Goldfish Leads Winners at Busan's Asian Project Market

Aditya Ahmad's "Goldfish" took three prizes to lead the winners list at the Busan Asian Project Market, the pitching forum where directors bring unmade films to find money and partners.

"Goldfish" won the QCinema Special Award, the Kongchak Studio Award and the VIPO Award, according to Variety. The project is produced by Muhammad Zaidy and Meiske Taurisia. It was the most awarded title in this year's line-up.

Close behind was Tribeny Rai's "A Chronicle of Minor Things," still carrying a working title. The Indian filmmaker's second project won two prizes: the Sørfond Award and the APM Busan Award, produced by Kislay.

The other prizes were spread across six more projects. Reza Rahadian's "Casparina" won the CJ ENM Award. Kim Jinyeong's "Red Hunger" won the Kantana Picture Award, while Panu Aree's "Fātimah" won the Kantana Virtual Production Award for work using virtual stages and digital sets.

Yen Hao-hsuan's "Uncle" won the CathayPlay Award. Park Syeyoung's "Satellite of Love" won the Songwon Award. E Del Mundo's "Once Upon a Time in the Philippines" won the ArteKino International Award.

The prizes were handed out as part of the Asian Contents and Film Market's first combined awards ceremony in Busan. That market runs alongside the Busan International Film Festival and acts as the business side of the event, where sales agents, streamers and distributors shop for Asian films.

The scale was large this year. The Project Market drew a record 604 submissions from 48 countries, with 30 projects from 17 countries making the official selection. Eight of those projects shared prizes across 11 categories.

What makes this stand out is timing. These films do not exist yet for the public. An award at this stage often means finishing funds, mixing facilities or a travel grant, the practical help that decides whether a script reaches a set within the next year or two.