Korea – Docs Port Incheon 2017, the Asian Documentary Project Market held for 4 days at the Olympos Hotel Incheon from November 2nd to 5th, ended in highly favourable attention from the professionals of the domestic and international documentary, broadcasting, and film industry. It began its 4-day journey with the opening ceremony on the 2nd, then ‘Asian Project Pitch,’ ‘Korean Project Pitch,’ and ‘Rough Cut Sales’ presentations followed. And 31 documentary projects from Korea and Asia were released.
The directors and producers of the projects continued with their passionate 15-minute pitch and Q & A with panels, who were from domestic and overseas investment firms, distribution companies, and broadcasting companies, and participated as the decision makers. A total of 366 individual meetings, a new record, were held during the business meeting session after the pitching, including on-site arrangements as well as the preliminary applications. This high increase in the number of meetings per project comparing to number of the last year’s 239 meetings confirmed that Docs Port Incheon has been growing and positioning itself as a significant market.
This year, a total of over 900 professionals from more than 100 companies and organizations including 70 leading decision makers of the film, broadcasting, and documentary have visited DPI from abroad and other cities in korea. The number of participants of the on-site programs such as Biz Talk and Pitching set the new record.
After ‘Rough Cut Sales Presentation’ ended on the evening of 5th, the closing ceremony followed with the award ceremony announcing the winners of 24 categories including the in-kind supports. Especially for this year, in addition to the companies that had been providing the various in-kind supports and cash prizes, many other companies and organizations such as Daemyung Culture Factory, Studio Sek, Feel&Plan, Studio Fame, Jeonju Cine Complex, Cinespace Juan, and Art Cinema Milim offered the greater joy to more projects. The total of 37 projects in 24 categories was selected as the winners and support projects.
The Inescapable Mountain by MOON Chang-yong won the Best Korean Project (KRW 30,000,000), Flicking Lights by Anupama Srinivasan and Anirban Dutta and No Boys Land by Nontawat Numbenchapol jointly won the Best Asian Project (KRW 30,000,000), and For Vagina’s Sake by Kim Bo-ram won the Best Rough Cut Project (KRW 20,000,000).
Becoming Ordinary by Kim Dong-bin and The Future Cries beneath Our Soil by Pham Thu Hang won the Doc Spirit Award (KRW 10,000,000) and Flame Feminist Action! by Yun Ga-hyun won the Best Young Korean Director’s Project (KRW 10,000,000). Counters by Lee Il-ha won the CGV Arthouse Award (KRW 20,000,000) and the newly established award this year, Daemyung Culturewave Award (KRW 5,000,000) went to Mommy and Me by Yeon Wang-mo. Also, various in-kind support projects including the digital post-production, advertising design, promotional marketing, music and sound, and the theatrical release were selected and announced.
The directors and producers of the 31 films and the professionals from home and abroad gave favorable comments on Docs Port Incheon that it is an efficient and valuable business platform and functioning as a great networking site where you can meet friends and colleagues who share the immense passion and strong affection for the documentary. They also expressed a great satisfaction about the well-organized operating system. Domestic and foreign decision makers have praised the projects released this year for their high quality and potential, and gave positive evaluations on the 4 sessions of Biz Talk designed to provide the maximum amount of great information in a short period.
Patrick Hurley, Head of Marketplace & Talent of the Sheffield Doc/Fest, who came to the Docs Port Incheon for the first time and was one of the judges this year, praised it as ‘one of the best of all the events I’ve ever attended.’ Many decision makers, including Catherine Le Clef, president of world-renowned distributor CAT&DOCS who has been distributing Korean documentaries steadily, expressed her satisfaction with the projects saying, ‘This year’s projects were particularly excellent.’
Docs Port Incheon established itself as the most prominent documentary project market in Asia within a short period of 4 years. Please check the details of the winners and in-kind support projects of Docs Port Incheon at the official website and contact the Docs Port Incheon Office for more information.