Busan Film Festival Overcomes Internal Strife and Closes Safely... 140,000 Audience Attendance

28th BIFF Closing Ceremony Held on the 13th
209 Films from 70 Countries Screened... Seat Occupancy Rate 82%
Content Film Market Participated by 918 Companies from 49 Countries

The 28th Busan International Film Festival this year concludes its ten-day journey, overcoming internal leadership conflicts. The festival, held without an executive chairman this year, attracted over 140,000 viewers despite budget cuts and other challenges, closing on the 13th.

The Busan International Film Festival will mark its end with a closing ceremony held this afternoon at the outdoor theater of the Busan Cinema Center, hosted by actors Hong Kyung and Go Min-si. The closing film is "The Emperor of the Movie," starring Hong Kong actor Andy Lau (Liu Dehua).

[Photo by Yonhap News]

This year, 209 films from 70 countries were screened across 25 theaters in 4 venues. The Community BIFF featured 60 films. Attendance for Community BIFF was 11,092, and for Neighborhood BIFF, 8,228.

The total audience numbered 142,432, with a seat occupancy rate of about 82%. This is about 20,000 fewer than last year's 161,145 attendees. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, an average of 180,000 people attended the festival. This decline is attributed to a reduced number of selected films, leading to fewer screenings. However, the seat occupancy rate increased by 8 percentage points compared to last year.

During the festival, there were 12 open talks, 11 outdoor stage greetings, 4 Actors House sessions, 1 master class, 2 special talks, and 1 handprinting event (featuring Chow Yun-fat). Guest visits (GV) occurred 252 times, with a total of 7,772 guests participating.

The New Currents Award, given to films by emerging Asian directors, was awarded to "The Wrestler" by director Aquib Chowdhury (Bangladesh) and "September 1923" by director Mori Tatsuya (Japan).

The Jiseok Award, honoring the late Busan International Film Festival programmer Kim Ji-seok, was awarded to "Paradise" by director Prasanna Vithanage (Sri Lanka/India) and "Bride Kidnapping" by director Mirlan Abdykalikov (Kyrgyzstan).

"My Dear" by directors Jeon Do-hee and Kim So-hee, and "21 Weeks Later" by director Nasrin Mohamadpur (Iran) received the Sonje Award.

[Photo by Yonhap News]

The "Actor of the Year" award, recognizing emerging actors, went to Jang Sung-beom for the film "What Must Be Done" and Oh Min-ae for "About My Daughter." Director Park Hong-jun of "What Must Be Done" was also selected for the Korean Film Directors' Guild (DGK) Plus M Award.

This year, actor Song Kang-ho served as the "Host of the Year," welcoming guests, while actor Chow Yun-fat was honored with the "Asian Filmmaker of the Year" award and toured Busan. Additionally, film industry figures such as Fan Bingbing, director Luc Besson, Hirokazu Kore-eda, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi attended the festival and met with audiences.

Furthermore, special exhibitions featuring Korean-American filmmakers and actors active in Hollywood, as well as an Indonesian film showcase, were highly praised as excellent programs.

The Asia Contents & Film Market, a film content marketplace, saw participation from 2,479 individuals representing 918 companies from 49 countries, with 271 companies from 23 countries occupying 98 booths.

The Asia Project Market recorded 826 meetings, and the Busan Story Market held 1,000 meetings.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.