Hwang Bo-reum, Lee Geum-yi Among Authors in Busan Story Market’s 2026 Selections

The Busan Story Market (BSM) has unveiled 25 official selections for 2026, including international bestseller Hwang Bo-reum and two-time Hans Christian Andersen Award finalist Lee Geum-yi, drawing on original IP from four Asian countries.

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BSM is part of the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), the official market of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). Among the Korean selections is “My Upstairs Neighbors” by Hwang Bo-reum, the author behind the international bestseller “Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop,” and “Chasm of Sorrow” by Lee Geum-yi, whose more than 50 published books and international translations have made her one of Korea’s most recognized children’s and young-adult authors. The lineup as a whole comprises 15 titles from Korea and four each from Taiwan and Japan, alongside two from Indonesia.

Genres and narratives range widely this year, spanning stories that explore universal emotions and relationships, including life and death, family, growth, love and loss, through fresh genre settings, alongside plot-driven works built around hidden agendas and fixations that take unpredictable turns.

BSM operates as a marketplace connecting film and audiovisual adaptations of original IP, drawing from books, webtoons, web novels, video games and other formats, with content platforms and IP holders worldwide. The official selections take part in pitching sessions and one-on-one business meetings aimed at secondary rights deals and adaptation collaborations.

For the Korean IP selection, BSM fielded 138 submissions from 83 companies this year, ultimately choosing 15 titles from 13 companies: nine books, two webtoons, two web novels and two stories. Books make up more than half the Korean lineup, though the selections stay broadly balanced across formats and genres. The titles pair crowd-pleasing categories, among them romance, mystery, fantasy and family drama, with less conventional hooks, including parallel worlds, out-of-body experiences and science fiction, touching on themes from generational communication and family bonds to individual lives set against their times. The selection ranges from emotionally driven human dramas to AI-inflected fantasy, genre-blending historical romance, period pieces and hybrid concepts.

BSM’s Taiwanese IP selection, conducted annually with the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), yielded four titles from four companies, one apiece drawn from books, webtoons, web novels and comics. Each centers on a high concept distinctive enough to convey its identity in a single line, using fantasy settings not merely for spectacle but to work through emotional terrain that includes bereavement, remorse, early romance, ties between family members and coming of age, positioning the titles for adaptation across film, drama series and other formats.

Four Japanese IPs from four companies, one book and three comics, were chosen through the Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO). The selections lean on layered characters and relationships built around secrets and obsessions, with stories shifting in unpredictable directions as hidden truths surface or unlikely individuals form bonds across boundaries.

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Indonesia’s two selections, both comics from two separate companies, were picked from a shortlist of 10 Indonesian original IPs that had been presented at the 2025 JAFF Content Market, an initiative run by the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival Market (JAFF Market); the pair emerged after a round of pitches and meetings centered on adapting the properties for film and audiovisual formats. Both took home the JAFF Content Market Award Goes to ACFM 2026, earning them a spot in this year’s BSM lineup. JAFF Content Market has since evolved into JAFF IP Connection for 2026, and one of BSM’s selected Korean IPs will be invited to that program following talks with JAFF Market representatives. The Yogyakarta, Indonesia program runs Nov. 28-30, continuing the two-way exchange of original IP between BSM and JAFF Market.

BSM runs alongside APM at ACFM, which takes over Exhibition Center 2 at BEXCO in Busan for four days starting Oct. 10, with the 25 selections set to connect with industry professionals through BSM Pitch & Match sessions and further business meetings exploring IP expansion and adaptation opportunities.

ACFM is the official market of BIFF and is held in Busan every October. The 2025 edition, ACFM’s 20th, drew industry professionals from 55 countries – 3,024 of them, alongside 1,222 registered companies – with on-site attendance reaching a record 30,006. The Sales Market tallied 8,438 business meetings, generating an estimated $71.1 million in transactions.

The 31st Busan International Film Festival runs Oct. 6-15, with the 21st ACFM held Oct. 10-13.

FULL LIST OF 2026 BUSAN STORY MARKET SELECTIONS
(Listed in alphabetical order; title – author – company – genre – IP type – country/region)

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