The Busan film festival’s Asian Project Market is set to welcome several of the region’s top auteurs either as producers or prospective directors at its next edition in October.
APM organizers Thursday unveiled 30 projects to be presented during a four-day round of one-on-one meetings and pitching sessions.
India’s Rima Das (“Tora’s Husband”) will pitch “Malati, My Love.” Japan’s Fukada Koji (“Love Life,” “Harmonium”) will pitch “Nagi Notes.” Indonesia’s Makbul Mubarak (“Autobiography”) will pitch “Watch It Burn.”
Among the successful producers adding their weight to APM contenders are: Patrick Mao Huang (“Moneyboys,” “Tiger Stripes”) selling Peter Ho’s project “Appetite for Desire”; Jeremy Chua (“Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” “Autobiography”), pitching Rafael Manuel’s “Filipinana”; Ichiyama Shozo (“Ash Is Puirest White”) pitching Song Fang’s Japan-China collaboration “Full Moon”; Fran Borgia (“A Land Imagined,” “Tiger Stripes”) pitching Aakash Chhabra’s “I’ll Smile in September”; and Tan Chui Mui (“Barbarian Invasion”) pitching Jian Xiaoshuan’s “To Kill A Mongolian Horse.”
The project market and the Asian Contents & Film Market are both scheduled to operate Oct. 7-10. The Busan International Film Festival will run Oct. 4-13.
Asian Project Market selections 2023
(alphabetical order by English title)
1 “Appetite for Desire” dir. Peter HO prods. KAO Chun Ting, HUNG Hsiu Lin, Patrick Mao HUANG (Hong Kong – Taiwan)
2 “The Botanist in the White House” dir. JING Yi prods. SHAN Zuolong, QI Ai (China)
3 “Chronicles of a Confession” dir. Prateek VATS prod. Prateek VATS (India)
4 “Daughters of the Sea” dir. Martika RAMIREZ ESCOBAR prods. Monster JIMENEZ, Rajiv IDNANI (Philippines)
5 “Filipiñana” dir. Rafael MANUEL prod. Jeremy CHUA (Philippines – Singapore – U.K.)
6 “First Step” dir. YOON Danbi prod. KIM Gi-hyeon (Korea)
7 “For the Girls of the Tribe” dir. Arsalan AMIRI prods. Ida PANAHANDEH, Ruth Yoshie LINTON (Iraq – Turkey)
8 “Friends of This Life” dir. KIM Mi-young prod. Jenny YANG (Korea)
9 “Full Moon” dir. SONG Fang prod. ICHIYAMA Shozo (China – Japan)
10 “I’ll Smile in September” dir. Aakash CHHABRA prods. Sanjay GULATI, Fran BORGIA (India – Singapore)
11 “The Last Semester” dir. LEE Ranhee prod. SHIN Woonseop (Korea)
12 “Madness and Honey Days” dir. Ahmed Yassin prods. AL DARADJI, Maytham JBARA (Iraq – Canada)
13 “Malti My Love” dir. Rima DAS prods. Rima DAS (India)
14 “Morning Star” dir. KANG Yi Kwan prod. PARK Jooyoung (Korea)
15 “Mr. Tiger” dir. HSU Chao-Jen prods. Stefano CENTINI, CHANG Chuti, CHOI Kwang-suk (Taiwan)
16 “Mr. Van” dir. Kim Quy BUI prods. NGUYEN Mai, NGUYEN Hong Quan (Vietnam – Germany)
17 “Nagi Notes” dir. FUKADA Koji prod. OSANAI Terutaro (Japan- France)
18 “Pay the Bill” Assel AUSHAKIMOVA prods. Assel YERZHANOVA, Assel AUSHAKIMOVA (Kazakhstan)
19 “The Road to Elysium” dir. LIM Sun-ae prod. KANG Jiyoun (Korea)
20 “Snake & Scorpion” dir. LEE Dongwoo prod. CHO Young Kag (Korea)
21 “SOL dir. HASEI Kohki prods. ISHIGE Eisuke, OHNO Atsuko (Japan -France)
22 “Son & Sun” dir. KAWAWADA Emma prod. IDE Yoko (Japan)
23 “Southern Summer dir. LAN Tian prods. TENG Lee Yein, HUO Chuxin, YU Ru (China – Malaysia)
24 “Suraiya” dir. Robiul Alam ROBI prods. Fazle Hasan SHISHIR, Shibabrata BARMAN (Bangladesh)
25 “Tarkam” dir. Teddy SOERIAATMADJA prod. Eric PRIMASETIO (Indonesia)
26 “To Kill a Mongolian Horse” dir. JIANG Xiaoxuan prods. TAN Chui Mui, MO Zhulin (China)
27 “Watch It Burn” dir. Makbul MUBARAK prod. Yulia Evina BHARA (Indonesia)
28 “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” HIROSE Nanako prods. KITAHARA Eiji, KOIDE Daiju (Japan)
29 “Where the Rivers Run South” dir. Suraj PAUDEL prods. Anup POUDEL, Abinash Bikram SHAH (Nepal)
30 “The Women Who Brush Their Teeth Outside” dir. SHIN Sun prod. KIM Soon-mo (Korea)