The American Film Market begins today in Santa Monica, California, with Korean and Chinese-based companies making up almost a third of the buying companies at the market.

More than 750 companies from 70 countries will send over 1,500 representatives to the market, which will see eight days of deal-making on films at every stage of development and production, from 31 October to 7 November, 2012.

The market will screen 442 motion pictures, including 82 world premieres and 327 market premieres for buyers. The 120 new buying companies attending represents a 10 per cent increase in recent years.

Korea and China represent almost a third of all the buying companies at the AFM.  Korea have 25 companies in attendance, while China has 13. The United States, in comparison, have 11, while Japan and Turkey have six each. Russia have five, while France and Italy are in attendance with four companies each.

AFM Managing Director Jonathan Wolf said: “We are seeing a shift in the way sub distributors acquire film as they steadily rely less on local distributors and more on direct acquisitions.  We also expect a significant increase in buyers from China.”

A vast array of talent is expected to attend the market, with premieres of films featuring the works of, among others, Annette Bening, Helena Bonham Carter, Chow Yun-Fat, Jennifer Connelly, Roman Coppola, Elle Fanning, James Franco, Christina Hendricks, Dustin Hoffman, Kate Hudson, Julianne Moore, Bill Murray, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Ruffalo, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alexander Skarsgård, Juno Temple, Kristen Wiig and Elijah Wood.

A complete list of films and the screening schedule is available at www.TheFilmCatalogue.com.