Busan's Asian Project Market has selected 30 feature projects for its 2026 edition, drawn from a record 604 submissions across 48 countries — the third consecutive year of all-time highs, Variety reported on July 30.

The Asian Project Market, or APM, is the financing arm of the Busan International Film Festival — a marketplace where directors and producers pitch unfinished projects to sales agents, distributors, and investors who decide which films get made and reach screens. The 2026 edition is the 29th and runs October 10–13 at BEXCO, Busan's exhibition centre.

This year's 604 submissions dwarf the 455 received in 2025 and the 441 in 2024. Asian projects accounted for 423 of them, up 82 from the previous year. Korean submissions alone jumped to 137, a rise of 58.

The 30 selected projects span 20 countries. Seven are Korean, including Lee Sangcheol's PARK Deul-bi, Choi Hyunyoung's All's Well That Ends Well, Lee Hanju's The Family Table, Park Syeyoung's Satellite of Love, Park Joonho's Kuroshio, Ryu Hyunkyung's Dog Fight, and Kim Jinyeong's Red Hunger.

Three Japanese projects made the cut: 13 by Mori Tatsuya, who won Busan's New Currents prize in 2023 for September 1923; Wings of Return by Hirose Nanako; and Yours by Igarashi Kohei. Sri Lanka's Prasanna Vithanage returns with Islands, having won the festival's Jiseok prize in 2023 for Paradise. Kyrgyzstan's Dastan Zhapar Ryskeldi makes his third APM appearance with Bosogo.

India sends four projects: Dominic Sangma's Veil of Dust, Tribeny Rai's A Chronicle of Minor Things, Payal Sethi's Babak, and — from Pakistan, across the border — Eshah Shakeel's feature debut Dancers. Indonesia contributes Aditya Ahmad's Goldfish, a feature debut from a director whose short won the top prize in Venice's Horizons sidebar in 2018, and Reza Rahadian Matulessy's second feature Casparina, whose debut On Your Lap took three prizes in Busan's Vision – Asia sidebar in 2025.

The selection also reaches further across the region. Tibetan director Kangdrun brings Orlo in the House; Wang Zhiyi's debut Unripe represents mainland China; Hong Kong's So Chak Long presents Whisper of the Silence; and Taiwan's Yen Hao-hsuan offers debut Uncle. Cambodia's Chheangkea, the Philippines' E Del Mundo, Iran's Mehrnoush Alia, Singapore's Alvin Lee, Malaysia's Tan Seng Kiat, Thailand's Panu Aree, and Indonesia's Mouly Surya round out the roster. Tan Seng Kiat's One Fine Day arrives having already won the APM Next prize at Taiwan's TCCF market in 2025.

Selected projects receive a cash grant of 10 million KRW through the Asian Cinema Fund. Badge registration for the broader ACFM — which includes APM, the Busan Story Market, and the Sales Market — opened July 6, with early-bird pricing running through approximately August 9.

For a market that sits at the front end of the production chain, the submission numbers tell a straightforward story: more filmmakers across more of Asia are looking to Busan as the place to get a project financed. The 30 that made the cut now have four days in October to make their case to the people who write the cheques.