Busan’s Asian Project Market selects 30 projects, including new works by Mouly Surya, Reza Rehadian and Prasanna Vithanage

Asian Project Market, the investment and co-production platform of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), has selected 30 projects from 20 countries for this year’s edition, according to Deadline. The lineup, announced as part of BIFF’s broader industry programming, is designed to connect producers and financiers ahead of later festival and market presentations.

Among the filmmakers represented in the selected slate are Mouly Surya, Reza Rehadian and Prasanna Vithanage. Deadline’s report frames their inclusion as part of the market’s focus on pairing creative teams with potential co-production and investment opportunities during the international film financing cycle.

Deadline also reports that Japan is represented by three projects in the current selection. The article ties that presence to what it describes as a period of renewed visibility for Japanese cinema, while also noting the specific involvement of Mori Tatsuya, who won BIFF’s New Currents Award in 2023 for September 1923.

The report adds that 13 of the selected projects are associated with Mori Tatsuya, expanding the footprint of a single award-linked figure within the wider slate. BIFF’s New Currents Award is a key category for emerging directors at the festival, and Deadline’s mention of the 2023 win provides the only named awards context included in the available coverage.

Asian Project Market serves as a structured meeting ground for projects in development, typically bringing together producers, sales agents, broadcasters, and production partners. By selecting a fixed number of projects for the market’s participants, BIFF and its industry platform create a limited window for presentations that can affect downstream dealmaking, financing, and production timelines.

The market’s selection of projects from multiple countries also underscores the role of international co-production in contemporary film production, where budgets, distribution rights, and production capacity are often assembled across borders. With 20 countries represented in this year’s slate, the Asian Project Market lineup is positioned as a regional hub for cross-market collaboration rather than a single-country showcase.

BIFF and Asian Project Market have not indicated in the available coverage which of the selected projects will move forward to specific pitching events or distribution announcements, but the selection itself marks the entry point for projects seeking financing and co-production partners for the next production phase.

Deadline’s report, published on July 30, 2026, provides the primary details available for the 2026 selection, including the identities of the headline filmmakers named above and the headline structural numbers for the slate. Additional project titles, producers, and presentation schedules would typically be released through BIFF and Asian Project Market materials closer to the event dates.