Squid Game producer helps launch Asian Producers Alliance at Busan
The producer behind Squid Game took the stage in Busan to read aloud the founding statement of a new alliance of independent producers across Asia.
Kim Ji-yeon, a board member of the Producers Guild of Korea (PGK), read the declaration as representatives of five producer organisations joined her on stage at the Asian Contents & Film Market, according to Variety reporting published on 11 October 2026. The market runs alongside the Busan International Film Festival, where buyers and sellers meet to line up future films.
The new body is called the Asian Producers Alliance (APA). It brings together PGK from South Korea, the Indonesian Film Producers Association (APROFI), the Philippine Independent Producers Group, the Hong Kong Movie Production Executives Association and the Taiwan Producers Association, Variety reported.
The idea was initiated by PGK and APROFI. All five organisations approved the formation online before the Busan announcement. Membership is limited to independent producers. No studios, conglomerates or state bodies are involved.
The launch came at the close of a seminar titled “Empowering Asian Cinema: Solidarity and Creative Alliance.” PGK hosted the session at the ACFM Producers Hub. The Hub started in 2024 to help producers share information and meet partners for international co-productions, where producers from different countries split costs and rights, according to ACFM. The 2026 ACFM schedule lists the Empowering Asian Cinema session as part of that Producer Hub programme.
For now the APA will work as a consultative coalition, a talking shop rather than a rule-making body. Its early priorities are co-production across Asia and creators’ IP rights, the question of who owns a story and who gets paid when it is reused.
The group plans to grow into a body with a formal decision-making structure. Other producer organisations across Asia can join during its first year. More than one organisation per territory may join.
Leadership will rotate. PGK president Lee Dong-ha and APROFI chair Edwin Nazir will serve as the alliance’s inaugural co-representatives. Han Jin and Yulia Evina Bhara will run the secretariat as co-secretary generals. All four posts carry one-year terms, with elections at each year’s general assembly, Variety reported.
Members plan to meet online every three months. An annual general assembly will be held during ACFM in Busan. The next in-person meeting is a second seminar at the JAFF Market in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in December, hosted by APROFI and focused on creators’ IP.
For audiences, this matters behind the screen. Films that cross borders often need producers in two or three countries to raise the money and clear the rights. A shared contact list helps that work start earlier.
