Busan, South Korea — Independent producers from five Asian markets have stopped facing streaming-era disruption alone. At the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) in Busan, producer organizations from Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan launched the Asian Producers Alliance (APA), a cross-border body aimed first at co-production and creators’ intellectual property.
A working coalition, not just a statement
The founding members are the Producers Guild of Korea, the Indonesian Film Producers Association (APROFI), the Philippine Independent Producers Group, the Hong Kong Movie Production Executives Association and the Taiwan Producers Association. Their founding declaration says that for years members “faced the same changes alone” and that the alliance is a decision to “face them together.”
The launch closed a PGK-hosted seminar, “Empowering Asian Cinema: Solidarity and Creative Alliance,” at the ACFM Producers Hub. The panel brought together producers Yulia Evina Bhara of Indonesia’s KawanKawan Media, Rhee Handae of Korea’s Sidus and Shin Yamaguchi of Japan’s Knockonwood, with PGK’s Han Jin moderating.
Producers Guild of Korea President Lee Dong-ha framed the launch as operating practice. “APA is not a declaration – it is a practice of solidarity that begins now,” he said. APROFI Chairman Edwin Nazir summed up the coalition’s logic: “Stronger together, we reach further.”
Why this matters for content buyers and planners
The alliance arrives as streaming platforms and short-form video continue to reshape how independent projects are financed, licensed and discovered. For media planners and entertainment marketers, a cross-border producer bloc changes the likely shape of future supply.
- More pan-Asian co-productions could package talent, locations and finance across territories instead of market by market.
- IP protection sits at the centre, which may lead to cleaner rights discussions for buyers and platforms.
- A rotating leadership and annual assembly create a predictable partnership calendar, not a one-off market headline.
In practice, a five-market alliance gives independent producers a wider pool of soft money, locations and platform relationships than any single guild can offer. It also gives buyers a simpler first conversation: instead of managing separate rights holders, they may face a coordinated regional pitch.
The next signals
APA’s inaugural team has APROFI Chairman Edwin Nazir and PGK President Lee Dong-ha as co-representatives, with Han Jin and Yulia Evina Bhara as co-secretary generals. All serve one-year terms and are elected at the annual General Assembly during ACFM. Membership is open to additional producer bodies, and the alliance says it will not cap participation at one organization per territory.
The next in-person gathering is the JAFF Market in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in December, where the theme will be creators’ IP. For content teams, that is the marker to watch: the first test of whether a regional declaration turns into deal flow.
Source: Deadline
