Busan Film Festival Opens With Red-Carpet, Resistance and Reflection: ‘Vision of Asia, Ocean of Cinema’

“Squid Game” star lee Jung-jae was among the Korean celebrities to lead out a red-carpet parade on the opening night of the 29th edition of the Busan International Film Festival. The festival kicked off Wednesday with a bright show of international solidarity and a spectacular, if controversial, Korean film from Netflix.

The ceremony, held under the semi-open roof of the futuristic Busan Cinema Center, was buoyant and attended by 4,500 guests, masking some the woes incurred by the festival itself and by the wider Korean film industry. Officials at the event debuted a new slogan — “Vision of Asia, Ocean of Cinema” — reflecting the South Korean port city’s revised ambitions ahead of next year’s 30th anniversary edition.

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Last year, internal divisions ripped the festival management apart, causing sponsors to flee and a reduced budget. While some of the wounds have since been healed, replenished sponsorship and city government funds have only compensated for reduced national government support.

In addition, the Korean theatrical box office has become increasingly challenging for all but a handful of tentpole titles. That compounds the feeling of vulnerability felt in the face of stiff competition from local and international streaming platforms for on-screen and craft talent.

The ceremony included the presentation of the previously-announced Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award to Japan’s Kurosawa Kiyoshi, who has three films out this year: Berlin premiere “Chime,” Venice premiere “Cloud” and “Serpent’s Path,” which went straight to commercial release in Japan, but also has a festival career that kicked off in San Sebastian. Kurosawa will be busy over the next days with multiple presentations and a masterclass.

“I believe the audience at [the Busan festival] is the most sophisticated in the world. I came to Busan to present my films to such a discerning audience,” said Kurosawa. Two of his 2024 films are showing this year.

The ceremony also included presentation of the first ever Camellia Award, created by fashion firm Chanel, for pioneering women in the film industry. It was presented to production designer Ryu Seong-hie, for her work on films including “Memories of Murder,” “Oldboy” and “Decision to Leave.” “When I first started my career there were few female production designers and genre films were considered a male domain,” she said. “I wanted to prove that genre films by women can also be creative, intensive, rough and terrifying.”

The Korean Cinema Award, for efforts to promote the industry, was awarded to the late Lee Sun-kyun, following a tearjerking montage of his film performances. The “actor “Parasite” star died by suicide in December last year.

Those treading the red-carpet included: Glenn Gainor from Amazon Studios; the MPAA’s Belinda Lui; Cannes selector (and Busan jury member) Christian Jeune; overseas festival programmers Donsaron Kovitvanitcha (Bangkok World Cinema), Albert Lee (Hong Kong) and Sabrina Baracetti (FEFF Udine); Indian director Rima Das and actor Banita Das from “Village Rockstars 2”; Philippines director Brillante Mendoza (with latest film “Motherland”) and Pat Boonnitipat and Billikin, director and star of Thai breakout hit film “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies.” They were joined by Portugal’s Miguel Gomes, whose latest film is the celebrated “Grand Tour” and who is subject of a career retrospective at the festival.

Korean celebrities in attendance included: Gang Dong-won lead star of the opening film “Uprising” the ceremony’s hosts Park Boyoung and Ahn Jaehong, director Hur Jin-ho of “A Normal Family,” and Kim Dong-ho, the former censor turned advocate who was the festival’s first chairman.