Upcoming projects from award-winning filmmakers Nelson Yeo, Patiparn Boontarig, Kenneth Dagatan and producers of Cannes drama Viet And Nam are among the selection for this year’s Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF) market.
Held during South Korea’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Bifan), some 37 titles from 22 countries have been selected for the project market, which runs July 6-9 alongside Asia’s largest genre festival. One-to-one meetings will take place with producers, investors, and distributors.
Titles in the It Project selection include Vietnamese horror The Heirloom, set to be the feature directorial debut of Le Hoang from the producers of Viet And Nam, which played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes last month. The project was recently pitched at the inaugural Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival.
Filipino filmmaker Dagatan, whose fantasy horror In My Mother’s Skin marked the first ever Midnight section selection from Asia at Sundance in 2023, will bring body-horror and supernatural thriller Molder. It reunites the director with producers Bradley Liew, Stefano Centini and Huang Junxiang. Liew and Stefano were also producers on Viet And Nam.
Thailand’s Patiparn Boontarig of Busan New Vision 2023 winner Solids By The Seashore will present Naga Swim Upstream, about a woman who returns home to recover her mythical Naga lineage. The project was previously chosen for this year’s Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF).
Also selected is dystopian horror-dark comedy The Drought, the latest feature of Singapore’s Yeo, whose Dreaming & Dying won Locarno’s Golden Leopard in its Filmmakers of the Present competition and best first feature award last year. The Drought participated at the Philippines QCinema project market last year, where it won a Southeast Asia co-production grant.
Further titles include Bomoh from Japan’s Daisuke Miyazaki, whose Tourism played Bifan in 2019; Dhammapada from Korea’s Lee Taegyeom, whose debut I Don’t Fire Myself screened at Jeonju in 2020; Little Big Women by Taiwan’s Joseph Chen-Chieh Hsu, whose Little Big Women premiered at Busan in 2020 and was nominated for six Golden Horse awards; and Pure Science Fiction from Canada’s Ryan Ward, whose Daughter Of The Sun won an audience award at last year’s Fantasia.
This year’s line-up of 37 projects is up from 29 titles in 2023 and were selection from 323 submissions, an increase on the 279 projects submitted last year up nearly 50% on the 217 titles submitted in 2022.
NAFF will continue its collaborations with overseas film festivals and institutions such as Spain’s Sitges Film Festival and Argentina’s Blood Window. Indonesia has been selected for this year’s Project Spotlight section while a focus on France will comprise projects from Quarxx, Jean Luc Herbulot and Sandra Tabet.
Previous NAFF projects include The Tenants from Korea’s Yoon Eun-kyung, who won best director and the Fipresci prize at Singapore’s Silver Screen Awards last year. Also from Korea, Kim Mi-jo won the Rising Films International Award at Busan’s Asian Content & Film Market last year with The Journey to Gyeongju, which was at NAFF in 2022. Additionally, Malaysia’s Tiger Stripes, which was an It Project in 2019, went on to win the grand prize at last year’s Cannes Critics’ Week sidebar while Taiwanese box office hit Marry My Dead Body was selected as an It Project in 2020.
The 28th Bifan is set to run July 4-14.
