"Golden Fish" and "Trivial Things Chronicles" Lead Winners at Busan Asian Project Market

Two films have won five awards at the Busan Asian Project Market (APM). "Golden Fish," directed by Indonesian filmmaker Aditya Ahmad, received three awards, while "Tribeni Rai" by Indian filmmaker and "Chronicles of Trivial Things" (working title) received two awards. These awards were part of the first joint ceremony of the Asian Content & Film Market (ACFM). "Goldfish" won the QCinema […]

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

Indonesian director Aditya Ahmed's Redfish got three films and Indian filmmaker Tribni Rai's Chronicles of Minor Things (working title) got two films. The awards were part of the first combined Asian Film and Content Market (ACFM) ceremony.

"Goldfish" won QCinema Special Award, Kongchak Studio Award and VIPO Award. Ahmed's first film is set in South Sulawesi, where he grew up, and focuses on a boy who runs away from his father. Mohammad Zaidi and Miske Torisia are the producers. The project also received money from this year's ACF Script Development Fund. Selected for APM, where he attended business meetings. RELATED STORIES Danny Trejo 'never heard of Ben Shapiro' before signing up for The Daily Wire's Pawn Shop, son says. He's the golden goose of this silly project teams up with Disney for sneakers, apparel, and a Mickey Mouse-inspired global customization tour.

The Rai project was produced by Kislay and received the Sørfond and APM Busan awards. The APM Busan Award recognized its original story and structure, and the way it smoothly weaves the voice of a social issue into the narrative. The citation also said that its setting and themes could appeal to audiences outside India. Popular in Variety

Six other projects also won APM awards. "Casparina" directed by Reza Rahadian is a family drama that won the CJ ENM award from a personal story. The film "Red Hunger" directed by Kim Jinyoung won the Kantana Image Award and "Fateme" by Pano Ari 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 in a rapidly changing Taiwan. It won the CathayPlay Award and was praised for giving a character with profound mental disability and dignity. Park Seung'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 submissions reached a record 604 this year, from 48 countries. Its official selection had 30 projects from 17 countries, and eight of them shared awards in 11 categories.

"Today's awards recognize the promise of these projects and the stories that have yet to come to life. The ACFM awards don't end in Busan. They go to Jakarta, Manila, Oslo and Bangkok," said Ellen Y. Day, director of ACFM. Kim

At the ceremony, ACFM also honored three international co-productions with Korean participation that won the ACF Co-Production Support Fund in August. Fukada Koji's "Sugar" takes 60 million won ($41,700). Jakrawal Nilthamrong's "Rhizome" and Boo Junfeng's "Trinity" each received 40 million won ($27,800).

Dock Square presented two new awards at its ongoing documentary exhibition. Three projects won the Impact Asia Award, and each will receive $5,000. They were "The Moon is Watching You" by Ma Chi-Hong, "Ma Waves" by Jang Min-kyung and "The Restless Farewell" by Yang Nan and Hee Pyeong. "The Restless Farewell" is about young migrant workers in precarious jobs in Shanghai and also won the Newstapa Award. The prize includes 10 million KRW ($6,900) for production. Once the film is complete, it will have the chance to air a 60-minute segment on Newstapa Foundation channels.

From the Busan Story Market, Clayhouse's "My Upstairs Neighbors" and Ryoung Studio's "Friend Request" won the JAFF Market IP Connection Award. Both will go to Indonesia's Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival for the JAFF IP Connection program. In InnoAsia, imCore Corp. Taiwan won the MPS Award, which was voted on by the industry. Korean startups Lumicraft and Reproduction won the AWS Award, which comes with 10 million KRW ($6,900) in AWS cloud vouchers. Lumicraft builds an AI casting platform called Castlink. Reproduction makes Pre-Flow a tool for script analysis and production data sharing.

APM hosted 746 business meetings with 133 companies. Busan story market held 520 meetings with 136 companies. ACFM was held from October 10 to 13, and the Busan International Film Festival continues until October 15.