The Asia Culture Center (www.acc.go.kr, ACC), a Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism-affiliated institution, will support through a newly launched fund, the 2018 ACC Cinema Fund (ACF), ten projects from nine Asian countries.

Through two rounds of selection, the ACC selected among 118 films from 17 countries 10 projects that will benefit from the fund’s production support. The jury counted six members: Dongguk University Film & Digital Department professor JUNG Jae-hyung, Yonsei University Graduate School of Communication & Arts professor SEO Hyun-seok and PARK Dong-hyun, professor in the Culture & Art division at Myongji University, as well as Haden Guest, director of the America’s Harvard Film Archive, YAMASHITA Koyo, Artistic Director of Japan’s Image Forum Festival and Kattie Fan, Director of the Hong Kong’s Incubator for Film and Visual Media in Asia. 

“A lot of established filmmakers and young filmmakers who work globally applied to the ACF,” the ACC said. “We received projects from various genres, from experimental films to documentary features, media arts, and animated films. Thai and Chinese artists especially showed us experimental and unique ideas. The judges focused on projects that explore esthetic possibilities and creativity through the films, unlike typical commercial films.”

The 6 artists who will receive pre-production support are BYUN Jae-kyu (Korea), Jiahui Zeng and Junyuan Feng (China), Taiki Sakpisit (Thailand), John Torres (Philippines) and Vimukthi Jayasundara (Sri Lanka). In addition, 5 artists will receive post-production support: Ip Yuk-Yiu (Hong Kong), Bo Wang (China), Shu Lea Cheang (Taiwan), Albert Samreth (Cambodia) and Yashaswini Raghunanda (India). Among them, director Vimukthi Jayasundara is known for having previously won the Caméra d’Or Award for his debut film The Land of Silence at Cannes Film Festival in 2005. 

The winners will participate in film production workshops and networking programs and will attend the ACF Project Announcement Conference on July 24th. In November this year, supported works will have their world premieres at the ACC Cinematheque. “The ACC will play the role of an integrated platform for participants to promote the creation of Asian experimental and unique films as well as help distribution and contact with international film festivals.” the ACC said.