New leadership, expanded programming mark fresh chapter for Asian cinema showcase
The Busan International Film Festival, having announced its transition to a competitive festival, unveiled comprehensive plans and a vision for its upcoming 30th edition during a press conference Tuesday at the Busan Cinema Center.
The festival, which is set to run from Sept. 17-26 in Busan, will focus on Asian films in its inaugural competition category. Last year, the festival announced its transition to a competitive format after operating as a non-competitive event since its 1996 founding. This year's edition will feature a main competition section with around 14 films eligible for five award categories, including best film, best director, and special jury award.
Jung Han-seok, the newly appointed festival director, outlined three guiding principles for this year's festival: strengthening solidarity with Asian cinema, addressing the box office slump and production downturn affecting the Korean film industry, and creating a genuinely audience-centered experience.
"As we all know, the film industry is facing significant challenges at the moment," Jung said. "We aim to bring new energy through our programming while using our forums to explore potential solutions." Jung previously served as the festival's Korean cinema programmer since 2019.
Park Ga-eon, the festival's newly appointed program director, explained: "The competition's only requirement is that entries must be Asian films. First-time directors and filmmakers with decades of experience will compete on equal footing."
The festival is also expanding its "Vision" section, traditionally a platform for emerging Korean talents, to include filmmakers from across Asia. "We've built a successful model for discovering new Korean independent films, directors and actors," Park said. "Now we're creating Vision Asia and Vision Korea categories, with approximately 12 films in each."
"After 30 years of growth alongside Asian cinema, we're looking ahead to present a new vision for the next three decades," said BIFF chairperson Park Gwang-su.
Organizers plan to increase the festival's selection to around 240 films, up from 224 last year, moving gradually back toward pre-pandemic levels when it screened up to 300 films. Additional screening venues beyond traditional theaters will help accommodate this growth, festival officials said.
"When I asked film professionals and audiences alike what they wanted from our festival, the most common answer was simply, 'Let us see the films we actually want to see,'" Jung said. "We're working to secure more screening venues around the Centum City area so more attendees can conveniently access their preferred selections."
The festival also addressed technical issues from last year's event, with Jung apologizing for ticketing system failures and promising preventative measures. "This requires long-term solutions that all Korean film festivals need to collaborate on," he added.
When questioned about last year's controversy surrounding the selection of the Netflix film "Uprising" as the opening feature, Jung defended the inclusion of streaming platform productions.
"Even traditional cinephiles like myself watch streaming content regularly," he said. "It would be strange for a festival like BIFF, which should reflect current trends, to deliberately exclude these works -- especially considering how many Korean film professionals now work on streaming productions."
The festival unveiled its commemorative 30th edition logo, designed by graphic designer Park Woo-hyuk. This year's design incorporates projector beams and lighting lens patterns into the number 30, creating visual continuity between the festival's past and future.
moonkihoon@heraldcorp.com
