The Asian Cinema Fund (ACF) has selected 12 titles as its 2026 recipients, including fresh projects from India’s Payal Sethi, Iran’s Mehrnoush Alia, Indonesia’s Aditya Ahmad and South Korea’s Shin Dongmin.
The funding initiative is part of the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), the industry platform of Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), and supports filmmakers from across Asia, backing script development, post-production, and documentary filmmaking.
Recipients of the Script Development Fund includes Babak, directed by Germany-based Indian director Sethi, who was at Berlinale Talents earlier this year with a separate project titled Kurinji (aka The Disappearing Flower). Babak explores survival, identity, care, and responsibility through the life of an Afghan refugee living in Germany.
Also selected was Bon Voyage, directed by Alia, whose feature debut 1001 Frames premiered at the Berlinale in 2025. The project centres on the choices of parents who lost their daughter under tragic circumstances, exploring mourning and responsibility toward others.
Rounding out the script development recipients is Goldfish by Ahmad, an Asian Film Academy (AFA) 2014 graduate whose short A Gift won the Venice Horizons Award in 2018. Set against the culture and traditions of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, Goldfish follows a 13-year-old boy who longs to grow closer to his father.
Each project receives a cash grant of $6,500 (KRW10m) for script development and are invited to participate in Busan’s Asian Project Market this October.
The Post-Production Fund, supporting Korean independent fiction features that have completed filming and editing, went to Not For You by Shin Dongmin and Some Detective by Kim Miyoung.
Shin won the Korean Competition at Jeonju International Film Festival in 2023 with drama From You and returns with the story of a person bereaved by suicide. It will receive its world premiere at BIFF in October.
Some Detective follows an aspiring detective novelist whose chance encounters outside the world of the novel lead her to confront her inner self. It will also premiere at BIFF.
Both receive in-kind support from Korean post-production companies for digital intermediate (DI) colour grading, sound mixing, English subtitle spotting and DCP production. They each also receive $1,940 (KRW3m) for additional post-production work.
The selection was rounded out by seven recipients of the Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund, which supports feature-length independent documentary projects intended for theatrical release. Each selected title receives up to $13,000 (KRW20m) in production funding and are invited to the ACFM.
The Asian Project category comprises Floating House, directed by Liu Shubo; Tongues Of Fire, directed by Alyx Ayn Arumpac; and We Are Volcanoes, directed by Sharon Yeung and Natalie Chao.
The Korean Project category includes The Alleyway, directed by Emmanuel Moonchil Park; Our Waves, directed by Jang Minkyung; Pellong Pellong: The Untold Glitter of That Day, directed by Jude Hwirin Kang; and When Words Return, directed by Jung Sueun.
ACF received a total of 798 submissions across the three strands and the 12-strong selection represent seven countries. Five are international co-productions.
The 21st Asian Contents & Film Market is set to run Oct 10-13 alongside the 31st Busan International Film Festival, which takes place from Oct 6-15.
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