‘Goldfish,’ ‘A Chronicle of Minor Things’ Lead Busan Asian Project Market Winners

Two films have won five of the prizes at the Busan Asian Project Market (APM).

Indonesian director Aditya Ahmad’s “Goldfish” took three and Indian filmmaker Tribeny Rai’s “A Chronicle of Minor Things” (working title) took two. The awards were part of the Asian Contents & Film Market’s (ACFM) first combined ceremony.

“Goldfish” won the QCinema Special Award, the Kongchak Studio Award and the VIPO Award. Ahmad’s first feature is set in South Sulawesi, where he grew up, and centers on a boy who flees his father. Muhammad Zaidy and Meiske Taurisia are producing. The project also received money from this year’s ACF Script Development Fund. It was selected for APM, where it took part in business meetings.

Rai’s project is produced by Kislay and took the Sørfond Award and the APM Busan Award. The APM Busan Award recognized its original story and structure, and the way Rai works a social issue quietly into the narrative. The citation also said its setting and themes could appeal to audiences outside India.

Six other projects also won APM awards. Actor-director Reza Rahadian’s “Casparina” is a family drama built from a personal story. It won the CJ ENM Award. Kim Jinyeong’s “Red Hunger” won the Kantana Picture Award, and Panu Aree’s “Fātimah” won the Kantana Virtual Production Award. Yen Hao-hsuan’s “Uncle” draws on the director’s own life to look at family, shame and belonging as Taiwan changes fast. It took the CathayPlay Award and was praised for giving a character with an intellectual disability full depth and dignity. Park Syeyoung’s “Satellite of Love” won the Songwon Award, and E Del Mundo’s “Once Upon a Time in the Philippines” won the ArteKino International Award.

APM’s submissions hit a record 604 this year, from 48 countries. Its official selection had 30 projects from 17 countries, and eight of them shared prizes across 11 categories.

“Today’s awards recognize the promise of these projects and the stories they have yet to bring to life. ACFM’s awards do not end in Busan. They travel on to Jakarta, Manila, Oslo and Bangkok,” said ACFM director Ellen Y.D. Kim.

At the ceremony, ACFM also honored three international co-productions with Korean involvement that won the ACF Co-Production Support Fund in August. Fukada Koji’s “Grateful” gets KRW60 million ($41,700). Jakrawal Nilthamrong’s “Rhizome” and Boo Junfeng’s “Trinity” get KRW40 million ($27,800) each.

Doc Square gave out two new prizes at its documentary work-in-progress showcase. Three projects won the Impact Asia Award, and each receives $5,000. They were Ma Chi Hang’s “Moon Is Watching You,” Jang Minkyung’s “Our Waves,” and “Restless Farewell,” directed by Yang Nan and He Peiyun. “Restless Farewell” is about young migrant workers in precarious jobs in Shanghai, and it also won the Newstapa Award. That prize includes KRW10 million ($6,900) for production. Once the film is complete, it will also have the chance to screen a 60-minute cut on the Newstapa Foundation’s channels.

From the Busan Story Market, “My Upstairs Neighbors” from Clayhouse and “Friend Request” from Ryoung Studio won the JAFF Market IP Connection Award. Both will go to Indonesia’s Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival for its JAFF IP Connection program. At InnoAsia, Taiwan’s imCore Corp. won the MPS Award, chosen by industry votes. Korean startups Lumicraft and Reproduction took the AWS Award, which comes with KRW10 million ($6,900) in AWS cloud vouchers. Lumicraft makes an AI casting platform called Castlink. Reproduction makes Pre-Flow, a tool for screenplay analysis and sharing production data.

APM hosted 746 business meetings with 133 companies. The Busan Story Market held 520 meetings with 136 companies. ACFM ran Oct. 10–13, and the Busan International Film Festival continues through Oct. 15.