Alia Bhatt and Payal Kapadia-Backed Films Join 2025 Busan Co-Production Slate
30 projects from 15 countries will take part in this year’s Asian Project Market, spotlighting diverse themes and voices from across the region, including a strong showing from South Asian and female filmmakers
The Asian Project Market (APM), one of Asia’s premier film co-production platforms, has announced its official 2025 line-up, featuring 30 projects from 15 countries. This year’s edition, scheduled from 20 to 23 September at BEXCO in Busan, coincides with the 20th Asian Contents & Film Market and received a record 455 submissions from 44 countries.
Among the most high-profile names on the slate are Alia Bhatt and Payal Kapadia, both attached as producers on Indian titles. Bhatt is producing Difficult Daughters, directed by actor and filmmaker Soni Razdan—who previously featured in Busan’s 2018 selection Yours Truly—alongside Shaheen Bhatt, Alan McAlex, and Grishma Shah. Kapadia, whose feature All We Imagine as Light premiered at Cannes this year, is producing The Last of Them Plagues, directed by Kunjila Mascillamani and co-produced by Jeo Baby and Kani Kusruti.
Themes across the selected projects range from gender and identity to conflict, social injustice, and family, with several titles spotlighting LGBTQ+ narratives and underrepresented communities. Indian director Pradip Kurbah, known for winning the Jiseok Award in 2019 and more recently honoured at the Moscow International Film Festival, brings Moon to the market. Meanwhile, The Magical Men, a queer-themed project from director Biplob Sarkar, returns to Busan following his inclusion in the 2023 New Currents section.
There is also significant participation from graduates of the Chanel X BIFF Asian Film Academy. Notably, 2022 alumnus Lau Kok Rui presents Wake Me up When the Mourning Ends, and 2024 alumni Li Yingtong and Annie Song team up for New Life, which received script development support from the Asian Cinema Fund.
Female filmmakers make a strong impression this year. Projects from West Asia feature acclaimed voices like Armenian director Christine Haroutounian (Black Star Angel) and Jordan’s Darin Sallam (Churching of Women). South Asia contributes six titles, three directed by women, including Bangladesh’s Silence of the Looms, helmed by Mirza Shabnam Ferdousi.
East Asia also figures prominently, with five Chinese-language films, three from Taiwan, and three from Japan. Korea leads with seven projects, including Gilddong by Park Riwoong, winner of the 2024 BIFF New Currents Award, and genre-spanning works from Jo Heeyoung, Jero Yun, and Choi Hana.
The winners of various industry prizes will be announced at the APM Awards Ceremony on 23 September. The event runs alongside the 30th Busan International Film Festival, held from 17 to 26 September.