Five Takeaways From Busan’s Expanded Asian Film Market

The Busan International Film Festival‘s industry sidebar, the Asian Contents & Film Market, wrapped on Tuesday night and showed how the local indie film industry has survived despite the economic slowdown and a theatrical business that still hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic.

The expanded, four-day market brought together 2,644 participants from 1,031 companies across 51 countries. As many as 138 films were screened at the market. Some of the key takeaways from the Asian Content & Film market included the Korea box office challenges, the rise of soft money fueling local production, drop in film distribution and sales deals, Busan market’s growing importance, vibrant South Asian film biz

Related Stories

VIP+

Despite ‘Joker’ Folly and ‘The Penguin’ Success, DC Studios Still Untested

'Else' Review: A Pandemic Romance Morphs Into Bleak Body Horror in Bonkers French Flick

KOREA BOX OFFICE BLUES

Korea’s theatrical box office is depressed and not expected to recover any time soon. In the pre-COVID era, Korea was the world’s fourth largest box office territory, bigger than more populous or economically heftier countries including the U.K., France, or India. This was due to the Korean population’s high cinema attendance rate. This habit has cratered under the combined impact of COVID, streaming and a weakened local production sector. That has an impact on the rights trade and on film markets. CJ ENM, Korea’s largest content firm, did not even bother with a market booth this year, opting for a mega party and a half-day conference instead.

Speaking at a high-powered distribution panel, Jung Taewon of South Korea’s Jinjin Pictures, said: “We are still experiencing slow-paced recovery from COVID, but its slightly better than last year and we have a few strong local titles. But I think our expectations have to be adjusted a little bit lower than before.”

INTRA-ASIAN CO-PRODUCTIONS

Intra-Asian co-productions are all the rage. Soft money is increasingly available from a growing range of public and private sources, thus enabling production. Many of these sources can be combined with other funds from the Middle East and Europe. Six or seven-way co-productions are increasingly common. And there is an ever-expanding number of project markets. A new one in Da Nang, Vietnam, for next June was announced this week, joining the Jogja (Indonesia) market that debuts this December and existing players including Taiwan’s TCCF, Singapore stalwart ATF, the Philippines’ QCinema, Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Souk Project Market, and India’s Film Bazaar, Frames and Cinevesture.

But film distribution and sales are still problematic. One of the continuing discussions at the market was the evolving landscape of cross-continental film distribution and sales, highlighting the growing importance of social media, the enduring significance of film festival awards and the delicate balance between established auteurs and emerging voices, in finding box office success.

MARKET GROWTH

The 20-year-old Busan market is growing at more than 6%. It has diversified from being a largely rights sales event for completed pictures to one in which pitching of novels and webtoons sits side-by-side with a project market for art house films and an impressive conference line up. A plausible explanation, provided by Busan Market director Ellen Kim, for the growing attendance in the face of market adversity is that people are coming to talk, learn and understand the future direction of the industry.

European Film Promotion had 28 sales companies at Busan, while the U.K. had a separate British stand with seven companies. Oliver Brunskill, international sales manager at the U.K.’s Altitude Film Entertainment, said: “It’s been great to be able to see a lot of buyers who don’t normally attend markets such as EFM. So it’s been good to catch up with them. All our diaries have been full, we’ve seen a lot of people. I think over the next few weeks, you’ll definitely see an impact in sales.”

Italy had a pavilion for the first time. Six Italian sales companies and four production companies which are attending Producer Hub, which is also a first-time initiative at Busan, participated. “We are trying to push more collaborations in terms of co-producing films and then distributing Italian films here in Korea, and then also presenting Italy as a location for all the Korean companies that want to come to Italy and shoot there,” said Roberto Stabile, head of special projects, directorate for Cinema at Cinecittà.

Some of the Italian production companies have already found Korean partners who are interested in shooting in Italy Nov. 15-18, Stabile and his team will be in Seoul for Italian Screens, an initiative from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture. The main purpose is presenting Italian contemporary films, but at the same time to present the Italian tools and incentives for all the people who are interested in collaborating with Italy. The same event is being planned for next year’s Busan. And talks are on between Italian government bodies and the Korean Film Council to increase collaboration between the two film industries.

VIBRANT SOUTH ASIAN FILM BIZ

South Asia may be one of the healthiest parts of the industry at the moment. Not only are its big blockbusters like “Kalki 2898 AD,” which had a rambunctious screening in Busan, having a global impact, there is a healthy tussle between movies originating from Bollywood (Hindi-language films) and those from the south of the country, which are gaining nationwide and international releases. Five projects among the 30 at Busan’s Asian Project Market (from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) and big stands from a couple of companies, point to further outreach. During Busan, it was revealed that “Kalki 2998 AD” will release in Japan and is additionally eyeing a China outing.

SCHEDULING CONFLICT

Market dates are in flux. Busan is considering moving earlier (for one year, due to holidays). And Toronto, pitching a new festival and official market combination, is believed to be considering moving to October, which would then represent a direct challenge to the American Film Market. The AFM this year moves from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. But many people wonder if that is a short-term move. And several Asian rights sellers which were previous AFM exhibitors, told Variety that they will not make the trip to the desert this year.