A Special Film Festival of 'Movies and Food'... This Year's Busan Food Film Festa to Be Held

June 28-30 at Busan Cinema Center: Film Screenings and Events on 'Rice: Everyday Life and Escape'

Screening 9 Films Including Delicious Movie, Three Days of Vacation, Chihwaseon, Off the Menu, and Italian Chef

Busan City will host the ‘2024 Busan Food Film Festa’ from June 28 to 30 at the Busan Cinema Center and its surrounding areas.

Official Poster of the 2024 Busan Food Film Festa (BFFF).

This festival is a representative film and gastronomy (culinary tourism) event of Busan, offering audiences the pleasure of both worlds and showcasing the excellence of both industries through the convergence of Busan’s renowned film and culinary sectors.

Now in its 8th year, this event will go beyond being a festival where audiences can enjoy food and movies together, presenting how food and film enrich our lives.

This year’s theme is 'Rice, Everyday Life and Escape,' and various side events and programs are being prepared to explore diverse stories centered around rice, which is deeply embedded in our daily lives.

The official poster for this year captures the vibrant early summer atmosphere with children playing in rice fields and lush paddies. The silhouette of a grain of rice in the center of the poster symbolically represents this year’s theme, while the cumulus clouds in the background evoke the warmth and happiness of freshly cooked rice.

Rice is a staple of our daily lives, and this event aims to deliciously unravel both the everyday and extraordinary aspects of rice.

The festival offers opportunities for various generations, from families to the MZ generation, to enjoy and communicate together, and also operates a variety of experiential side programs for children.

This year’s event will be divided into three film sections?‘Everyday Life,’ ‘Escape,’ and ‘BFFF Choice Movie Dining’?to delve deeper into stories about audiences, films, food, and rice. Starting with the opening film ‘Delicious Movie,’ a total of nine films across various genres related to food, such as ‘Three-Day Holiday’ and ‘Chihwaseon,’ will be screened.

The ‘Everyday Life’ section will feature films like ‘Twelve Months, Eating Soil’ and ‘Three-Day Holiday’ to explore the meaning of rice in our daily lives from both a humanities and a botanical perspective, revealing aspects we may not have previously noticed.

The ‘Escape’ section will showcase food films that highlight the diverse faces of rice. From ‘Delicious Movie,’ recommended for those craving comfort today, to the romance infused with lively Latin music in ‘Off the Menu,’ and even director Im Kwon-taek’s ‘Chihwaseon,’ which won the Best Director Award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, this section will focus on the extraordinary stories of rice rather than its everyday presence.

Especially in the ‘BFFF Choice Movie Dining’ section, which introduces the latest food films, ‘The House of No Man,’ ‘Coming Home Again,’ and ‘Italian Chefs’ will be screened. Notably, ‘Italian Chefs,’ being shown in Korea for the first time, is an omnibus film featuring the sensuous culinary stories and daily lives of Italian chefs.

The opening event, ‘Opening Night,’ will be held at 7 p.m. on June 28, and general audiences can enter for free on a first-come, first-served basis.

The opening film ‘Delicious Movie’ and ‘461 Lunch Boxes’ will be screened for free at the Busan Cinema Center Outdoor Theater.

During the daytime when there are no screenings, visitors can enjoy performances, a variety of foods and drinks, and other attractions in the cool breeze. This year, the ‘Promenade Concert’ organized by the Busan Small Theater Association will also be held. The ‘Promenade Concert,’ which marks the opening of the ‘One Month Festival’ running throughout July, is an event created by musicians from Busan’s representative small theaters, and this year, together with the Busan Food Film Festa, will welcome outdoor audiences with delicious music.

Scenes from the 2023 event.

Shim Jaemin, Director of Culture and Sports at Busan City, said, “The Busan Food Film Festa (BFFF) is a food film festival that communicates through the theme of food in movies. This year, it will be filled with a variety of stories and programs related to rice. We ask for the interest and participation of many citizens.”

For more details about the event, visit the official Facebook and Instagram pages, or contact the Busan Food Film Festa Secretariat for inquiries.

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