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The Producers Guild of Korea (Pgk) and the Association of Indonesian Film Producers (Aprofi) are deepening their collaboration following their renewed memorandum of understanding, at the inaugural Jaff Market in Yogyakarta, where horror projects dominate the slate of potential co-productions.

The partnership, which first began in 2013, comes at a time when Indonesia’s film industry is experiencing significant growth. “The Indonesian film market has reached 74 million admissions this year with three weeks still to go,” says Aprofi chair Edwin Nazir (“The Science of Fictions”). “So even though we have 280 million [population] it’s still just very big room to grow.”

Pgk president Lee Dong-ha (“Train to Busan”) sees the timing as strategic. “The Indonesian film industry has become one of the most dynamic in the world, and South Korea has become a mature place, especially in terms of awareness. That’s naturally why the MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] between the two organizations was renewed after the pandemic.

Actress Moon So-ri and Lee Dong-ha, CEO of RedPeter Film Company received the honorary Etoile du Cinema award at the Busan International Film Festival (Biff) on Saturday, October 5, at an event hosted in partnership with Screen International.

The ceremony took place during ‘French Night’ at Biff at the Paradise Hotel in Busan, held by the French Embassy in Korea and Unifrance.

Moon So-ri is an actress, director and screenwriter. She is best known for leading roles in films including Lee Chang-dong’s Oasis and in Im Sang-soo’s A Good Lawyer’s Wife.

Lee Dong-ha founded RedPeter in 2014, going on to...

The Producers Guild of Korea (Pgk) launched an International Co-production Hotline at the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm) in Busan on Sunday (October 6), to aid collaboration between producers in Korea and overseas.

The initiative is aimed at international producers seeking Korean co-production, who will be able to submit a one-page proposal about their project. It will then be distributed to 250 Korean producers. Interested parties will have up to a week to respond directly to the proposal.

“There were many foreign producers who wanted to coproduce with Korea, but there was no practical channel for them to do so,” said Pgk...

The Producers Guild of Korea (Pgk) launched an International Co-production Hotline at the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm) in Busan on Sunday (October 6), to aid collaboration between producers in Korea and overseas.

The initiative is aimed at international producers seeking Korean co-production, who will be able to submit a one-page proposal about their project. It will then be distributed to 250 Korean producers. Interested parties will have up to a week to respond directly to the proposal.

“There were many foreign producers who wanted to coproduce with Korea, but there was no practical channel for them to do so,” said Pgk...

In the job for five months, Ellen Kim, the new head of Busan’s market has started to put her imprint on the industry component of the Busan International Film Festival.

The four-day market kicks off on Saturday and is expected to welcome slightly higher numbers of executives, booths and conference speakers. Kim says that uptrend may be because of – not in spite of – the current turmoil in the entertainment industry.

The Market’s novelty this year is the Producers’ Hub. What is that about?

At Cannes this year the Korean Film Council (Kofic) operated KoPick and took five producers to the festival. Lee Dong-ha, president of the Producers’ Guild of Korea, suggested that we in Busan do something more to help producers. The Producers’ Hub is modelled on the Producers’ Network structure at Cannes and was not something the Busan Acfm had not budgeted for. But Kofic stepped in...

Artificial intelligence (AI) will quickly become a powerful “creative partner” for screenwriters and filmmakers, according to AI experts at Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Bifan) in South Korea.

A three-day conference dedicated to the emergence of AI in the film industry featured discussions that tackled challenges around copyright and privacy but also highlighted the opportunities presented by the fast-growing technology.

“It is a tool that will take over all the work you hate,” said Maciej Zèmojcin, CEO of Polish virtual production company PixelRace, of technology being developed to aid writers. “It will be like a co-pilot on steroids, automating elements that the screenwriter really hates.