Busan Market Chief Wants Four-Day Fair to Run All Year

Busan's film market should never shut its doors, its chief says.

Asian Contents & Film Market director Ellen Y.D. Kim told Variety she wants to stretch the four-day trade fair in Busan into a service that runs all year. She calls the idea ACFM 365, in an interview published on 10 October 2026. Variety

ACFM 365 would be a permanent database and matchmaking service. It would combine market data from The A Report, the market's research publication, with the matchmaking work of the Asian Project Market and the Busan Story Market, the sections that link unfinished films and stories with backers and buyers.

The push comes after a run of growth. Kim said industry registration rose 14.4% and overall attendance rose 13.5% in the year before the market's 21st edition. That edition brings 339 exhibiting companies and institutions from 32 countries and territories, up 17% on the prior year, according to Variety.

There is more tech on the floor. Tech exhibitors are up from seven to 18. National agencies and film commissions exhibiting have risen from 62 to 79. Thailand is the market's first Country of Honor, with 28 exhibitors, while Japan is the ProducerHub Focus Country, with 46 exhibitors.

New this edition are an Investor Summit, sessions on microdrama, the short-form dramas built for mobile viewing, and Cinema by Brand, which pairs film productions with brand partners. Kim, whose background spans film production, investment and distribution, aims for Cinema by Brand to grow into a standalone financing model.

Money is the snag. Kim said public money has not grown alongside the market, with national funding flat for two years running. She named funding as the biggest obstacle for ACFM, which serves as Busan's industry platform for buying and selling films and series. Deadline

Her five-year targets include regular publication of The A Report and a standing leaders' forum built on The A Summit, the market's gathering of senior executives. She also wants the Asian Cinema Fund, which supports Asian filmmakers, to work in partnership with international funds. Adding delegates from Latin America, the Arab world and Africa could lift the countries represented past 60, possibly above 70, she said.

What makes this stand out is the calendar. Most film markets pop up for a few days and vanish. Kim is arguing that deals, data and introductions should keep moving between editions.