The nation’s largest and most internationally recognized film festival became the center of controversy earlier this year, when the Korean Film Council announced that it would be cutting its financial support by nearly half compared to 2014. 

Despite fears that the festival would have to be canceled or downsized, the Busan International Film Festival was able to secure enough funds to hold the event for a 20th year, according to festival directors at a press conference at the Koreana Hotel on Tuesday.

“The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Film Council’s official position was that they could not reverse their budget cuts,” said festival director Lee Yong-kwan.

According to Lee, the mayor of Busan was instrumental in facilitating corporate sponsorship to make the festival and its accompanying Asian Film Market possible this year.

“We are continuously thinking about ways to cut expenditures and find new alternatives,” he said. “Even if we have to work with a smaller budget, we will protect our integrity.”

This year’s festival, which will open with the Indian film “Zubaan” by director Mozez Singh, will screen 304 films from 75 countries, 94 of them being world premieres.  

“This will be a year where new directors will get to shine,” said executive programmer Kim Ji-seok. “Films from new directors can be found throughout the festival, including the opening film and the ‘New Currents’ section. We’ve also discovered a large number of films from countries that are relatively unfamiliar.”

Festival director Kang Soo-youn, who was named to the post this year, noted the event‘s focus on participants who are not involved in the film industry. “One aspect that celebrates (BIFF’s) 20th anniversary is the abundance of events for audiences like the (special programs) ‘My French Cinema’ and ‘Asian Cinema 100,’ the Korean retrospective, ‘Cine Kids,’ and ‘Cine Silver.’”

Deputy director and market director Jay Jeon spotlighted the “Casting Board” and “Curtain Call” to be held on Oct. 5 as portions of the new Asian Casting Market, which will expand upon a pilot program tested in 2006 to introduce top stars and rising talent in Asia to film industry insiders from all over the world. 

Another new aspect of the Asian Film Market is the Entertainment Intellectual Property Market (E-IP Market) officially sponsored by film distributor New Entertainment World, which hopes to eventually cover intellectual property rights surrounding not only films, but all story content that can be reproduced on various platforms. 

The tentative list of guests to attend the festival includes some high-profile names, including actresses Tilda Swinton, Tang Wei and Liu Yifei, directors Hou Hsia-hsien and Eric Khoo, and the Korean-born French culture minister Fleur Pellerin.

The Busan International Film Festival will take place from Oct. 1-10. For more information, visit www.biff.kr.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)