Europe Boasts Strong Presence at Busan Festival and Market
A total of 39 European companies, surpassing 2022, will promote and sell films from the continent at Busan International Film Festival’s accompanying Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM).
Of these, 32 will be onsite while seven more will participate online. The companies will operate under the Europe! Umbrella, a long-standing collaboration between EFP and Unifrance that has been an ACFM regular for years.
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To help with the promotion of European cinema to East Asia at the market, EFP is awarding Film Sales Support (FSS) to 10 sales companies to enhance their digital and physical marketing campaigns. Alpha Violet, Fandango, Film Factory Entertainment, Films Boutique, Indie Sales, Kinology, Latido Films, LevelK, Pulsar Content and TrustNordisk will benefit from the support.
The European presence at the festival includes French-Canadian co-production “The Beast” by Bertrand Bonello (Kinology); Polish Oscar entry “The Peasants” by D.K. and Hugh Welchman (Poland, Serbia, Lithuania / New Europe Film Sales); “An Endless Sunday” by Alain Parroni (Italy, Germany, Ireland / Fandango); Danish Oscar entry “The Promised Land” by Nikolaj Arcel (Denmark / TrustNordisk); “Holly” by Fien Troch (Belgium, Netherland, Luxembourg, France / MK2); and “Green Border” by Agnieszka Holland (Poland, Czech Republic, France, Belgium / Films Boutique) screening in the festival’s Icons section.
The annual Europe! cocktail party, in cooperation with Cinécitta and the festival will see European talents introduce their films in person. Expected to attend are directors Bertrand Bonello (“The Beast”), Luc Besson (“Dogman”), producer Thomas Reichlin (“Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry”), Goran Stolevski (“Housekeeping for Beginners”), director Anaïs Tellenne and lead actor Raphaël Thiéry (“The Dreamer”), Alain Parroni (“An Endless Sunday) and Ivan Pribicevic (“The Peasants”).
“This year’s selection of the Busan International Film Festival not only includes films by masters and award-winning films from other prestigious film festivals, but also films by young directors or directors who are still relatively unknown in Korea. ‘Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry,’ ‘An Endless Sunday’ and ‘The Peasants’ are representative of this new wave of filmmakers. In addition, more than 15 films co-produced by Asian and European countries have been selected, reconfirming the Busan International Film Festival’s role as an leading showcase of collaboration for Asian films and European films,” said BIFF programmer Seo Seunghee.
“We are delighted to see such a large number of European films in the festival program. The festival and market are both very important places for promoting European films outside of Europe. The enthusiastic and warm welcome given to European cinema by the festival’s audience underscores the event’s significance in the region as a promotional platform,” added EFP deputy managing director Jo Mühlberger.
The FSS support was confirmed by the national film promotion institutes, Cinecittà, Czech Film Centre, Danish Film Institute, ICAA (Spain), National Film Institute Hungary, Swedish Film Institute and Unifrance. The Europe! Umbrella and FSS are supported by Creative Europe MEDIA of the European Union. The EFP member film promotion institutes, German Films and ICAA (Spain) are financially contributing towards the Umbrella.
The ACFM takes place Oct. 7-10. The festival runs Oct. 4-13.
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