Busan International Film Festival ACFM Selects Japan as the “Producer Hub” Country of the Year — 10 Producers to Take the Stage

‘The heart of the biggest content exchange in Asia’… Taking apart Japan’s video industry core

The secretariat of the “Busan International Film Festival” (BIFF), the largest film festival in Asia, said Wednesday that it has for the first time picked Japan as the “Producer Hub” country of the year for “Asia Contents & Film Market” (ACFM), a key program of the market that runs in October. With Asia’s position in the global content market growing steadily, officials expect strategic film and video ties between Korea and Japan to accelerate further.

First unveiled in 2024, “Producer Hub” has established itself as an essential networking platform for film and video producers around the world that aims to foster “international co-productions” beyond borders. Each year, it shines a spotlight on a specific country, digging deep into that nation’s distinctive “co-production projects” as well as its production environment and breakthrough support schemes.

With Japan named as the country of the year, “10 producers”—veterans representing Japan’s video industry—will come to Busan in person. They plan to showcase their homegrown core projects to the global market and, together with producers from around the world, seek practical and multi-pronged “collaboration options” to open up new business avenues.

Kim Young-deok, chair of the ACFM, said, “Today’s Japan is the ‘co-production partner’ that moves most dynamically on the world stage beyond the Asian market.” He added, “Based on the solid strength built up over many years in ‘independent and art films’, we are also seeing a rapid, wide-ranging explosion of ‘international collaboration’ that now spans commercial films and series as well.” He also said the “bold ‘policy backstopping’ by the government, backed by breakthrough grants and incentives, is especially impressive.”

This year’s “Producer Hub”, drawing attention from filmmakers around the world, will run intensively for four days from Oct. 10 to 13. In addition, the 31st Busan International Film Festival, the hub of Asian cinema, will open with a splash on Oct. 6 and run for 10 days until Oct. 15, sharing lively moments with audiences.