Busan Film Festival Launching In-Person Story Market as Demand for Korean Content Booms
The Asian Contents and Film Market, the industry component of the Busan International Film Festival, is to launch an in-person story market at this year’s event.
The ACFM has for ten years operated what it called an Entertainment Intellectual Property Market. But where the E-IP Market has been a one-way pitching event, the new Busan Story Market is conceived as something functionally closer to a conventional rights market, with buyers and sellers meeting at sales booths, but trading books, webtoons, web novels, games, and stories.
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The Busan Story Market is an outgrowth of the E-IP event and will operate in addition to the continuing pitching sessions. It will run Oct. 8-11, 2022, at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO).
The ACFM will also operate other recurring industry support strands, including the Asian Project Market (Oct. 9-11), Platform Busan (a platform that expands the production environment by establishing a network for film professionals (Oct. 8-11), a conference series (Oct 8-11), and the conventional screenings and sales market for finished films.
The market also previously announced the revival of the Asian Cinema Fund, a bursary program.
Organizers said that the Busan Story Market will cooperate with official partners, the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) and Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Organization. It will also host book IP from ASEAN counterparts in Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. They expect the participation of Korean IP support bodies Seoul International Book Fair and the Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency, publishers and webtoon and web novel producers.
Organizers said that they expect “an increase in the number of international participants due to the high demand and popularity of K-contents, such as ‘Parasite’ and ‘Squid Game’.” Participation of overseas executives will also be made easier by Korea’s partial relaxation of its border controls as COVID begins to be treated as endemic.
The last two editions of the ACFM were largely online affairs with only the E-IP happening in person.
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