Because the Busan International Film Festival celebrates its thirtieth anniversary, director Jung Hanseok isn’t dwelling on previous achievements. As an alternative, he’s orchestrating what he calls “the very starting of a brand new chapter” for one among Asia’s most influential movie festivals.
The milestone version, which opened with Park Chan-wook’s “No Different Alternative,” represents essentially the most dramatic transformation in BIFF’s historical past, centered across the launch of its first-ever Competitors part and a complete reimagining of the pageant’s construction.
“The load of the quantity ’30’ is unquestionably plain,” Jung tells Selection. “However I didn’t need this yr to easily be about wanting again on previous glories or a merely only a congratulation. If this version is to be remembered as a monumental yr, it’s not due to the quantity itself, however as a result of it marks the very starting of a brand new chapter for the Busan Worldwide Movie Competition.”
The brand new competitors part represents maybe the boldest transfer in Jung’s six-month overhaul of the pageant. By merging the longstanding New Currents and Kim Jiseok applications, BIFF has created a extra impactful platform solely devoted to Asian cinema.
Jung’s frank evaluation of the earlier system reveals the strategic considering behind the change: “I got here to appreciate that our two consultant sections, New Currents and the Jiseok part, had reached their limits when it comes to affect. If somebody have been to ask, ‘What have been the winners of final yr’s New Currents and Jiseok Awards?’ most individuals – together with myself – wouldn’t be capable of recall them.”
The brand new strategy is already displaying outcomes. “Shortly after this yr’s lineup was introduced, two invited movies secured gross sales brokers: Daisuke Shigaya’s ‘Depart the Cat Alone’ and Vimukthi Jayasundara’s ‘Spying Stars,’” Jung notes, crediting the competitors part with taking part in “a significant position” in elevating the movies’ profiles.
The 14 chosen competitors titles replicate Jung’s dedication to high quality over geographical stability. “In deciding on the 14 movies, we gave little or no consideration to regional range,” he explains. “Aside from the premise that the lineup should be Asian cinema, our focus was solely on the intrinsic worth of every work.”
This strategy resulted in a big illustration from Japan, China, and Korea – a mirrored image, Jung argues, of “one side of the present Asian cinema panorama that the brand new Busan competitors part has made seen.”
The Competitors’s inaugural trophy, designed by Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul, embodies the pageant’s new philosophy. The Thai auteur described his creation as “one thing that would resemble a coronary heart, or maybe a flower vase, with a way of water flowing inside.”
“He informed me, ‘I felt that the Busan Worldwide Movie Competition carries an identical spirit, the place creators and their tales collect and overflow in ensemble,’” Jung recollects. The trophy represents one thing “uncoagulated, unfixed, fluid and ever-changing, identical to water.”
This anniversary version options 241 movies throughout expanded venues, with revamped sections together with an prolonged Midnight Ardour, reimagined Imaginative and prescient program, and the return of Asian Cinema 100. Jung’s programming philosophy balances breadth with precision.
“It was vital to not look solely on the timber, however to see the entire forest,” he explains. “Whereas maintaining the general stability of the pageant very a lot in thoughts, I additionally made daring selections and concentrated focus inside every particular person program.”
Discussion board BIFF displays Jung’s sensible strategy to trade challenges, specializing in two key themes: overcoming the Korean movie trade disaster and assessing Asian cinema developments. The panels characteristic energetic trade practitioners reasonably than theorists.
“Our strategy is one and the identical: to keep away from summary rhetoric or empty theorizing, and as an alternative deal with growing concrete, sensible options to the urgent points going through each industries right this moment,” Jung emphasizes.
Park Chan-wook’s “No Different Alternative” opened the pageant, chosen for each its creative benefit and business attraction. “At a time when the Korean movie trade is going through a disaster, we felt there could possibly be no extra becoming selection than this movie as a sign of encouragement,” Jung says. “It’s by Park Chan-wook, who has lengthy stood as one of many defining figures of Korean cinema, and furthermore, it’s the venture he has devoted his life to.”
The competitors jury, led by “The Chaser” director Na Hong-jin, exemplifies Jung’s imaginative and prescient for the part. “We wished the primary Competitors part to be led by somebody with each imaginative and prescient and audacity, which is why we selected director Na Hong-Jin as Jury President.”
Whereas Jung prefers describing his initiatives as “establishing the competitors part” reasonably than remodeling BIFF right into a aggressive pageant, he acknowledges potential for growth. “If the newly created competitors part takes root efficiently, we could think about increasing, whether or not by including new awards or creating new applications sooner or later.”
For now, the main focus stays on the present transformation. Jung’s hope is that “within the years to return, this version will likely be remembered because the daring first step in a very transformative journey.”
As BIFF enters its fourth decade, Jung’s ecosystem strategy – the place all sections “coexist, none falling behind or being uncared for, however working in concord as an entire” – positions the pageant not simply as a celebration of Asian cinema, however as an important trade platform for the area’s filmmaking future.
