Busan, the South Korean city that is already home to one of Asia's leading film festivals, has moved forward with its plans to build a world-class film studio.

The KOFIC facility would be the second set of new studios to be built in the city, after the Busan Film Commission's on-going redevelopment project.

Late last month the city authorities signed an agreement with the Korean Film Council (KOFIC)  that is expected to see the two bodies jointly finance the new studios.

KOFIC, which is expected to transfer its industry administrative and financing functions from Seoul to Busan by 2014, is in the process of selling its production studios at Namyangju, outside the capital.

The BFC is currently remodelling the existing Busan Cinema Studios (pictured), which include two sound stages, and converting them into virtual sets. They are being fitted out with equipment including an Encoda tracking system, Techno-Jib, pre-visualisation, virtual camera systems and a gyro-type motion capture system. The improvements are being brought on stream between 2011-2013.

The new KOFIC studios, costing some ￦508 billion ($454 million) and opening in steps between 2014 and 2020, will include an outdoor back lot and other production facilities such as workshops, make-up and props departments. A 'film experience centre' will open in 2015 and a theme park and cultural facilities will open in 2016.

A BFC spokesman said that the BFC and KOFIC studio clusters will be differentiated in scale and production targets. The BFC stages will be used as virtual digital sets, while the KOFIC stages will be larger and target major local and international pictures.

"Foreign film projects such as Transformers 2 previously looked into location shoots in Korea but were unable to make them happen due to the lack of post-production bases and large-size studios of 6,610㎡ (71,000 sq ft) or more," KOFIC said on its website.

The city authorities are expected to provide support valued at ￦28 billion ($25 million) towards the KOFIC complex, including administrative and financial support, expansion of access routes and infrastructure improvements including water supply, power and communications.

(by Patrick Frater, Film Business Asia)