Armenian project “Black Star Angel” claimed the top prize at the Asian Project Market (APM), a key component of Busan’s Asian Contents & Film Market, as organizers announced winners across 30 competing film projects.
Director Christine Haroutounian took home the highest honor — the APM Busan Award — for her second feature “Black Star Angel.” Eve Baswel’s “Heaven Helps Us!” and Yoon Eunkyoung’s “Gochi” emerged as the ceremony’s biggest winners, each securing two awards.
The three-day event, featuring pitching sessions and one-on-one meetings, connected filmmakers with international co-producers, financiers and global distributors.
Jordanian filmmaker Darin J. Sallam, whose debut “Farha” represented Jordan at the 95th Academy Awards, won the ArteKino International Award for her sophomore project “Churching of Women.”
Jury head Christian Jeune praised “Black Star Angel” as a “project shows great maturity in dealing with a universal question: what does it mean, ‘personal commitment,’ in a world torn by confuse and violence.”
“Busan is amazing. APM has just been like very welcoming and also very well organized,” Haroutounian told Variety. “I met people from all over the world with such different backgrounds. For them, to be able to really connect to this material that is very niche and very specific, really made me feel like I’m on the right track without diluting anything from the vision of the film.”
Asian Project Market 2025 Award Winners
APM Busan Award
“Black Star Angel,” dir. Christine Haroutounian, prod. Christine Haroutounian, Maxwell Schwartz (Armenia, U.S.)
Suzanna is no militant. But when her life begins to crumble, she enlists in a war she does not understand in a place she has never been.
One Cool Award
“The Funeral March,” dir. Fujita Naoya, prod. Fujita Kanako, Zou Aiken, Zou Lin, Shiina Yasushi (Japan, China)
A recluse woman in snowy Hokkaido steals her mother’s body to fulfill a buried promise—sparking an absurd, emotional road trip as her estranged family chases her across the frozen countryside.
CJ ENM Award
“Gochi,” dir. Yoon Eunkyoung, prod. Stanley Kwak (Korea)
A travel vlogger couple visits a lakeside village by chance. After tasting a fish called “Gochi,” the village’s bizarre truth is revealed, and they struggle to save each other from a mad festival.
VIPO Award
“Wake Me up When the Mourning Ends,” dir. Lau Kok Rui, prod. Soi Cheang, Stefano Centini, Wong Kew Soon (Malaysia, Hong Kong, Italy, Taiwan)
A grieving single mother returns for her fiancé’s final rites, hoping to reclaim her son—only to confront a family still mourning and a mother’s sorrow that mirrors her own.
Red Sea Film Fund Award
“Buy My Car,” dir. Zhang Yaoyuan, prod. Kunizane Mizue, Ichiyama Shozo, Mo Zhulin (Japan, China)
Xiao Ma, a struggling Chinese PhD student in Japan, barely survives by running an illegal taxi. But when his only car—and lifeline—gets stolen just before graduation, he embarks on a desperate, absurd quest to replace it.
ArteKino International Award
“Churching of Women,” dir. Darin J. Sallam, prod. Deema Azar, Ayah Jardaneh (Jordan)
1938, the Levant. After being wrongfully imprisoned in a mental asylum, an author is faced with a decision to surrender to insanity or fight for her sanity.
Songwon Award
“Dance Dance Revolution,” dir. Choi Hana, prod. An Boyoung (Korea)
Halloween tragedy survivors Yongsun and Surim create a ‘drinking, dancing, partying club for introverts’ in memory of their friend who didn’t return—but the disaster stigma turns them against each other.
KB Award
“Arrival of Water,” dir. Jo Heeyoung, prod. Park Sejin (Korea, Japan)
Amid the untranslated words left by his departed lover, Yuuki is confronted with his own words that never managed to depart.
Kantana Award — Picture
“Flying Cows,” dir. Nguyen Pham Thanh Dat, prod. Nguyen Huu Thi Tuong Vi (Vietnam)
In order to lift the family out of poverty, a struggling genuine farmhand Trau plans to steal a secret milk formula without knowing his growing love to the scientist forces him to choose between his family’s future and the girl he can no longer lie.
Kantana Award — Sound
“Gochi,” dir. Yoon Eunkyoung, prod. Stanley Kwak (Korea)
A travel vlogger couple visits a lakeside village by chance. After tasting a fish called “Gochi,” the village’s bizarre truth is revealed, and they struggle to save each other from a mad festival.
Kongchak Studio Award
“Heaven Helps Us!,” dir. Eve Baswel, prod. John Torres, Jules Katanyag, Dazen Santos Katanyag (Philippines)
Set against the 1981 Manila Film Center collapse, this reimagined drama follows workers whose stories intersect as they race to meet an impossible deadline—unaware that in 12 hours tragedy will strike.
TAICCA Award
“Gilddong,” dir. Park Ruiwoong, prod. Ahn Byungrae (Korea)
Drawn from truth, colored by lies—a crimson story that shook their kingdom to its core.
Sorfond Award
“Heaven Helps Us!,” dir. Eve Baswel, prod. John Torres, Jules Katanyag, Dazen Santos Katanyag (Philippines)
Set against the 1981 Manila Film Center collapse, this reimagined drama follows workers whose stories intersect as they race to meet an impossible deadline—unaware that in 12 hours tragedy will strike.
