Busan Film Festival’s Market Notches Record Attendance Despite Reduced Budget, Headwinds

The Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents and Film Market wrapped up its 2023 edition with record attendance from over 2,479 industry representatives, according to organizers.

Despite industry-wide headwinds, attendees from sales and licensing companies, buyers, producers and investors gathered in Busan in an expanded exhibition hall at BEXCO, the main venue, to trade content ranging from films and videos to such intellectual property (IP) as novels and digital comics.

“Given the slow film market globally, I think many were eager to find new business opportunities and share information about the state of the market,” said Hyung-rae Kim, the festival representative. “There were a lot of visitors from Indonesia this year. The exhibition hall was packed. Overall, it went smoothly. We’re hoping to connect with other markets in Europe next year and set up new programs.”

The newly established Networking Lounge provided various networking opportunities, including the AFCNet Networking Reception, as well as the Happy Hour hosted by SPCINE, an audiovisual industry promotion organization from São Paulo, Brazil.

A total of 271 companies from 23 countries, including 32 first-timers, set up their booths this year. The European Film Promotion (EFP), which has been participating since Busan’s first Asian Film Market in 2006 and Unifrance have jointly opened the European Pavilion with 39 European film companies. Local heavyweights including CJ ENM, Lotte Entertainment and Showbox also participated, showcasing their latest K-content.

The Asian Project Market (APM), which focuses on co-production and investment, hosted more than 1,826 meetings during the market period, according to organizers. Among the projects chosen for this year’s APM were Rafael Manuel’s Filipina, Hirose Nanako’s What’s Love Got to Do With It? and Jiang Xiaoxuan’s To Kill a Mongolian Horse.

Busan Story Market, a key platform for crossover remakes in Asia, introduced 50 original IPs from across Asia this year. Through past markets, Secret, a Taiwanese film directed by and starring Jay Chou, was made into a Korean remake of the same title. Another Taiwanese drama series, Someday of One Day (2019), is set to soon premiere on Netflix under the title A Time Called You. In Japan, the Korean drama series Vincenzo (2021) was remade into a musical, while director Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning Parasite (2019) was made into a play.

This year, Toyou’s Dream, a webtoon-based production company, signed an agreement with Whynot Media to turn the company’s IP Real:Time:Love into a webtoon and Toyou’s Dream’s The Romantic Merger into “video content.” The two companies also agreed to co-produce Death Rider as a webtoon and video.

Expanded award categories welcomed emerging filmmakers from across Asia. The newly established LG OLED New Currents & Vision Award went to The Wrestler by Iqbal H. Chowdhury (Bangladesh/ Canada) and September 1923 by Mori Tatsuya (Japan).

The Kim Jiseok Award, named after the festival’s late programmer, went to Paradise by Sri Lanka’s Prasanna Vithanage and Bride Kidnapping by Kyrgzstan’s Mirlan Abdykalykov.

The BIFF Mecenat Award went to Park Soo-nam and Park Maeui’s The Voices of the Silenced, a film that looks into the history of comfort women and Korean laborers forced to serve under the Japanese imperial army; and Republic by Jin Jiang (Singapore/ China) about the lives of young musicians.

The NETPAC Award went to Thailand’s Patiparn Boontarig who directed Solids by the Seashore. The Sonje Award went to Mydear a film about individuals with disabilities by directors Jeon Dohee and Kim Sohee, and Weeks Later by Iran’s Nasrin Mohammadpour, addressing the reality and suffering of Iranian women.

“It was moving to witness the vision, aesthetic inspirations and profound interest and passion for social issues through the eyes of 10 new directors in this year’s selections for the New Currents section,” said the jury led by veteran Korean film critic Jung Sung-il. “Our hearts were moved as we watched Solids by the Seashore.”

In spite of the internal feud caused by the allegations of sexual misconduct and nepotism surrounding the appointment of certain candidates in leadership positions, the festival expressed that the event had been successful overall.

“Despite the reduced budget, we were fortunate to accomplish a successful event thanks to the support of the audience, actor Song Kang-ho who served as the festival’s host, and many directors who joined the festival,” said Nam Dong-chul, the festival’s interim director. “People talk a lot about K-content, but there seems to be less conversation about how to create a better environment for the film industry. We are looking for a collaborative response.”