The 25th Busan International Film Festival will be held for ten days until the 30th, starting with the screening of the movie 'First Cow' (Director Kelly Richard) at 9:30 am on the 21st of October 2020. 192 films from 68 countries worldwide meet the audience on five screens in the Busan Haeundae Film Center.
Initially, the Busan International Film Festival was scheduled to hold the event from October 7th to 16th but was caught up in a variable of COVID-19 re-proliferation. The secretariat held an extraordinary general meeting to reduce or cancel some events and postponed the event's opening by two weeks before finalizing the event.
This year's Busan International Film Festival will be held without highlighting red carpet events and opening and closing ceremonies. There are also no outdoor events such as receptions, parties, outdoor stage greetings, and open talks. Asia Contents & Film Market, Asia Project Market, Forum Beef, and Asia Film Awards are held online.
The number of theaters and visitors is limited to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection. The number of screenings, which had exceeded 30, was reduced to six in the Seoul Film Center. The number of screenings was also limited from 2 to 3 times per movie. Although the scale has been reduced, the fever remains. Most of the major invitations have already been sold out, even though it was only conducted online.
The number of films to be screened has decreased by more than 100 films from last year to 192 films. The opening film was selected to be 'Silhouette: Hong Kong Story.' It is an omnibus film composed of seven works made by seven Hong Kong masters, including Hong Geum-bo Schiker. In the closing film, the Japanese animation "Joe, the Tigers, and the Fishes'' (director Kotaro Tamura) will be selected and screened at the outdoor theater on the afternoon of the 30th.
Also, 23 officially selected films from the Cannes Film Festival, which were canceled this year, will be presented under 'Cannes 2020'.
The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (also Pusan), South Korea, is one example significant film festivals in Asia. The first festival, held from 13 to 21 September 1996, was also the first international film festival in Korea. The BIFF's main focus is to introduce new films and first-time directors, especially those from Asian countries. Another notable feature is the festival's appeal to young people, both in terms of the large youthful audience it attracts and its efforts to develop and promote young talent.
The 24th Busan International Film Festival screened 299 films from 85 countries. The Opening Film was The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time by Yerlan Nurmukhambetov, Lisa Takeba from Kazakhstan/Japan, and the Closing Film: Moonlit Winter by Lim Dae-Hyung from South Korea. The festival drew a total audience of 189,116 people.
