How Busan’s ACFM Is Helping Producers Get An Early Jump On Hot IPs

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Dynamic Singaporean producer Jeremy Chua is to receive the FIAPF Award for Outstanding Contribution to Asia Pacific Cinema, at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) on Nov. 3 on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Late-night might be back, but there’s still a few challenges.

The Wrestler, directed by Bangladeshi-Canadian filmmaker Iqbal H. Chowdhury, and September 1923, from Japan’s Tatsuya Mori, picked up the New Currents Awards as Busan International Film Festival wrapped a busy 28th edition on October 13. 

If you just saw Taylor Swift‘s The Eras Tour concert film and are hoping you can see her perform the show live, there’s still a chance.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Sony Pictures Entertainment has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing its Crunchyroll anime streaming service of illegally violating users’ privacy — and Crunchyroll users may be eligible to receive a piece of the $16 million settlement fund. The lawsuit, filed in September 2022, claimed that Sony and Crunchyroll violated the U.S.’s Video Privacy Protection Act by disclosing subscribers’ personally identifiable information to Meta’s Facebook and other third parties — without the users’ consent. Sony denied that the service violated any law.

Naman Ramachandran Distributor, Day for Night has acquired a trio of Asian titles for U.K. and Ireland at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents and Film Market. Day for Night is acquiring the late Pema Tseden‘s “Snow Leopard” from Rediance.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taiwanese actors King Jieh-wen and Hsueh Shih-ling and Indonesia’s Angga Yunanda are set to star in “Malice,” a multinational Asian thriller that will shoot next year. The film’s producers, actors and government backers presented the fully-assembled package to press and industry on Monday at the Busan International Film Festival. The film, pitched as “a road movie at sea,” is a dark tale of three men who put out to sea in search of a particular, large swordfish that had been rumored to have died out.

U.S. producer E. Bennett Walsh, who has made films including Mortal Kombat, Meg 2: The Trench and The Kite Runner across the APAC region, says he’s got his eye on Japan and Korea as the next hot destinations for footloose Hollywood productions.

Taiwanese actors Jieh-Wen King and Hsueh Shih-Ling and Indonesian actor Angga Yunanda have been cast in Lim Lungyin’s action adventure Malice, an amitious co-production between Taiwan, Czech Republic and Indonesia.

Disney+ superhero series Moving was the big winner at Busan Film Festival’s Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards, scooping six prizes, including Best Creative and Best Writer for Kang Full.

Salli,” a film which has its world premiere this week in the Busan International Film Festival’s A Window on Asian Cinema program. The Mandarin-, Taiwanese-, English- and French-language film follows a lonely middle-aged chicken farmer Hui-Chun, who doesn’t speak English and develops a romantic relationship through an app with a French man who calls himself Martin. In the online world, Hui-Chun is Salli.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Vietnam-based sales agent Skyline Media has unveiled five new titles for sales and distribution at the ACFN market that accompanies the Busan International Film Festival. They range from horror films to gay rom com series. “The Soul Reaper” is adapted from director-producer Thao Trang’s best-selling horror novel “Lunar New Year in Hell Village” (Tet O Lang Dia Nguc), and involves the happy occasion of a wedding turn darker after the arrival of a creepy stranger.

“You Are What You Watch — How Movies and TV Affect Everything.” Case in point: The huge surge in archery lessons among women and girls, inspired by Katniss Everdeen’s bow-and-arrow skills in the 2014 movie “The Hunger Games.”Another prime example is the fact that after the success of “Jaws” in 1975, the shark population in the waters off the northeast United States decreased by about 50% as testosterone-fueled trophy hunters took to the sea.Across the generations, our viewing habits seep into our everyday lives — and it starts when we’re young, when the influence of characters like superheroes prove pivotal. Hickey cites one 2017 research study, wherein 180 children were given a boring, repetitive task to do.

Seoul-based sales company Finecut has got off to a busy start at Busan’s Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) closing a trio of deals on webtoon adaptation Brave Citizen, and picking up international rights to inspirational drama Victory. 

Food venture GRUB will be taking over First Street for a two-month winter residency with a cosy tipi space, street food, and plenty of fun events including adult LEGO and open mic nights.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer At some point, every pregnancy is a horror story. That’s the truth laid bare in author Danielle Valentine’s book “Delicate Condition,” the first-ever novel to be adapted into a season of the long-running anthology series “American Horror Story.” Currently airing on FX, “AHS: Delicate” stars Emma Roberts as Victoria, a former child actor who’s navigating sudden stardom and awards attention as she’s also trying to conceive a baby with her husband (Matt Czuchry).

There’s more late-night bookings now that the writers strike is over.

A warning has been issued to homeowners in Greater Manchester as the Japanese knotweed hotspot areas have been revealed. New data has shown a total of 2,807 infestations across the region this year, with one area named as the second-worst affected location in England and Wales.

Manchester United brought in a record seven players over the summer transfer window. Mason Mount was first through the door before being followed by Andre Onana. Rasmus Hojlund was also captured before Jonny Evans, Altay Bayindir, Sofyan Amrabat and Sergio Reguilon arrived on deadline day.

Eddie Vedder knows how to put on a festival.Every year, the Pearl Jam frontman curates the annual Ohana Music Festival at Dana Point, CA’s Doheny State Beach.Once again, he’s assembled quite an extravaganza.From Sept. 29 through Oct.