The 27th annual Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), the largest film festival in Asia, was opened on Oct. 5 for a 10-day run.
The event returned to offline status for the first time in three years since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The number of viewers this year is back to 100%, up from 50% last year, but the festival will still observe quarantine measures but without social distancing.
Offline events that had been suspended will also be resumed.
The opening ceremony was set for Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. at the outdoor theater of Busan Cinema Center in Busan’s Haeundae-gu District with actors Ryu Jun-yeol and Jeon Yeo-been as hosts.
The festival invited 242 films from 71 countries including the opening work “Scent of Wind” from Iran. The movies will be shown at 30 screens in seven theaters throughout the city.
Ten films including “A Wild Roomer” and “No End” are vying for the New Currents Award, the main competition section for Asian cinema.
The On Screen section, which debuted last year and showcases the latest series on over-the-top platforms, will present nine works, up from three last year.
The section Special Program in Focus has the following three programs: “In the Mood for Tony Leung” featuring six leading films featuring actor Tony Leung Chiu Wai that he personally selected; “Discovering New Japanese Cinema,” a look at works by new Japanese directors who debuted after 2010; and “New Perspectives on 21st Century Documentary,” which comprises 10 bold and innovative films released this century.
Leung’s six films to be screened are “In the Mood for Love” (2000), “The Eagle Shooting Heroes” (1993), “Happy Together” (1997), “The Longest Nite” (1998), “Infernal Affairs” (2002) and “2046” (2004).
Special screenings will include the documentary “Jiseok,” which commemorates the festival’s late chief programmer Kim Jiseok, and another documentary, “Nakdong River,” which was recently discovered by the Korean Film Archive. Many artists who worked in Busan during the Korean War (1950-53) took part in the latter documentary, which was released in 1952 and whose music was written by composer Yun Isang.
Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism