Squid Game producer Kim Ji-yeon helped launch a new cross-border coalition for independent producers in Asia at Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market, reading the founding declaration of the newly formed Asian Producers Alliance (APA).
The alliance brings together producer organisations from Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It aims to advance cross-border co-production and strengthen protection for creators’ rights.
“For years, we have faced the same changes alone – in our own markets, in our own languages. Today we choose to face them together,” the declaration read. “We will advance co-production across Asia, so that our stories can be made together and travel further.”
APA unites the Producers Guild of Korea (PGK), Indonesian Film Producers Association (APROFI), Philippine Independent Producers Group (PIPG), Hong Kong Movie Production Executives Association (HKMPEA) and Taiwan Producers Association (TPA).
Its members are independent producers, with no studios, conglomerates or state bodies involved. PGK and APROFI initiated the group, whose formation was approved online by all five organisations.
The alliance will begin as a consultative coalition focused on co-production across Asia and creators’ intellectual property rights. Over time, it plans to develop into a body with a formal decision-making structure.
Producer organisations across Asia can join during its first year, and more than one organisation per territory may join. Members plan to meet online every quarter and hold an annual general assembly during ACFM.
Kim, a board member of PGK, read the declaration as representatives of the five founding organisations took the stage.
The launch came at the close of Empowering Asian Cinema: Solidarity and Creative Alliance, a seminar hosted by PGK at the ACFM Producers Hub.
Moderated by PGK International Committee director Han Jin, the panel brought together Yulia Evina Bhara of Indonesia’s KawanKawan Media, Rhee Handae, CEO of Korea’s Sidus, Yamaguchi Shin of Tokyo-based Knockonwood, and Bianca Balbuena, co-founder and COO of the Philippines’ Epicmedia Productions. They discussed co-production in an industry reshaped by streaming and short-form content.
Yamaguchi offered a simple direction for the discussion: “Think globally.” As producers in each market confront the realities of cross-border production, he said, international co-production is becoming an unavoidable part of the industry’s future.
The panelists’ own work reflects that shift. Yamaguchi has spent more than two decades structuring international co-productions across Asia, Europe and North America. Rhee leads Sidus’s Korea-Vietnam co-productions, including projects developed through a joint venture with director Phan Gia Nhat Linh.
Bhara’s credits include Cannes winner Tiger Stripes and Venice-winning Autobiography, while Balbuena has produced films that have screened at Sundance, Venice, Cannes and Berlin.
PGK president Lee Dong-ha and APROFI chair Edwin Nazir are APA’s inaugural co-representatives, with Han Jin and Bhara leading its secretariat as co-secretary generals. All four will serve one-year terms, with elections held at each year’s general assembly.
“APA is not a declaration – it is a practice of solidarity that begins now,” Lee said.
HKMPEA chair Johnny Wang said producers had long been accustomed to following paths paved by their predecessors.
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“Now, with the birth of the APA, we are embarking on an entirely new and unprecedented journey,” he said.
APA will hold its second seminar at the JAFF Market in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in December. Hosted by APROFI, it will focus on creators’ intellectual property.
