The 'Busan International Film Festival (hereafter referred to as BIFF)', which is marking its 30th edition, is seeking changes in the institutional sector. It is expected to encompass a wide range of OTT works as it did last year.

At the '30th Busan International Film Festival press conference' held online on the morning of the 29th, Chairperson Jeong Han-seok explained, "As a representative film festival of Asia, we will reflect on the memories and connections that Busan International Film Festival and Asian cinema have journeyed together, while diagnosing the current issues of Asian cinema and seeking future development. In particular, the new institutional sector targeting Asian films will serve as an important focal point for driving this change."

He added, "We aim to create a space where we can diagnose the crisis faced by the Korean film industry and seek practical solutions by arranging various programs and forums to overcome this. We will invite the works and guests that audiences truly wish to see and meet, striving to be a true audience-friendly film festival where audiences can fully enjoy the festival."

This year, BIFF has achieved generational change. Under the new leadership of Chairperson Jeong Han-seok, programmer Park Ga-eun, who was responsible for Latin America and Europe, has newly joined as the chief programmer. Additionally, the selection committee structure will be streamlined, and without the additional hiring of separate programmers, program selection and operations will be carried out with the existing programming team to enhance organizational efficiency and speed.

Most importantly, the 'BIFF', which started as a non-competitive film festival in 1996, has declared a new beginning this year as a competitive film festival. The new institutional sectors include categories for selecting the best Asian films of the year (Daesang, Best Director, Jury Special Award, Best Actor, Artistic Contribution Award) and the Busan Award. About 14 films will be selected for the competitive sector, which will be judged and awarded at the closing ceremony.

Additionally, a separate jury will select one film from the debut directors' works screened in the competitive sector and vision sector to award the New Currents Award. This reflects the festival's ongoing commitment to discovering and supporting a new generation of filmmakers.

In particular, last year, the film 'Jeon, Ran', which was released on Netflix rather than in theaters, garnered attention as the opening film. The documentary film 'RM: Right People, Wrong Place', featuring RM, the leader of BTS, was also premiered at last year's BIFF, generating buzz. It has been noted that the festival has stepped away from its conservative image.

Chairperson Jeong Han-seok remarked, "The Korean film industry is not well and is in crisis. There are certainly people who do not watch OTT. It is strange to completely exclude and ignore this culture. Film professionals are also working on projects led by OTT. I believe there is no reason to exclude them blindly. We will assess the importance of the works."

He continued, "It seems that 'Jeon, Ran' being the opening film has led to more controversy, but all 240 films, including the opening film, are important. We have promoted the opening film as symbolizing the entire festival, but the distorted phenomenon of focusing only on the opening film will be corrected. We will rectify the ecosystem of the distorted section and hope that all selected 240 works will receive respect and attention from audiences."

Meanwhile, BIFF meets audiences in Busan every year in the first week of October.

[Photo] Provided

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