Asian Project Market, the investment and co-production platform of Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), has selected 30 projects from 20 countries for this year’s edition.
The line-up features three projects from Japan, which is currently experiencing a cinematic renaissance, including 13 from Mori Tatsuya, winner of BIFF’s New Currents Award in 2023 for September 1923, as well projects from Hirose Nanako and Igarashi Kohei.
Projects from Central and South Asia also stand out with new works from Kyrgyzstan’s Dastan Zhapar Ryskeldi; Sri Lanka’s Prasanna Vithanage, who won the Jiseok Award in 2023 for Paradise; Pakistan’s Eshah Shakeeland; and India’s Dominic Sangma, Tribeny Rai Stenzin Tankyong and Payal Sethi (see full list of projects below).
China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are represented by projects and filmmakers including Tibetan female director Kangdrun with Orlo In The House; Wang Zhiyi’s Unripe; Uncle, a feature debut by Taiwan’s Yen Hao-hsuan; and Whisper Of The Silence from Hong Kong emerging director So Chak Long.
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Several projects from Southeast Asia have also been selected, including from leading Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya (Trigger Warning, This City Is A Battlefield); Reza Rehadian, who won four prizes at BIFF’s Vision Awards last year for On Your Lap; and Aditya Ahmad, who is presenting his feature debut after winning Best Short Film at Venice film festival’s Orizzonti section in 2018. The selection also includes projects from Thailand’s Panu Aree, Cambodia’s Chheangkea, Malaysia’s Tan Seng Kiat and the Philippines’ E Del Mundo.
The line-up of seven Korean projects includes Park Deul-bi from Lee Sangcheol, whose previous films Jesus Hospital, The Snob and Blesser were presented at BIFF; All’s Well That Ends Well by Choi Hyunyoung, whose Memories Of A Dead End was presented in Korean Cinema Today – Panorama; and The Family Table from Lee Hanju, whose first feature The Waves Of Winter was invited to Korean Cinema Today – Vision.
Asian Project Market is taking place during the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), with both events running October 10-13 at the BEXCO convention centre. BIFF is taking place October 6 to 15 at the Busan Cinema Centre and multiple other venues across the city.
Asian Project Market 2026:
13 (Japan)
Dir: Mori Tatsuya
Prods: Lee Bongwoo, Nagaki Mahiro
All’s Well That Ends Well (Korea)
Dir: Choi Hyunyoung
Prods: Jeon Jiseong, Kwon Mizy
Babak (Germany, India)*
Dir: Payal Sethi
Prod: Khaled Homsi
Bon Voyage (Iran, US, France)*
Dir: Mehrnoush Alia
Prods: Mohammad Aghebati, Behrooz Hashemian
Bosogo (Kyrgyzstan)
Dir: Dastan Zhapar Ryskeldi
Prods: Nurzhan Idrisova, Suium Sulaimanova, Dastan Zhapar Ryskeldi
Casparina (Indonesia)
Dir: Reza Rahadian Matulessy
Prods: Arya Ibrahim, Gita Fara
A Chronicle Of Minor Things (working title) (India)
Dir: Tribeny Rai
Prod: Kislay Kislay
Dancers (Pakistan)
Dir: Eshah Shakeel
Prods: Iram Bilal, Haris Khan
Dog Fight (Korea)
Dir: Ryu Hyunkyung
Prod: Kim Sehun
The Family Table (Korea)
Dir: Lee Hanju
Prod: Kang Jeongwon
Fātimah (Thailand)
Dir: Panu Aree
Prod: Panu Aree
Goldfish (Indonesia)*
Dir: Aditya Ahmad
Prods: Muhammad Zaidy Amiruddin, Meiske Taurisia
Idiot (India, France)
Dir: Stenzin Tankyong
Prods: Ritu Sarin, Rajesh Thanickan
Islands (Sri Lanka, Singapore, India)
Dir: Prasanna Vithanage
Prods: Fran Borgia, Anto Chittilappilly
Kuroshio (Korea, Taiwan, Japan)
Dir: Park Joonho
Prod: Byun Sungbin
Little Phnom Penh (Cambodia, US, France)
Dir: Chheangkea
Prods: Daniel Mattes, Karen Madar
Once Upon A Time In The Philippines (Philippines, France, Norway)
Dir: E Del Mundo
Prods: Kyle Nieva, Gian Carlo Librojo, Pamela L. Reyes, Marie Fuglestein Lægreid, Linda
Bolstad Strønen, Ingrid Lill Høgtun, Idris Lettifi
One Fine Day (Malaysia, Taiwan)
Dir: Tan Seng Kiat
Prods: Sylvia Chang, Elyce Chin, Lim Shu Jia, E.N. Lee
Orlo In The House (China)
Dir: Kangdrun
Prod: Ma Shuang, Sonam Tsering, Zhang Qianqian
Park Deul-bi (Korea)
Dir: Lee Sangcheol
Prod: Shin Aga
Red Hunger (Korea)
Dir: Kim Jinyeong
Prod: Eden Lee
Satellite Of Love (Korea, Germany)
Dir: Park Syeyoung
Prod: Philippe Bober
Talk To Me When You Are Dead (Singapore, China)
Dir: Alvin Lee
Prods: Anthony Chen, Gina Tan
Uncle (Taiwan)
Dir: Yen Hao-hsuan
Prods: Patrick Mao Huang, Sung Chin-hsuan
Unripe (China, France)
Dir: Wang Zhiyi
Prod: Emmanuel Chaumet
Veil Of Dust (India, China)
Dir: Dominic Sangma
Prod: Xu Jianshang
Whisper Of The Silence (Hong Kong, China)
Dir: So Chak Long
Prod: San Zuolong
The Wife Who Can See Dead People (Or Jinn) (Indonesia)
Dir: Mouly Surya
Prods: Rama Adi, Gita Fara
Wings Of Return (working title) (Japan)
Dir: Hirose Nanako
Prod: Ohinata Jun
Yours (Japan)
Dir: Igarashi Kohei
Prod: Yagi Yusuke
*Asian Cinema Fund (ACF) Script Development Fund Recipients
