By Lee Kyoung Mi and Lee Hana
Photos = BIFF
Seoul | Sept. 4, 2019

The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), the biggest event of its kind in Asia, is just one month away from its grand opening.

On Sept. 4, the festival's organizers held an official news briefing in Seoul to announce the schedule and lineup of events for BIFF 2019, as the event marks its 24th anniversary this year.

At this year's BIFF, audiences can look forward to 303 short and feature-length films from 85 countries. Some 120 works will have their world premieres in Busan, the most in the festival's history.

"This number reflects BIFF's global network and the expectations of our worldwide audience, as well as the wishes people have for Asia's most significant film festival," said BIFF Executive Director Jeon Yang-jun.



To mark the centenary of Korean cinema, the 10 most important Korean films from the past century will be screened including "The Housemaid" by director Kim Ki-young and "The March of Fools" by Ha Gil-jong. Talks with film critics will accompany the screenings.

From this year, events on the sidelines of the festival will be held all around Busan, not only in the areas nearby Haeundae Beach. A main stage will be set up at the Busan Cinema Center while smaller events will unfold at BIFF Square and Busan Citizens Park, in addition to movie screenings.

Newly added programs seek to meet the changing demands of the film industry with the rise of online platforms. The Asian Film Market 2019 is one such example, a forum that deals with all aspects of filmmaking from investment and production to sales and distribution.

"We decided to launch the first-ever awards ceremony for content produced in Asia at the Asian Film Market," said Cha Seung-jae, the event's head of operations, adding, "We hope to develop our 'market' into the most influential in Asia. The aim is to eventually bring in animation and musical content into our business, too."



BIFF's opening film this year is "The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time" from Kazakhstan by director Yerlan Nurmukhambetov and the closing film is "Moonlit Winter" by Korean director Lim Daehyung. This is the first time for the festival to screen the works of new directors in both the opening and closing stages of the event.

This year's festival will run for 10 days from Oct. 3-12 at the Busan Cinema Center and other locations throughout Korea's largest port city. More information on ticketing, screening schedules and other events can be found at the official BIFF website below.

http://www.biff.kr/eng

km137426@korea.kr