers I hadn’t met before, so it has been good. It’s been back-to-back meetings for me the whole three days. Last time I was here was 2011. I see a huge improvement in the market. It has established itself as a truly functioning market.”

Favelle agreed with others that they are happy to close deals at Busan but that it is also a bridge for those who don’t go to Toronto or the American Film Market.

“I know we will close deals as a result of this market, just not right away. People are very selective with what they are taking, and there are a lot of territorial factors in terms of what is and isn’t working in different territories,” he said.

Davis echoed this opinion: “It might be the general economy - people want to be sure. A few agents who are leaving have a few things in the pipeline. It will take a while as in every market these days, but networking and bonding is really important.”

APM 2013 winners

Busan Award ($20,000)
Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade (Kim Jee-woon)

CJ Entertainment Award ($10,000)
Samuel Over The Rainbow (Benito Bautista)

Lotte Award (KW10m)
OTS Virus Project (Kang Yi-kwan)

PanStar Cruise Award (KW10m)
Have A Nice Trip! (Lee Seo)

KOCCA Award (KW10m)
End Of Animal (Eron Sheean)

Technicolor Asia Award
Sex Appeal (Wang Wei-ming)

ARTE International Prize (€6,000)
Exotic Pictures (Edwin)

Funding 21 Award (provides crowdfunding support)
Gyeongju (Zhang Lu)

Creative Director Award (KW10m)
While The Women Are Sleeping (Wayne Wang)

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