The Asian Cinema Fund (ACF), supporting program of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) is accepting submissions for their Script Development Fund (until April 10, 2023), Post-Production Fund (until April 20, 2023), and Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund (until May 15, 2023).

About the program:
Asian Cinema Fund (ACF) has been an essential partner for Asian cinema with its three supporting categories – Script Development Fund, Post-production Fund and Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund.

ACF is committed to help activate more independent film productions and to set up a stable production environment.

New Asian cinema discovered by ACF gets to complete into a film through comprehensive support from A to Z and to explore various opportunities through Busan’s family programs such as Asian Film Market and Asian Project Market (APM).

Script Development Fund

The Script Development Fund provides cash grant to talented Asian independent filmmakers to complete their first or second feature-length fiction film scripts that are in development. The fund also supports at least one project by a graduate of Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Film Academy (AFA).

Categories:
1) Asian Project:
– The Writer-director of the project of Asian Nationality
2) AFA Project:
– – The writer-director of the project must be an alumnus/alumna of Busan International Film Festival’s CHANEL X BIFF Asian Film Academy (aka. Asian Film Academy; AFA).
* Script Development Fund is available for Asian projects except Korean.

Benefits:
– Cash grant of 10 million KRW.
– Official invitation for representatives of the project to the Asian Project Market 2023.

Eligibility:
– Project must be the director’s first or second feature film project.
– Project contains Asian elements in its story, theme, characters, and background.
– Director must have experience directing at least one short or feature film.
– Applicant must be a writer-director or a team of a writer and a director who are of Asian nationality. The producer(s) of the project does not have to be of Asian nationality.
– Script must be the applicant’s original work.

Note for Submission:
–  All notifications will be made exclusively through e-mail. Please make sure that the email addresses provided in the application form are correct.
– Applicant can submit only one project per fund.
– Resubmission is not acceptable.
– The online application form and any additional documents for submission must be in English.
– Director’s previous work(s), if not in English or Korean, should have English or Korean subtitles.
– The online application form will be closed automatically after the deadline. Only submissions arriving on time will be taken into consideration.
– Incomplete applications that do not satisfy the listed criteria for eligibility or follow the stated rules may be excluded from consideration without any prior notice.

Selection:
– Selection results will be individually announced through the applicant’s e-mail in the 3rd week of May.
– Any feedback on the result/project will not be provided.

Deadline: April 10, 2023 (23:59, KST/GMT+9)

Submission Guidelines: https://acf.biff.kr/file/2-5.%20ACF%202023%20Submission%20Guidelines_Script%20Development%20Fund_eng.pdf

To submit please visit: https://acf.biff.kr/eng/addon/10000001/page.asp?page_num=5988

Post-Production Fund

The Post-Production Fund provides post-production services to a select number of Asian independent feature-length fiction film projects. At the state-of-the-art facilities in Korea, the selected projects receive the following to complete their films: DI, sound mixing, English subtitle spotting and D-Cinema packaging services. Upon completion, the selected projects are required to make their world premieres at Busan International Film Festival where they find opportunities to continue their travel to the rest of the world and gain further recognition for their artistic and promising talents in filmmaking.

Categories:
1) Asian Project
– The director of the project is of Asian nationality.
– The project contains Asian elements in its story, theme, character, and background.
2) Korea Project
– The director of the project is of Korean nationality.
– The project contains Korean elements in its story, theme, character, and background.

Benefits:
– In-kind service for Post-production (DI, final sound mixing, English subtitle spotting, DCP) at leading post-production studios in South Korea including 2 round-trip airfare and accommodation for this service
– World premiere at the 28th Busan International Film Festival (mandatory)

Eligibility:
– Project must not have ever been screened or released before.
– Editing of the film must be completed by May 2023.

Note for Submission:
– All notifications will be made exclusively through e-mail. Please make sure that the e- mail addresses provided in the application form are correct.
– Applicant can submit only one project per fund.
– Resubmission is not acceptable.
– The online application form and any additional documents for submission must be in English.
– Project’s rough cut or final cut and director’s previous work, if not in English or Korean, should have English or Korean subtitles.
– The online application form will be closed automatically after the deadline. Only submissions arriving on time will be taken into consideration.
– Incomplete applications that do not satisfy the listed criteria for eligibility or follow the stated rules may be excluded from consideration without any prior notice.

Selection:
– Selection results will be individually announced through the applicant’s e-mail in the 2nd week of June. Any feedback on the result/project will not be provided.

Deadline: April 20, 2023 (23:59, KST/GMT+9)

Submission Guidelines: https://acf.biff.kr/file/2-6.%20ACF%202023%20Submission%20Guidelines_Post%20Production%20Fund_eng.pdf

To submit please visit: https://acf.biff.kr/eng/addon/10000001/page.asp?page_num=5989

Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund

Asian Cinema Fund’s Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund provides funding to Asian independent documentary filmmakers to complete their feature-length documentary film projects that are aimed for theatrical release.

The Asian Network of Documentary (AND) Fund is a loose coalition of film festival organizers committed to supporting the production and distribution of Asian documentaries. Its members have collaborated to build and strengthen the network among Asian documentary filmmakers, while BIFF’s been managed the administration and oversight of AND.

Categories:
1) Asian Project:
– The director of the project is of Asian nationality.
– The project contains Asian elements in its story, theme, character, and background.
2) Korean Projects
– The director of the project is of Korean nationality.

Benefits:
– Cash grant of up to 20 million KRW
– Official invitation for representative of a selected project to the Asian Contents & Film Market 2023 during the 28th BUSAN International Film Festival.

Eligibility:
– Feature-length documentary film project that aims for theatrical release.
– Expected running time of the project should be 60 minutes or more.
– Project may be in any stages of production. (In development, pre-production, production, or post-production stage)

Note for Submission:
– All notifications will be made exclusively through e-mail. Please make sure that the e- mail addresses provided in the application form are correct.
– Applicant can submit only one project per fund.
– Resubmission for the project that was not selected in previous years is acceptable for one time only IF there is a significant change. In this case, applicant must provide a full explanation of the changes in the project within the online application form.
– The online application form and any additional documents for submission must be in English.
– Rough cut, previous work(s), and demo reel, if not in English or Korean, must have English or Korean subtitles.
– The online application form will be closed automatically after the deadline. Only submissions arriving on time will be taken into consideration.
– Incomplete applications that do not satisfy the listed criteria for eligibility or follow the stated rules may be excluded from consideration without any prior notice.

Selection:
– Selection results will be individually announced through the applicant’s e-mail in the 4th week of June.
– Any feedback on the result/project will not be provided.

Deadline: May 15, 2023 (23:59, KST/GMT+9)

Submission Guidelines: https://acf.biff.kr/file/2-7.%20ACF%202023%20Submission%20Guidelines_AND%20Fund_eng.pdf

To submit please visit: https://acf.biff.kr/eng/addon/10000001/page.asp?page_num=5990

For more information, please visit: https://acf.biff.kr/eng/