Kang Bo’s Kingdom Of The Insomniacs has picked up the top Busan Award at the Asian Project Market (APM) in South Korea.
The 27th edition of the APM wrapped on Tuesday evening (October 8) after four days, taking place at the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) during the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). A total of 30 feature film projects from across Asia met with potential finance, co-production partners and international distributors.
Scoll down for full list of winners
Chinese fantasy drama Kingdom Of The Insomniacs marks Kang Bo’s second narrative feature and follows mushroom farmers plagued with insomnia and an aging disease. Produced by Xie Meng of Rediance, the was inspired by director Kang’s documentary project A Touch of Forest, for which he documented the decay of forest farms in Northeastern China. Kang’s debut narrative feature, Family At Large starring Asian Contents Awards winner Hu Ge of Blossoms Shanghai, is in post-production.
Three Japanese projects were among the 12 award winners, led by Bunji Sotoyama’s Life Redo List, which picked up the One Cool Award and $15,000. The drama, produced by Yoko Ide for Asmik Ace, centres on a man who tried to start over after spending 40 years in a psychiatric ward due to misdiagnosis. Sotoyama screend Soirée at BIFF in 2020.
Daishi Matsunaga, whose LGBTQ+ romance drama Egoist played in competition at Tokyo in 2022 and landed distribution in the US and territories across Asia, won the TAICCA Award with Until That Day. The suspense drama revolves around a Taiwanese photographer who learns of the death of a past love.
Rounding out the winners from Japan was Shun Nakagawa’s 90 Meters, which picked up the ARRI Award. The drama, produced by Tokyo Broadcasting System, is the story of a high school boy who looks after his sick mother and always carries an alarm so she can signal him with a maximum range of 90 meters.
Indonesia’s Wregas Bhanuteja won the CJ ENM Award with Levitating, a supernatural drama set amid a village community where a young man aspires to be a shaman for their trance parties, even as they face eviction. The filmmaker was last at Busan in the New Currents competition with tech-thriller Photocopier in 2021. The upcoming Indonesia-Singapore-France co-production is produced by Siera Tamihardja, Tan Si En and Patrics Nezan.
Momo Film’s Tan has credits including recent Venice award-winner Don’t Cry Butterfly and Sundance award-winner Pop Aye and Anthony Chen’s Wet Season. She is also producer of Kirsten Tan’s Crocodile Rock, winner of the VIPO Award at this year’s APM. The Singapore-US co-production is based on an iconic lesbian bar in 1990s Singapore and follows a teenage drifter through the queer club-culture of the time.
The only project to walk away with two awards was Hum, a Philippines-US co-production by Filipino writer/director Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan. The drama, which is at script development stage, explores themes of trauma, spirituality, and nature, through the story of a rodeo couple haunted by mysterious ecological changes.
Ahead of the market, organisers said a record 441 submissions were received from 44 regions and the 30 selected titles spanned 17 regions. Some 706 meetings were reportedly facilitated across the four days.
Asian Project Market 2024 winners
Busan Award
Kingdom Of The Insomniacs, dir. Kang Bo, prod. Xie Meng (China)
One Cool Award
Life Redo List, dir. Bunji Sotoyama, prod. Yoko Ide (Japan)
CJ ENM Award
Levitating, dir. Wregas Bhanuteja, prods. Siera Tamihardja, Tan Si En, Patrics Nezan (Ind-Sing-Fr)
TAICCA Award
Until That Day, dir. Daishi Matsunaga, prods. Shinji Ogawa, Asako Nishikawa, Sanling Chang (Japan-Tai)
VIPO Award
Crocodile Rock, dir. Kirsten Tan, prod. Tan Si En (Sing-US)
Red Sea Film Fund Award
Making A Sea dir. Lin Htet Aung, prod. Mai Meksawan (Thai)
ArteKino International Award
Hum, dir. Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, prods. Hannah Schierbeek, Alemberg Ang (Phil-US)
Songwon Award
The Birds, dir. Sohn Hyun-lok, prod. Jo Su-jin (S Kor)
KB Award
Hellfire Academy, dir. Shin Aga, prods. Park Doohee, Choi Chan (S Kor)
ARRI Award
90 Meters, dir. Shun Nakagawa, prods. Tamako Tsujimoto, Yasushi Utagawa (Japan)
Kongchak Studio Award
Leg, dir. Shokir Kholikov, prods. Algerim Satybaldy, Paolo Maria Spina, Silvana Santamaria, Johann Chapelan (Kazak-It-Ger-Greece)
Sorfond Award
Hum, dir. Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, prods. Hannah Schierbeek, Alemberg Ang (Phil-US)
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