ACFM

Source: ACFM

Asia Contents & Film Market

Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has revealed 30 titles selected for the 2025 Asian Project Market (APM), including upcoming features produced by Indian star Alia Bhatt, All We Imagine As Light director Payal Kapadia and Twilight Of The Warriors filmmaker Soi Cheang.

The co-production and financing market, which runs as part of BIFF’s Asian Contents and Film Market (ACFM), is set to take place from September 20-23 in Busan, South Korea. This year’s APM received a record-breaking 455 submissions from 44 countries.

Scroll down for full list of projects

The selection spans a broad range of themes, including social inequality, family love, LGBTQ+ issues, gender, war, and borders, spanning different genres.

They include Indian project Difficult Daughters, produced by Bollywood star Alia Bhatt, her sister Shaheen Bhatt, Alan McAlex – whose credits include Cannes 2024 titles Santosh and Sister Midnight – and Grishma Shah. It is directed by veteran actress and director Soni Razdan, who is Bhatt’s mother.

Kapadia is on board as producer of The Last Of Them Plagues from rising director Kunjila Mascillamani. Fellow producers include Kani Kusruti, who starred in Kapadia’s Cannes grand prix winner All We Imagine As Light and was on BIFF’s New Currents jury last year.

Hong Kong’s Cheang has reunited with Malaysian filmmaker Lau Kok Rui for Wake Me Up When The Mourning Ends, having previously worked together on three-time Golden Horse award-winner The Sunny Side Of The Street. Further producers include Stefano Centini, who worked on Lav Diaz’s Cannes 2025 selection Magellen, and Wong Kew Soon of Snow In Midsummer and Pavane For An Infant.

Returning to Busan with fresh projects are Indian director Pradip Kurbah, who won the 2019 Jiseok Award with Market, and will present Moon at the upcoming APM.

Bangladeshi filmmaker Biplob Sarkar, who was in competition at BIFF in 2023 with The Stranger, returns with The Magical Men. The film, which explores LGBTQ+ themes, was developed after through a collaboration between Asian producers who met in Busan. Producers of the upcoming project include Fran Borgia, whose credits include acclaimed features Stranger Eyes and Tiger Stripes.

Armenian filmmaker Christine Haroutounian, whose feature debut After Dreaming played at this year’s Berlinale, will showcase Black Star Angel, having recently secured funding from the ACF Script Development Fund.

South Korea leads the pack with seven projects. These include Gilddong by director Park Riwoong, who won last year’s New Currents Award with The Land of Morning Calm (2024). Also returning are filmmaker Choi Hana with Dance Dance Revolution, having debuted at BIFF in 2020 with More Than Family; Kim Hyoeun with The Descent following last year’s Tango At Dawn; and Byun Sungbin with Paradis Karaoke, who played at BIFF in 2022 with Peafowl. Director Jero Yun opened BIFF in 2018 with Beautiful Days and brings latest project Silent Cry to the APM.

The market will take place during the 20th edition of the ACFM at Bexco and winning projects will be announced at an awards ceremony on September 23. The market runs alongside BIFF, the 30th edition of which is set to run September 17-26.

Asian Project Market 2025

Arrival Of Water (S Kor-Japan)
Dir. Jo Heeyoung
Pro. Park Sejin

Black Star Angel (Arm-US)
Dir. Christine Haroutounian
Pros. Maxwell Schwartz, Christine Haroutounian

Bodoi (Japan)
Dir. Shiraishi Kazuya
Pro. Kii Muneyuki

Buy My Car (Japan-China)
Dir. Zhang Yaoyuan
Pros. Ichiyama Shozo, Kunizane Mizue, Mo Zhulin

Churching Of Women (Jor)
Dir. Darin Sallam
Pros. Deema Azar, Ayah Jardaneh

Dance Dance Revolution (S Kor)
Dir. Choi Hana
Pro. An Boyoung

The Daughter (HK-China)
Dir. Guan Tian
Pros. Vivian Bao, Ding Ningyuan

The Descent (S Kor)
Dir. Kim Hyoeun
Pro. Park Hyunsuk

Difficult Daughters (India)
Dir. Soni Razdan
Pros. Alia Bhatt, Shaheen Bhatt, Alan McAlex, Grishma Shah

Disorder (Iraq-Ger)
Dir. Shawkat Amin Korki
Pros. Mehmet Aktas, Shohreh Golparian, Shawkat Amin Korki

Flying Cows (Viet)
Dir. Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat
Pro. Nguyen Huu Thi Tuong Vi

The Funeral March (Japan-China)
Dir. Fujita Naoya
Pros. Fujita Kanako, Shiina Yasushi, Zou Aiken, Zou Lin

Gilddong (S Kor-China)
Dir. Park Riwoong
Pro. Yoon Minyoung

Gochi (S Kor)
Dir. Yoon Eunkyoung
Pro. Stanley Kwak

Heaven Help Us! (Phil)
Dir. Eve Baswel
Pros. John Torres, Jules Katanyag

Lanka (The Fire) (India)
Dir. Saurav Rai
Pros. Sudeepta Sadhukhan, Viraj Selot, Ankita Purkayastha

The Last Of Them Plagues (India)
Dir. Kunjila Mascillamani
Pros. Payal Kapadia, Jeo Baby, Kani Kusruti

Lost And Cow (Thai)
Dir. Thapanee Loosuwan
Pros. Chonlasit Upanigkit, Somprasong Srikrajang

The Magical Men (Bang-Sing-Fr-India)
Dir. Biplob Sarkar
Pros. Biplob Sarkar, Fran Borgia, Francois d’Artemare, Sankhajit Biswas

Moon (India)
Dir. Pradip Kurbah
Pro. Pradip Kurbah

New Life (China)
Dir. Li Yingtong
Pro. Annie Song

No Country For Old Men (Tai)
Dir. An Bon
Pro. Chen Pao-Ying

Paradis Karaoke (S Kor)
Dir. Byun Sungbin
Pro. Bong Suji

Sama (Can-Afg)
Dir. Brishkay Ahmed
Pros. Brishkay Ahmed, Bonnie Do

Silence Of The Looms (Bang)
Dir. Mirza Shabnam Ferdousi
Pro. Rajib Mohajan

Silent Cry (S Kor)
Dir. Jero Yun
Pro. Jero Yun

The Skull Oracle (Tai)
Dir. Laha Mebow
Pros. Eric Liang Zara Lin, Chen Yi Chen

Snake In The Dreamscapes (Tai)
Dir. Lou Yi-An
Pros. Chen Wen Wen, Kao Chun Ting, Hsu Guo-Lun

Stuck Like Babies (Kyrg)
Dir. Dastan Zhapar Ryskeldi
Pros. Veronica Rhyme, Aktan Ryskeldiev, Fernanda Renno

Wake Me Up When The Mourning Ends (Malay-HK-It-Tai)
Dir. Lau Kok Rui
Pro. Soi Cheang, Stefano Centini, Wong Kew Soon

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