NAFF Project Market 2024
It Project
Anthurium In The Dark Night (Japan)
Dir. Chihiro Amano
Pro. Naoko Komuro
Bait (Japan)
Dir. Daihachi Yoshida
Pro. Naoya Takahashi
Bomoh (Malay-Sing-Japan-US)
Dir. Daisuke Miyazaki
Pro. Alex Iskounen, Tim Kwok, Jeffrey Reddick, Hoo Wee Tay
A Cursed Man (Bang)
Dir. Sadik Ahmed
Pro. Tanveer Hossain
Dhammapada (Kor-Nep)
Dir. Lee Taegyeom
Pro. Kim Young
Don’t Fuck Me Up (Tai)
Dir. HSIA Jui-chien
Pros. KUO Jo-Chi, SU Ting-Ruei
Doomsday Girls (Kor)
Dir. Lee Dongeun
Pro. Park Sunhye
The Drought (Sing-Indo-Phil)
Dir. Nelson Yeo
Pros. Tan Si En, Sophia Sim
Folklore (Kor)
Dir. Jung Seum
Pros. Park Doohee, Choi Chan
The Girl With The Green Eyes (Neth)
Dir. Yfke Van Berckelaer
Pro. Monique Van Kessel
The Heirloom (Viet)
Dir. Lê Hoàng
Pros. Thanh Tran, Mai Ngoc
The House Of Boundaries (Kor)
Dir. Kang Dayeon
Pro. Choi Hyungun
Idiot Girls And School Ghost 2: Teaching Practice (Kor)
Dir. Kim Minha
Pro. Park Sejoon
Molder (Phil-It-Sing)
Dir. Kenneth Dagatan
Pros. Bradley Liew, Stefano Centini, Huang Junxiang
Naga Swim Upstream (Thai)
Dir. Patiparn Boontarig
Pro. Napakarn Boontarig
The Odd Three (Tai)
Dir. Joseph Chen-Chieh Hsu
Pro. Jacqueline W. Liu
Pastry Travel Agency (Kor)
Dir. Kim Lokkyoung
Pro. Lee Junwoo
Pure Science Fiction (Can-Bel-Kor)
Dir. Ryan Ward
Pro. Mackenzie Leigh
Push-button Syndrome (Japan)
Dir. Riko Murakami
Pro. Kanako Fujita
Silvertown Heroes (Kor)
Dir. Hong Inpyo
Pro. Jung Jaehoon
Synthia (Kor)
Dir. Do Naeri
Pro. Do Youngchan
The Vampire Of Sheung Shui (HK)
Dir. Shreyom Ghosh
Pros. Peter Yam, Michael J. Werner, Shreyom Ghosh
Wheel Lady (Sing-Kor)
Dir. J.D Chua
Pros. Jerry Lim, Karen Seah, Nicholas Wang, Kim Young
NAFF Project Spotlight: Indonesia
Dancing Gale (Indo)
Dir. Sammaria Simanjuntak
Pro. Lies Nanci Supangkat
Into The Woods (Indo)
Dir. Ilya Sigma
Pro. Mandy Marahimin
Mad Of Madness (Indo)
Dir. Eden Junjung
Pro. Ifa Isfansyah
The Hidden Flower (Indo)
Dir. Adriyanto Dewo
Pro. Perlita Desiani
Virgin Bash (Indo)
Dir. Randolph Zaini
Pro. Susanti Dewi
Focus: France
Doner (Fr-Bel)
Dir. Jean Luc Herbulot
Pro. Alexis Perrin
Rabies (Leb-Fr)
Dir. Sandra Tabet
Pros. Thomas Micoulet, Rana Eid
This Thing Inside Me (Fr)
Dir. Quarxx
Pro. Vincent Brancon
Nordic Genre Invasion
Extrasolar (Fin)
Dir. Hannu Aukia
Pros. Hannu Aukia, Vertti Virkajarvi
Polar (Nor)
Dir. Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
Pros. Rasmus Bergli, Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
Wailing, Wailing Envy (Fin)
Dirs. Artturi Olavi Rostén, Saiju Nieminen
Pros. Artturi Olavi Rostén, Saiju Nieminen, Veera W. Vilo, Roope Olenius
The Woods Whisper (Nor)
Dir. TBC
Pros. Martina Cecelia, Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
Blood Window
Unfollow Me (Mex)
Dirs. Ximena Garcia Lecuona, Eduardo Lecuona
Pros. Francisco Sanchez Solis, Javier Sepulveda, Jonathan Davis
Sitges FanPitch
This Thing Inside Me (Fr)
Dir. Quarxx
Pro. Vincent Brancon
Cannes Fantastic 7
Esper’s Light (S Kor)
Dir. Jung Jaehoon
Pro. Ko Yoohee
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