Busan ACFM Chief Oh Seok Geun Talks Changing Role Of Film Markets And Challenges Facing Korean Film Industry

deadline.com:

Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), the industry platform of Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), is making a return as a fully-fledged in-person event this year, after being mostly held online for two years during the pandemic.Innovations this year include the introduction of Busan Story Market (BSM), which is a rebrand and expansion of the festival’s existing entertainment IP [intellectual property] pitching activities.

BSM will host business meetings and pitching sessions for a wide range of IP from Korea and the rest of Asia, including books, webtoons, web novels and games.Oh Seok Geun, who was appointed ACFM director last year, talked to Deadline about bringing the market back as a physical event, the changing role of film markets and challenges currently facing the Korean film industry.

A founding member of BIFF, Oh was formerly chairperson of the Korean Film Council, has also headed the Busan Film Commission, and is also a director with credits including Love Is A Crazy Thing (2005).DEADLINE: In terms of logistics, how are you finding the experience of returning as a physical market this year?OH SEOK GEUN: ACFM has been held online for the past two years due to Covid-19, so we’ve had a lot of time to assess the effectiveness of online markets.

We’ve also had time to think about the role of film markets in general and which direction we should take. When it comes to sales markets where films are traded – some people are of the opinion that these events should be transformed into online markets where transactions can be made throughout the year.