A total of 2,479 people from 49 countries participated in the 2023 Asian Contents & Film Market. This marks a record-breaking participation rate, having increased by 223 registrants compared to last year - excluding press and festival invitees who were registered to access online screenings, and only including business-associated participants. Increased by 30% since the previous year, the exhibition hall was filled with 271 institutions and companies from 23 countries, actively promoting and selling diverse contents. Notably, the Asian Project Market selected 30 narrative feature film projects from 13 countries, which led to a record-breaking 826 meetings, which has increased by 17% since last year.

As for the Busan Story Market, 50 Original IPs from Korea and Asia held 1,000 meetings, leading to business feats such as Toyou’s Dream, one of the IP Content Providers that participated as an individual booth, signing a webtoon and audiovisual co-production agreement with a global content production studio, Whynot Media.

Additionally, about 20 market conferences, 10 programs from Platform BUSAN, and the new PB Lounge provided opportunities for networking and exchange of information specialized from each industry, and strengthened its function as a business platform for not only Korea, but all of Asia’s film and audiovisual production and sales.

Asian Contents & Film Market Accomplishments

• Market Badges: 49 countries, 918 companies, 2,479 participants.
• Sales Booths: 98 sales booths from 271 companies of 23 countries
  • 32 companies joined for the first time, including the Pavilion of Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan and Austria.
• Online Screenings
  • Market Screening: 123 films from 16 countries and 42 companies (10 market premieres)
  • Official Festival Selections: 94 Films
• Asian Project Market (APM)
  • Official Selections: 30 Selections from 13 Countries
  • Business Meeting: 826 (17% increase in number of meetings compared to 2022)
  • APM Awards: 11 Categories, 7 Awardees (newly granted 2 awards)
• Busan Story Market (BSM)
  • Official Selections: 50 Selections from 35 Companies (30 from Korea, 10 from Taiwan, 6 from Japan,4 from Indonesia)
  • Business Meeting: 1,000
  • Booths by 10 organizations/companies from 3 countries
• Asia Cinema Fund (ACF) 14 selections supported by 3 Asian Cinema Funds (Script Development Fund, Post Production Fund, Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund)
• Platform BUSAN 115 participants from 24 countries
• 30 ACFM Conferences Hosted (9 pitches, 10 Platform BUSAN, 2 technology seminars, 6 forums, 3 networking events)