The 31st edition drew its biggest audiences since 2015 while the row over ‘The Assassin(s)’ and Majid Majidi’s war speech put politics center stage. The Busan International Film Festival drew its largest film audience in more than a decade at its 31st edition, which ran Oct. 6–15, while a political firestorm over a Korean box office hit and an Iranian director’s war speech kept politics in the spotlight. These are Variety’s takeaways from the festival and its Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM).
Screenings drew 200,043 admissions, the festival’s highest tally since 2015. Counting talks, outdoor events and side programs, total attendance reached 277,027, around 40,000 more than the milestone 30th edition last year. Organizers pointed to a new opening date and a bigger screening slate.
Community BIFF, the audience-programmed strand in Nampo-dong, pulled in 29,511 visitors, more than 1.7 times last year’s figure. BIFF Everywhere took films to a record 18 locations, among them Buddhist temples, traditional markets and a National Assembly building in Seoul. The ACFM, which ran Oct. 10–13 at BEXCO under the theme “Core and Expansion,” counted 30,484 visitors, up 1.6%.
Registrations climbed 4.3% to 3,158 participants from 1,266 companies in 58 countries. Exhibitors rose 17% to 339 companies, 49 of them first-timers, and Czech & Slovak and Cambodian pavilions made their debuts. National funding for ACFM has stayed at the same level for two years running.” “For anyone who wants to work with Asia, there is no place as efficient over four days,” she said.
Korbinian Haeutle, project manager for Europe! Hub, which ran a stand with EFP and Unifrance, said the quality of the market was very good. Everyone is quite happy,” he said.
Malaysian filmmakers Woo Ming Jin, director with Greenlight Pictures, and Lau Kok Rui, director and screenwriter with Thousand Sales Pictures, said BIFF brings everybody from Asia together, “so for us it’s a very important festival.” “You can count on everyone being here, exchanging about policy changes, sharing project updates… It’s good to see what people are doing. It’s motivational,” they said. The festival’s opening week was shadowed by “The Assassin(s),” Hur Jin-ho’s thriller about the Aug. 15, 1974 shooting of first lady Yuk Young-soo, wife of then-President Park Chung-hee.
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