Last year, ACFM highlighted a new form of collaboration between brands and cinema through the session ‘Beyond the Brand: The Storytelling of Nightfishing’. The session drew industry attention by exploring how a brand, an agency, and filmmakers worked together to develop a commercial brief into a film, and how commercial partnerships can expand into new creative possibilities rather than impose creative limitations.

Nightfishing, directed by Moon Byounggon and presented at the session, is a branded film featuring Hyundai Motor Company’s IONIQ 5. Produced using the cameras mounted on the IONIQ 5, the film drew attention for introducing a distinctive new cinematic form.

Co-planned by INNOCEAN and Hyundai Motor Company, Nightfishing is a short film shaped by creative freedom not bound to the advertised product. Released theatrically as a 1,000 KRW ‘snack Movie’, the film attracted attention and went on to win Best Editing in the Jury Awards and Bronze for Best Asian Short in the Audience Awards at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Canada, presenting a new example of branded content.