Upcoming features by Koji Fukada, Boo Junfeng and Jakrawal Nilthamrong have been selected to receive a combined $100,000 (KRW140m) in grants from the Asian Cinema Fund (ACF).
The titles set to benefit from ACF’s Co-Production Support Fund comprise Grateful by Japan’s Fukada, Trinity from Taiwanese filmmaker Boo, and Rhizome by Thailand’s Nilthamrong. Grateful receives a grant of $42,500 (KRW60m) while the other two each receive $28,000 (KRW40m).
Grateful is a Korea–Japan co-production, with Korea as the majority co-production country. Director Fukada was in Competition at this year’s Cannes with Nagi Notes, having previously won the festival’s Un Certain Regard prize in 2016 with Harmonium. His latest tells a Korean story and is produced by Song Dae-chan and Yuko Kameda.
Rhizome features Thailand as the majority co-production country and Korea, France, Laos, and Singapore as minority co-pro countries. It addresses Asia’s shared historical experience of war and was recognised by ACF for its potential to “capture the voices and vision of Asia”.
The story focuses on a Hmong woman who returns to Laos to help clear land mines, left over from the Vietnam War, and develops intimate feelings for a local woman. Thai filmmaker Nilthamrong is known for Anatomy Of Time, which premiered at Venice in 2021,
Trinity is an 11-country collaboration led by Singapore’s Peanut Pictures, Taiwan’s Filmagic Pictures and France’s Gaïjn. Set in both Taiwan and Singapore, the Mandarin-language drama marks the latest from Singaporean director Boo, whose Sandcastle played in Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2010 and Apprentice screened in Un Certain Regard in 2016.
The story follows a charismatic pastor who becomes infatuated with his disciple and the cast includes Leon Dai, Yeo Yann Yann, Tseng Jing-Hua and Will Or.
The ACF is operated by the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), the market of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF)
Now in its second year, 15 submissions were received for the Co-Production Support Fund, with the number of selected titles increasing to three – after just one was chosen for its inaugural edition.
The fund was launched to promote international co-productions with Korea and provides production funding to feature-length fiction films and theatrical animations. Eligible projects must be produced under an international co-production agreement with Korea and have secured financing for at least 60% of their net production budgets.
“It is encouraging to see support for co-productions expanding since the launch of the Co-Production Support Fund last year, including the resumption of the Korean Film Council’s international co-production support programme,” said ACFM director Ellen Y.D. Kim.
“The three projects have already made substantial progress in co-production and financing through collaboration with numerous international partners. Now that these projects are close to bearing fruit, I hope this support – modest though it may be – will help put the final piece of the puzzle in place and bring each film to successful completion.”
ACF also offers a Script Development Fund, Post-Production Fund and Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund. It further connects projects with various BIFF and ACFM programmes, expanding opportunities for distribution and industry access.
This year’s ACFM is set to be held from October 10-13 in Busan.
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