‘Kingdom Of The Insomniacs’ Wins Busan Award At Asian Project Market

Kingdom Of The Insomniacs, directed by China’s Kang Bo, won the Busan Award at the close of this year’s Asian Project Market (APM) at Busan International Film Festival.

Produced by Xie Meng, the project follows a group of mushroom farmers plagued with insomnia and an aging disease. After his father dies, a young member of the community tries to extricate himself from this wicked kingdom. Kang Bo is a documentary filmmaker whose debut narrative feature Family At Large, starring Hu Ge, is currently in post-production.

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Hum, from US-Philippines filmmaker Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, was the only project to win multiple prizes – picking up the Artekino International Award and the Sorfond Award. Produced by Hannah Schierbeek and Alemberg Ang, the project tells the story of a rodeo couple who are haunted when mysterious ecological changes threaten to destroy the stadium they live in.

This year’s APM introduced two new awards – Red Sea Film Fund Award, which offers a development fund of $10,000, and the Songwon Award, sponsored by Songwon Foundation, which comes with a cash prize of $7,500 (KRW10M).

The Red Sea Film Fund Award went to Making A Sea, to be directed by Myanmar’s Lin Htet Aung and produced by Thailand’s Mai Meksawan, while the Songwon Award was presented to Korean project The Birds, directed by Sohn Hyun-lok and produced by Jo Su-jin.

Singapore producer Tan Si En picked up two awards – for Kirsten Tan’s Singapore-US co-production Crocodile Rock, which won the VIPO Award, and for Indonesian filmmaker Wregas Bhanuteja’s Levitating, which clinched the CJ ENM Award and is co-produced with Indonesia’s Siera Tamihardja and France’s Patrice Nezan (see full list of award winners below).

APM took place October 5-8 during the Busan International Film Festival, which runs until October 11 at Busan Cinema Center and other venues.

Asia Project Market 2024 Award Winners: 

Busan Award: Kingdom Of The Insomniacs (China), dir: Kang Bo, prod: Xie Meng

One Cool Award: Life Redo List (Japan), dir: Bunji Sotoyama, prod: Yoko Ide

CJ ENM Award: Levitating (Indonesia, Singapore, France), dir: Wregas Bhanuteja, prods: Siera Tamihardja, Tan Si En, Patrice Nezan

TAICCA Award: Until That Day (Japan, Taiwan), dir: Daishi Matsunaga, prods: Shinji Ogawa, Asako Nishikawa, Chang Sanling

VIPO Award: Crocodile Rock (Singapore, US), dir: Kirsten Tan, prod: Tan Si En

Red Sea Film Award: Making A Sea (Myanmar, Thailand), dir: Lin Htet Aung, prod: Mai Meksawan

Artekino International Award: Hum (Philippines, US), dir: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, prods: Hannah Schierbeek, Alemberg Ang

Songwon Award: The Birds (Korea), dir: Sohn Hyun-lok, prod: Jo Su-jin

KB Award: Hellfire Academy (Korea), dir: Shin Aga, prods: Park Doohee, Choi Chan

ARRI Award: 90 Meters (Japan), dir: Shun Nakagawa, prods: Tamako Tsujimoto, Yasushi Utagawa

Kongchak Studio Award: Leg (Kazakhstan, Italy, Germany, France), dir: Shokir Kholikov, prods: Aigerim Satybaldy, Paolo Maria Spina, Silvana Santamaria, Johann Chapelan

Sorfond Award: Hum (Philippines, US), dir: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan, prods: Hannah Schierbeek, Alemberg Ang

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