18th Busan International Film Festival - Asian Project Market

The Busan International Film Festival Asian Project Market (APM) finalizes its 30 official project selections for 2013.
- Press Release - August 19 - 2013

The Busan APM is the birthplace of many creative film projects that have gone on to receive significant international attention. Many selected APM projects make it through to completion and receive positive responses from film festivals and international audiences. As such, APM continues to earn greater interest from filmmakers around the world. This year, Director Bong Joonho’s long-anticipated film, Snowpiercer (2013) – an official project from APM 2009 – opened in domestic theaters with high box office sales and significant critical acclaim.

APM 2013 Official Selections
(* Projects are in alphabetical order)

Project / Director / Country
Ant Story - Mostofa Sarwar FAROOKI - Bangladesh
Back to the North  - LIU Hao - China
Children of the Sun - Prasanna VITHANAGE - Sri Lanka
Dawn - Laila PAKALNINA - Latvia, Estonia
Ember - Zeki DEMIRKUBUZ - Turkey
End of Animal - Eron SHEEAN - Australia
Exotic Pictures - Edwin - Indonesia, Netherlands, Germany
The Fireflies - Tongpong CHANTARANGKUL - Thailand
Gyeongju -ZHANG Lu - Korea
Have a Nice Trip! - LEE Seo - Korea, China
Island News - Yuichi TAZAWA - Japan, Iran
Jannat - Maryam NAJAFI - UAE, Canada, Korea
Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade - KIM Jee-woon - Korea
The Kochebi - YOO Ji-tae - Korea
Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf - Susan YOUSSEF - Qatar, U.S., Netherlands
Monkey’s Mask - Garin NUGROHO - Indonesia
OTS Virus Project - KANG Yikwan - Korea
P - 048 - Kongdej JATURANRASMEE - Thailand
The President - Mohsen MAKHMALBAF - Iran, Georgia
Samuel over the Rainbow - Benito BAUTISTA - Philippines
The Sea of Recalls the Soul after Death - O Muel - Korea
Seoul Station - YEON Sangho - Korea
Sex Appeal - WANG Wei-ming - Taiwan, Hong Kong
Subtraction - Mani HAGHIGHI - Iran
Sweet Red Bean Paste - Naomi KAWASE - Japan
Thousand Weeds - Ounie LECOMTE - Korea, Japan
WHEN MIRZA COMES BACK - Kamal K.M. - India, Lithuania
WHILE THE WOMEN ARE SLEEPING - Wayne WANG - Japan, U.S.
The Window - Koutaiba AL-JANABI - Iraq, U.K., U.A.E.
The Wounded Angel - Emir BAIGAZIN - Kazakhstan

NEW PROJECTS FROM CELEBRATED DIRECTORSThis year’s APM selection is noted for its abundance of new projects by globally-anticipated directors. Director Kim Jee-woon is working on bringing to life the Japanese animation Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade, transforming Mamoru Oshii and his team’s sci-fi action animation into a live-action film. Kang Yikwan, who won two awards at the Tokyo International Film Festival with Juvenile Offender(2012), will be at APM for the first time this year with OTS Virus Project – an adaptation of an original piece by Korean novelist Lee Ji-min, who rose to fame with Modern Boy(2008). The King of Pigs(2011) director Yeon Sangho – whose APM project in 2012, The Fake, was invited to the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival – will be back at APM for a second, consecutive year with a new animation, Seoul Station. Finally, Yoo Ji-tae, whose feature debut Mai Ratima(2012) received the Deauville Asian Film Festival’s Jury Prize, will return to this year’s APM with The Kochebi.

Also attracting significant anticipation are new projects in progress by some of Asian cinema’s most representative directors, including director Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s The President, director Garin Nugroho’s Monkey’s Mask, and director Naomi Kawase’s Sweet Red Bean Paste. Director Mani Haghighi – winner of the Berlin International Film Festival’s NETPAC Award for Modest Reception(2012) – will present Subtraction at this year’s project market, and the celebrated director Wayne Wang of The Joy Luck Club(1993), Smoke(1995), and Chinese Box(1997), will also be at APM 2013 with WHILE THE WOMEN ARE SLEEPING.

CONTINUING THE BIFF BOND AT APM 2013
A number of new and ambitious projects are being taken on by directors who have built strong bonds with the Busan International Film Festival. Directors Emir Baigazin and Edwin, former fellows of the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Film Academy (AFA) and with experience participating in the Berlin International Film Festival’s competition section, will be back at Busan this year with The Wounded Angel and Exotic Pictures, respectively. Maryam Najafi, winner of the New Currents Award from last year’s Busan International Film Festival, is currently working on her latest, Jannat. Mostofa Farooki, whose film, Television, closed the Busan festival last year, is preparing Ant Story. Directors Liu Hao and Tongpong Chantarangkul – both of whom have previously received support from the Asian Cinema Fund – will each be presenting Back to the North and The Fireflies, respectively. Sri Lanka’s representative director, Prasanna Vithanage, who has maintained ties with the Busan International Film Festival since 1998, will be back again this year with Children of the Sun. Director Benito Bautista, whose film Serenade made its world premiere at Busan last year, will be returning this year with Samuel over the Rainbow.

MORE MULTI-NATIONAL, JOINT PRODUCTION PROJECTS
The trend for multi-national collaboration has been on the rise with 35% of the 249 projects submitted to this year’s APM and 11 of the 30 official project selections being international joint productions. Director Susan Youssef is working on a Qatar-U.S.-Netherlands collaboration, Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf; director Kamal K.M. is looking at an India-Lithuania joint production of WHEN MIRZA COMES BACK; director Koutaiba Al-Janabi’s The Window, is an Iraq-U.K.-U.A.E. joint production; director Yuichi Tazawa’s Island News is a collaboration between Japan and Iran; and director Wang Wei-ming’s Sex Appeal is a Taiwan-Hong Kong collaboration. The number of Korean, international joint production film ventures has also increased each year. A Brand New Life(2009) director Ounie Lecomte will be presenting the Korea-Japan joint production project, Thousand Weeds; and Missing Person(2008) director Lee Seo will be at this year’s APM with the Korea-China joint production, Have a Nice Trip!.

In conjunction with APM 2013, the Asian Film Market will take place October 7 – 10, with events such as Ties That Bind – a workshop cosponsored by the Udine Film Festival and EAVE, BOOK TO FILM, which has expanded into webcomics this year, the Korea Film Council (KOFIC)-sponsored Industry Forum, the Busan Film Commission (BFC) Project Pitching event, and Korea Creative Contents Agency (KOCCA)’s New Story Creation Project Pitching.


The 18th Busan International Film Festival will take place October 3 – 12, 2013.

The Asian Film Market and the Asian Project Market will take place October 7 – 10, 2013.