Busan International Film Festival Selects 25 Source IP Titles… Including “A Genius Doctor Who Reads Comments” and 15 Korean Works

A battleground for K-content’s source IPs: Masterpieces from 25 titles reveal themselves

In Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), the AsiaContents&Film Market—Asia’s biggest arena for content deals—shook up the second rights market by unveiling 25 officially selected titles for the “Busan StoryMarket”. This lineup features 15 Korean original IPs with explosive potential, including the webtoon “Ilchon Sincheong” and the web novel “A Genius Doctor Who Reads Comments”, drawing keen attention from global video industry stakeholders.

“Busan StoryMarket” is a core business hub where source IPs with limitless expandability—books, webtoons, web novels, games, and more—meet domestic and international video creators and platforms. This year, after a fierce competition among 138 submissions, an elite set of 25 IPs from four Asian countries—led by 15 from South Korea, along with four from Japan, four from Taiwan, and two from Indonesia—will take the stage. During the market period, they will lay the groundwork for global rights contracts and screen adaptation projects through one-on-one business meetings.

In particular, this year, a large number of daring works that break down genre boundaries are showing up, including the web novel “From Today, I’m Starting My Military Service”, pushing expectations for screen adaptations to their peak. The BIFF secretariat said, “From standout works that transform universal themes such as life and death, family and growth into uniquely devised genre stories, to thrillers where tight-knit secrets and ferocious obsession create unpredictable suspense, the chosen titles boast an overwhelming spectrum,” expressing strong confidence.

Set to present a new milestone for the global content market, this year’s Busan International Film Festival will open in style at the area around the Cinema Center on October 6 through October 15 for ten days. “ACFM” and “Busan StoryMarket”—to become the front line for the source IP business—will carry that heat forward at Busan’s BEXCO (Busan Exhibition and Convention Center) from October 10 to October 13.