South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has unveiled the 29 titles selected for the 2022 Asian Project Market (APM).
The film financing event that runs as part of BIFF’s Asian Contents and Film Market will return in-person from October 9-11, after taking place as a hybrid event last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
From this year, APM has excluded non-Asian projects to provide more focused support for Asian projects, which must be submitted by directors who have made at least one short or full-length feature as well as producers who have been involved with at least one feature.
Scroll down for full list of projects
Projects include Soldier of Love from Kazak director Farkhat Sharipov, whose recent feature Skhema won the Generation 14plus Grand Prix at this year’s Berlinale.
Future Laobans marks the latest project to be directed by Myanmar’s Maung Sun, whose Money Has Four Legs played at Busan in 2020. It is produced by Ma Aient, who is serving a jail sentence after being found guilty of political crimes against the military junta that seized power in early 2021.
Chinese filmmaker Wang Qi, whose drama The Bargain received the Kim Jiseok Award special mention at last year’s BIFF, returns to present Red River. India’s Natesh Hegde, who visited BIFF in 2021 with Pedro, also returns with second film of the mystery trilogy, titled Tiger’s Pond.
Afghan director Sahraa Karimi, whose debut Hava, Maryam, Ayesha was selected for Venice in 2019, will collaborate with India’s Balaka Ghosh on her film My Kabuliwala. Sima’s Song, directed by Afghanistan’s leading female director Roya Sadat (A Letter To The President), has also made the line-up.
Also included in the selection is Diaphanous from Iran’s Dornaz Hajiha, whose debut Like A Fish On The Moon played at this year’s Karlovy Vary; and The Sea is Calm Tonight, the second feature from Vietnam’s Lê Bảo, whose debut Taste played at Berlin and Busan in 2011.
A total of nine projects by Korean directors were selected including The Day of Dongkyeong, directed by Kim Sein, winner of five prizes at last year’s BIFF including the New Currents Award.
Prizes at this year’s APM include the newly established TAICCA Award and the VIPO Award, which includes $10,000 to support film development. Cambodia’s Kongchak Studio will provide an in-kind prize worth $25,000 in sound post-production services and facilities. The winners of the APM 2022 Awards will be announced on October 11.
The 29 titles from 15 countries were selected from 288 submitted projects from 40 countries.
Asian Project Market 2022 titles
20th Century Girls (Kor)
Dir: Choi Jinyoung
Prod: Kim Sungwoo
Beyond The Frame (Tai)
Dir: Lee I-Hui
Prods: Estela Valdivieso Chen, Hazel Wu
The Day Of Dongkyeong (Kor)
Dir: Kim Sein
Prod: Jang Jiwon
Diaphanous (Iran-HK-China)
Dir: Dornaz Hajiha
Prod: Isabelle Glachant
Erinyes (Kor)
Dir: Jung Wonhee
Prod: Jero Yun
Future Laobans (My)
Dir: Maung Sun
Prods: Maung Sun, Ma Aeint
Gaspar (Indo)
Dir: Yosep Anggi Noen
Prods: Yulia Evina Bhara, Cristian Imanuell
Hana (Kor)
Dir: Lee Dong-eun
Prod: Choi Sun-hee
In The Land Of Brothers (Fr-Iran)
Dir: Raha Amirfazli
Prod: Adrien Barrouillet
The Kid (Kor)
Dir: Oh Seongho
Prod: Kwun Jungin
Last Shadow At First Light (Sing-Jap-Slov)
Dir: Nicole Midori Woodford
Prod: Jeremy Chua
Life I Stole (Malay)
Dir: Sugua Putri Purnama
Prod: Tan Cher Kian
Loop Out (Kor)
Dir: Kim Dukjoong
Prod: Jung Hyunjung
My Kabuliwala (India-Australia)
Dirs: Balaka Ghosh, Sahraa Karimi
Prods: Maxine Williamson, Kumud Ranjan, Defrim Isai
My Sunshine (Jap)
Dir: Hiroshi Okuyama
Prod: Nishigaya Toshikazu
One Of A Kind (Pak-US)
Dir: Iram Parveen Bilal
Prods: Apoorva Bakshi, Abd Aziz Merchant, Iram Parveen Bilal
People’s Violence (working title) (Jap)
Dir: Mori Tatsuya
Prod: Kobayashi Sanshiro
Rashid (India)
Dir: Prithvi Konanur
Prod: Thejaswi Konanur
Red River (China)
Dir: Wang Qi
Prods: Clarissa Zhang, Pan Yan
Safa (Bang)
Dir: Maksud Hossain
Prods: Maksud Hossain, Trilora Khan, Barkat Hossain, Tanveer Hossain
The Sea Is Calm Tonight (Sing)
Dir: Le Bao
Prod: Lai Weijie
Sima’s Song (Sp-Neth-Fr)
Dir: Roya Sadat
Prod: Alba Sotorra
Smart City (India)
Dir: Rohin Raveendran
Soldier Of Love (Kazak)
Dir: Farkhat Sharipov
Prods: Dina Zhumabek, Julia Kim
Something About Us (Kor)
Dir: LIM Jungeun
Prod: Park Doohee
The Thonglor Kids (Thai-Sing)
Dir: Aditya Assarat
Prod: Fran Borgia
Tiger’s Pond (India)
Dir: Natesh Hegde
Prod: Rishab Shetty
Turning Pages (working title) (Kor-US)
Dir: Eugene Suen
Prod: Kim Heejeon
The Way To School (Kor)
Dir: Chung Jiyoung
Prod: Jeong Sangmin
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