The Asian Project Market (APM) 2021 was held for three days from October 12 to October 14.
APM, Asia's largest co-production market, previously announced the 25 final projects from 15 different countries in August. This year, APM hosted online meetings for international participants and simultaneously held on-site meetings for domestic attendees. A total of 100 participants from 91 companies and organizations participated in the 515 official business meetings conducted during the APM, reaffirming the high level of interest in the selected projects.
The propagation of participation from Korea, Taiwan, France, Hong Kong, and Japan, of female directors and producers' projects, and of Northeast and Southeast Asian projects caught much attention.
The awardees for the 7 sections of the Asian Project Market 2021 Awards were announced on the last day of the APM, October 14. Jéro Yun's Secret of My Father, which will be the last addition to the director's film series trilogy about family; Kamila Andini's Before, Now & Then, a film based on a true story and depicted through a delicate storytelling; Lim Sun-ae's Fixed Love, Fixed Girl, a film that is expected to show a different perspective to a story about disabilities; Lives of Crime, a collaborative project by up and coming female filmmakers in Taiwan; If wood could cry, it would cry blood, which is an adaptation film of the autobiographical novel Tam Van Phong Dao by the famous Vietnamese comedian, Mac Can; Abinash Bikram Shah's Elephants in the Fog, presenting a strong story of trans women, who are ostracized by the society; Spectrum by director Kim Bora, who gathered much interest after being invited to various prestigious international film festivals for her film, House of Hummingbird (2019).
Winners of the 2021 Asian Project Market Awards
(*Project/Director/Producer/Production Country)
● Busan Award : Secret of My Father / Jero YUN / MO Sung-Jin / Korea
Financed by Busan Metropolitan City, the Busan Award commits 15,000 USD in cash to one selected project chosen from the official APM line-up. Busan Metropolitan City administers additional annual funds, aiming to lend stronger financial support to promising filmmakers participating at APM.
● CJ ENM Award : Before, Now & Then / Kamila ANDINI / Gita FARA, Ifa ISFANSYAH / Indonesia
CJ ENM Award commits 10,000 USD in cash to an international project. The ‘First Look Option' regarding production, investment, sales and distribution of the awarded project may be bestowed by CJ ENM through discussions between the winner and CJ ENM before presenting the award.
● KB Award : Fixed Love, Fixed Girl / LIM Sun-ae / PARK Kwan-su / Korea
KB Award commits 10,000,000 KRW in cash to one selected Korean project chosen from the official APM line-up.
● NUTRILITE Award : Lives of Crime / HSIEH Pei-Ju, YANG Chieh, HUANG Dan-Chi, LEE I-Hui / Estela Valdivieso CHEN, Hazel WU / Taiwan
NUTRILITE Award commits 10,000,000 KRW in cash to one selected project chosen from the official APM line-up.
● ArteKino International Award : If wood could cry, it would cry blood / NGUYEN PHAN Linh Dan / NGO THI Bich Hanh / Vietnam
ARTE Kino awards 6,000 EUR in cash to a project chosen from the official APM line-up. The winner may allow the screening of the film on the ARTE Kino Festival website.
● Pop Up Film Residency Award : Elephants in the Fog / Abinash Bikram SHAH / Anup POUDEL / Nepal
Pop Up Film Residency and APM collaborate to offer one selected filmmaker with an APM official project an opportunity to take part in an individual, tailor-made 3 week-long residency program in Europe in 2022.
● MONEFF Award : Spectrum / KIM Bora / BYUN Seungmin / Korea
MONEFF Award commits 20,000 USD in post-production service and facilities, especially editing or VFX to a project chosen from the official APM line-up.
