Name: Pangku
Director: Reza Rahadian

Busan was an early champion of the first features by Tribeny Rai and Reza Rahadian. Both filmmakers are now back at the festival’s development end, and both left the Asian Project Market with prizes. Rai’s Nepali-language debut Shape of Momo premiered in Busan’s Vision – Asia section, while Rahadian, one of Indonesia’s best-known actors, saw his first film as director, Pangku (On Your Lap), take four of the festival’s Vision awards. The market has turned into the place where Busan follows its own discoveries to their next projects.

As Liz Shackleton reported for Deadline, Rai’s A Chronicle Of Minor Things, from India, won two prizes when the market closed: the APM Busan Award and the Sorfond Award. The jury said the project stood out for its original story and narrative structure, and for the director’s ability to weave a social issue subtly into the story. It also flagged the project’s distinctive landscape and themes as a potential draw for international audiences. Rahadian’s Casparina took the CJ ENM Award for turning the director’s most personal story into a family drama with universal emotional resonance.

The market’s most decorated project also came from Indonesia. Goldfish, from Aditya Ahmad, won three awards: the VIPO Award, the Kongchak Studio Award and the QCinema Special Award. Ahmad is no stranger to festival juries: his short Kado (A Gift) won the Orizzonti prize for best short film in Venice. VIPO praised Goldfish for its “fresh exploration of identity against a changing environment and the production feasibility demonstrated by the close collaboration between its director and producer”. Together with Casparina, that gives Indonesian projects four of the market’s 11 prizes.

The rest of the honors went to projects from across the region. E Del Mundo’s Once Upon A Time In The Philippines, a Philippines, France and Norway project, won the ArteKino International Award for its “original analysis of structural violence and the individual’s capacity to resist it”. Korean filmmaker Park Syeyoung’s Satellite Of Love received the Songwon Award, cited for its original story, its strong visual vision and its ability to contain the complex dimensions of love within a simple narrative. The CathayPlay Award went to Taiwanese director Yen Hao-hsuan’s Uncle, which draws on Yen’s personal experience to explore family, shame and belonging in a rapidly changing Taiwan. Kantana handed out two prizes: Kim Jinyeong’s Red Hunger won the Picture award for its storytelling and visual potential, and Panu Aree’s Thai project Fatimah won the Virtual Production award for a story about dual identities and long-buried family secrets.

The Asian Project Market runs as part of the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM). This edition drew a record 604 submissions from 48 countries. Thirty projects from 17 countries made the official selection, and eight of them shared awards across 11 categories.

Goldfish leaves Busan with the most trophies, but A Chronicle Of Minor Things takes home the one named after the city itself.

Tags: Busan International Film Festival, A Chronicle Of Minor Things, Aditya Ahmad, Goldfish, project-market, Reza Rahadian

Busan’s project market rewards its alumni as Tribeny Rai’s A Chronicle Of Minor Things wins twice

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