Festival marks 30th edition with inaugural competition section, expanded programs
The Busan International Film Festival on Tuesday laid out plans for its historic transformation, detailing its shift to a competitive format after 29 years as a noncompetitive event.
The festival's inaugural competition section will feature 14 Asian films vying for five awards, including best film, best director and special jury prize. Ten of the selections are world premieres, with five coming from debut directors and six from women filmmakers.
Among the competition titles, Chinese director Bi Gan's "Resurrection" arrives after winning the special jury prize at Cannes. Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-Ching's "Left-Handed Girl" carries the producing credit of recent Palme d'Or winner Sean Baker, who will attend the festival.
Korean director Lim Sun-ae's world premiere "Seven O'Clock Breakfast Club for the Brokenhearted" features stars Suzy and Lee Jin-wook, while Japan's "Two Seasons, Two Strangers," winner of top honors at Locarno, showcases Korean actress Shim Eun-kyung in the lead role.
Speaking at a press conference at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry headquarters in Seoul, Tuesday, festival chair Park Gwang-su acknowledged the challenges of launching a competition section for the first time.
"We don't expect it to be perfect from the first try," he said. "But we've done our best to prepare, and we'll keep refining it as time goes on."
Festival director Jung Han-seok addressed the Korean film industry's current struggles candidly. "We know that the film industry's in deep trouble," he said. "But we want this to be a proper festival nonetheless." Despite the crisis, Jung described this year's guest lineup as "monumental, unprecedented" in the festival's 30-year history.
That assessment bears out in the roster. Italian maestro Marco Bellocchio will make his first Asian festival appearance as part of a special retrospective program. Actor Juliette Binoche returns to Busan after 15 years for her own tribute section. Guillermo del Toro brings "Frankenstein," while Michael Mann attends with a special screening.
The Korean contingent includes Park Chan-wook, whose "No Other Choice" opens the festival, along with household names like Bong Joon-ho and Lee Chang-dong.
"I never imagined they'd all come to one place," Jung said of the assembled talent. "We've had famous stars and directors visit Busan before, but this year's lineup might be the greatest we've ever seen."
The festival expands its Vision section to include filmmakers across Asia, splitting into Vision Korea and Vision Asia categories with approximately 12 films each. The section previously focused exclusively on Korean independent cinema.
On the industry side, the Asia Contents & Film Market celebrates its 20th edition with significant expansion. Kim Young-deok, who heads the section, introduced InnoAsia, a new platform combining AI technology with content creation. Major participants include Google, Amazon Web Services, and Asian tech companies such as China's Kling and Tiktok.
"Korean creators can now directly interact with global big tech companies, Asian enterprises and policy institutions," Kim explained. The market also launches DocsSquare for documentary co-productions and expands its Producer Hub, which connects national film organizations with producer networks.
When asked about streaming platforms' presence in the lineup, Kim addressed the recurring debate over their inclusion. The festival had faced criticism for selecting Netflix's "Uprising" as its opening film last year. This year, two of the four Gala presentations — del Toro's "Frankenstein" and Byun Sung-hyun's "Good News" — come from Netflix.
"We're seeing how K-content reaches global audiences all at once through these platforms," Kim said. "The film industry was actually late to benefit from this wave. While tourism and food exports have profited from the K-content boom, we're still looking for ways to capture that financial support for cinema."
Meanwhile, this year's festival introduces practical changes, including child care services for attendees with children aged 3 to 8, responding to complaints from last year when invited guests with children couldn't bring them into screenings. Additional screening venues beyond the Busan Cinema Center will accommodate the expanded program of 241 official selections, up from 224 last year. Including Community BIFF events, the total reaches 328 films.
Actor Lee Byung-hun will host the opening ceremony solo, breaking from the traditional male-female duo format. The closing ceremony will also see changes: award winners won't be announced until the actual moment of presentation, adding suspense to the proceedings.
The 30th Busan International Film Festival runs Sept. 17-26 in venues across Busan.
moonkihoon@heraldcorp.com
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