The 30th Busan International Film Festival is shaping up to be a landmark celebration of Asian independent cinema as both the Asian Cinema Fund (ACF) and the Asian Project Market (APM) announce their 2025 selections following a year of unprecedented submissions.
The ACF, the festival’s longstanding initiative under the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), selected 14 new projects this year across script development, post-production, and documentaries. It follows a 23% spike in applications, reaching 850, which is the highest in its history. These grants aim to uplift independent voices by offering not only financial aid but also direct access to industry platforms like the Asian Project Market.
Meanwhile, the APM, Asia’s largest co-production and financing hub returns with a curated lineup of 30 film projects from 15 countries, selected from a record 455 submissions. The market, running from 20-23 September at BEXCO in Busan, serves as a strategic meeting point for global investors, sales agents, and emerging Asian talent.
Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt is among the notable producers featured this year, backing Difficult Daughters, helmed by Soni Razdan. Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia joins the slate as producer on The Last of Them Plagues, directed by Kunjila Mascillamani, in collaboration with Jeo Baby and actor Kani Kusruti. South Asia’s growing influence is unmistakable, with six projects selected, including three from women directors and two from Bangladesh.
ACF’s Script Development Fund continues to highlight emerging visionaries, awarding support to Christine Haroutounian (Black Star Angel, Armenia), Eve Baswel (Heaven Help Us!, Philippines), and Li Yingtong (New Life, China). The latter is also featured in this year’s APM lineup alongside producer Annie Song, representing a standout collaboration from the 2024 Chanel X BIFF Asian Film Academy.
Four post-production grants were extended to features that will premiere at the upcoming festival in September, including India’s If on a Winter’s Night by Sanju Surendran and The River that Holds Our Hands (Hong Kong/China/Vietnam) by Chen Jianhang. Korean titles include Jeong Seung-o’s Coming of Age and Lim Junghwan’s The Observer’s Journal.
Across APM’s selection, genre diversity and political resonance are front and center from LGBTQ+ narratives to stories addressing war, family estrangement, and displacement. Indian director Pradip Kurbah returns with Moon after winning accolades in Moscow earlier this year, while Biplob Sarkar’s The Magical Men explores queer identity through an international co-production born in Busan.
In the documentary sphere, ACF’s AND Fund backed seven projects that combine inventive storytelling with pressing social commentary. Highlights include Cambodian-French filmmaker Neary Adeline Hay’s Kampuchea, Indonesian director Armin Septiexan’s Oma, and Min Min Hein’s untitled feature from Myanmar. Korean documentaries also dominate with titles such as Our Complex, Sea, Star, Woman, and Weathering Architect, delving into space, history, and memory through deeply personal and architectural lenses.
Female-led projects are notably prominent across both platforms. West Asia contributes four films from acclaimed women directors, while Taiwan, Japan, and Korea showcase fresh narratives centered on women and youth. Korea alone fields seven APM entries this year, led by Gilddong director Park Riwoong and spanning everything from human drama to occult horror. The Busan International Film Festival will take place from 17-26 September at the Busan Cinema Center, with ACFM and its key markets ACF and APM held concurrently. Winners from the APM will be announced at its awards ceremony on 23 September.
About Author
Leave a Reply