Busan's Asian Project Market: bridging the divide

Scroll down for APM selection list

In its 18th edition, Busan’s Asian Project Market (APM) is this year showcasing 30 projects from 15 countries, including Hana Makhmalbaf’s London Stories, Yu Lik Wai’s China-France-Hong Kong co-production A Mean To An End and Yang Ik-june’s Gabsooni & Soo-ah.

Jay Jeon, director of the Asian Film Market, says, “This year, a lot of projects where you can see the next generation of directors were selected for the APM. Not just the directors, but the projects themselves are youthful and promising.”

One such film-maker is Indonesian director Mouly Surya, who returns with Marlina The Murderer In Four Acts after previously participating in the 2010 APM with What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love. That film went on  to screen in Sundance’s World Cinema  Dramatic Competition, and to win the NETPAC Award at Rotterdam.

“For me, [APM is about] networking, first and foremost,” says Surya. “It is where Asian projects get the limelight, as the people who are coming are people who are looking for Asian projects. Then, it is a film school in itself. I got a new understanding about my own project,” she explains of the process of pitching and getting feedback at around 10 meetings per day at APM.

Another returning face is Isabelle Glachant, producer of Wang Xiaoshuai’s 11 Flowers, which won the Pusan Award in 2007 at the project market (then called the Pusan Promotion Plan). This year, Glachant is bringing Eddie Cahyono’s Indonesian project The Wasted Land to APM, and is also attached to A Mean To An End.

“APM is a great event to launch a project, to test the water with international industry representatives,” says Glachant. “In Busan, you have, during a few days, European  and Asian major players that you meet in one-on-one sessions, or catch at night in the many parties where everybody continues networking.

“APM also helps a lot as they bring advice to new players and play the role of a matchmaker. They are a bridge between Europe and Asia, bringing the most international companies from Europe to Asian talents.

“Those European companies, very Asia-friendly, come to Busan not just because of APM, but also because of the strong Asian selection of Busan International Film Festival and because of the film market,” Glachant continues. “The combination of those three makes Busan a great place to be if you are a European who wants to work with Asia, or if you are an Asian who wants to work with Europe and Asia.”

Speaking about this year’s market attendees, Jeon says, “We expected the China boom to continue from last year but MERS [Middle East Respiratory Syndrome] reared its head right before Asian Film Market registrations, and then the China shock that shook the global economy happened, so we are expecting fewer Chinese companies. Fortunately, the initiatives we’ve started this year, the E-IP Market and the Asian Casting Market, look to keep the number of participants from China from decreasing. We also have participants from Nepal and Paraguay for the first time, and can say this is a very encouraging result.”

The Asian Film Market runs from October 3-6, with APM being held on October 4-6, at BEXCO in Busan, South Korea.

Asian Project Market 2015 Selection List

Acetylene Love (Phil)
Dir Adolfo Borinaga Alix Jr
Prod Lou Gopez

The Adventure Of Hanmeimei (Chi-Kor)
Dir Kim Junghan
Prod Ahn Dongkyu

Agra (Ind-Fr)
Dir-prod Kanu Behl
Prod William Jehannin

Another Day In Baghdad (Iraq-UK-Fr-Ger)
Dir Maysoon Pachachi
Prod Talal Al-Muhanna

Birdshot (Phil-Qat)
Dir Mikhail Red
Prod Pamela L Reyes

Bombay Rose (Ind-Fr)
Dir Gitanjali Rao
Prod Clara Mahieu

Brother (Kor)
Dir Kim Tae-yong
Prod Kim Jeong-min

Cha Cha Cha (Viet)
Dir Do Quoc Trung
Prods Phan Dang Di, Tran Thi Bich Ngoc

Gabsooni & Soo-ah (Kor)
Dir Yang Ik-june
Prod Kim Joori

Glooming Flower (Kor)
Dir Jeon Gyesoo
Prod Jang Sojung

Ireesha, A Daughter Of The Elf King (Kor)
Dir Chang Hyung Yun
Prod Cho Young-kag 

London Stories (UK)
Dir Hana Makhmalbaf
Prod Maysam Makhmalbaf

The Lottery Boy (Viet)
Dir Tran Dung Thanh Huy
Prods Nguyen Hoang Diep, Nguyen Trinh Hoan

Manto (Ind)
Dir-prod Nandita Das          

Marlina The Murderer In Four Acts (Indo)
Dir Mouly Surya
Prods Rama Adi, Fauzan Zidni

A Mean To An End (Chi-Fr-HK)
Dir/prod Yu Lik Wai
Prod Francois Da Silva

No One Else (Jap)
Dir Iguchi Nami
Prod Tanaka Miyuki

Photographer’s Boy (Kor)
Dir-prod Jeon Soo-Il
Prod Ku Jae-Jun

The Princess Spring (Tur-Fr)
Dirs/prods Cagla Zencirci, Guillaume Giovanetti

Second Breath (Kor)
Dir Min Yongkeun
Prod Shim Hyunwoo

Silent Mist (Chi-Fr)
Dir Zhang Miaoyan
Prod Guillaume De Seille

Smoke On The Water (Jap)
Dir Tomina Tetsuya
Prod Hatanaka Mina

Sunrise (Kazak)
Dir Adilkhan Yerzhanov
Prod Olga Khlasheva

Swallow (Kor)
Dir Leesong Hee-il
Prod Kim Ilkwon

The Sweet Requiem (Ind-UK)
Dirs Ritu Sarin, Tenzing Sonam
Prod Ritu Sarin

Tuition (Sing)
Dir Lei Yuan Bin
Prod Tan Bee Thiam

Unlosable (Tai)
Dir CJ Wang
Prod Michelle Yeh

Venice (Georgia)
Dir/prod Rusudan Chkonia
Prod Vladimer Katcharava

The Wasted Land (Indo)
Dir Eddie Cahyono
Prods Ifa Isfansyah, Isabelle Glachant

Yellow Apples (Iran)
Dir Shahram Mokri
Prod Mohammad Atebbai