hankyoreh

One of the biggest film festival in Asia, the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), will launch a film distributor’s conference titled ’Asian Film Market 2006’ at the Grand Hotel in Busan (Pusan). The conference, to be held October 15 to 18, will be attended by 95 film producers from across the globe, who will have an opportunity to sign export and import pacts and investment and joint production contracts.

According to PIFF on September 13, included on the attendance list for the Asian Film Market 2006 are some of the world’s largest film distribution companies, such as Japan’s Toshiba Entertainment and Sony Pictures, China’s Film Distribution, Hong Kong’s Edko Films, Europe’s Wild Bunch and MK2, and Lion’s Gate Films from the U.S. PIFF has prepared 10 screens to exclusively host the conference’s cinematic offerings, and up to 120 rounds of film screenings have been requested, making the Asian Film Market 2006 the largest of its kind in Asia. The Hong Kong Film Market, currently the most active distribution forum in Asia, has just two screens.

Three or four such large-scale film distribution conferences are held annually in the U.S. and Europe. At the helm is the Cannes Market, which is held in May during the film festival of the same name. This is followed in size by the American Film Market in Los Angeles in November. In Asia, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bangkok have such distribution conferences, respectively, but in most cases organizers must shoulder the travel costs for world-famous film producers to attend. Though participants in PIFF’s Asian Film Market must assume all travel costs, participation requests came in quickly and 70 market booths have already been reserved.

If the Asian Film Market becomes a force on the international film distribution scene, films screened at PIFF will have a greater chance of being picked up and promoted abroad, and directors would find it easier to attract producers for future projects. As a consequence, the PIFF would likely rise in status, and the Korean film industry would stand to benefit, as well