Key Business Plan Announced... Up to 2.5 Billion Won for Eighteen Titles with Net Production Costs Under 10 Billion Won
Full Abolition of Recoupment of Independent Film Release Revenues... Resumption of Previously Halted "Next-Project Development" Support
Unified Career Platform for Film Professionals to Be Built by Next Year... Busan Gijang Filming Studio to Begin Operation in September
Korean Film Council [Photo by The Asia Business Daily DB]
The Korean Film Council will significantly expand the size of its financial support this year to overcome the crisis in the Korean film industry. On the 26th, it announced its key business plan for 2026, which strengthens support for mid-budget films and the project development sector.
The support budget for the mid-budget sector is 20 billion won, double that of last year. Eighteen titles with a net production cost of at least 2 billion won and less than 10 billion won will be selected, and up to 2.5 billion won will be invested per title. To enhance the industry's self-sustainability, at least 30% of the final selections will be allocated to rookie directors. Reflecting feedback from the field, the deadline for concluding investment and distribution contracts will be extended from three months to four months.
The project development budget is 4.6 billion won, an 80% increase from the previous year. The number of open calls per year for writers and production companies will be increased to two, through which eighty-five new projects for writers and sixty for production companies will be discovered. A Korean Film Council official explained, "We plan to expand eligibility for support in the writer category to include those with directing and assistant-directing credits, and to resume the 'support for next-project development,' which had been on hold for some time, in order to strengthen the self-sustainability of production companies."
A total of 20.5 billion won will be invested in the independent and art film sector. Of this, 7.7 billion won will be allocated to the production of sixty feature-length and short films. The release support benefits, which had been provided only to distributors, will be expanded to include production companies and individual directors, and the obligation to repay support funds when release revenues are generated will be abolished, thereby easing the financial burden on creators.
New initiatives aligned with changes in the industry landscape will also be launched. Thirty-eight feature-length and short films based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology will be selected, and 3 billion won will be invested in a pilot program for international co-productions aimed at strengthening global competitiveness. In addition, a unified platform for integrated management of filmmakers' career information will be built by next year to enhance the reliability of personnel management, and the Busan Gijang Filming Studio, which includes a virtual production studio, will begin operation in September.
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