The 2024 Busan International Film Festival is kicking off on Oct. 2 with the international premiere of Uprising, director Kim Sang-man’s historical war epic with a script written by an auteur Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) and distributed by Netflix. The 29th edition of the 10-day event closes with Singaporean director Eric Khoo’s Spirit World, starring French screen legend Catherine Deneuve.
“Uprising is a charming historical drama put together by an outstanding team of directors, writers and actors while Khoo’s Spirit World is a co-production that explores the fundamental questions of human existence and the meaning of life through beautiful cinematic expression,” said Park Do-shin, the festival’s acting director, who was previously Busan’s senior programmer. Uprising is also the first streaming title to be invited to screen as the festival’s opening film.
Park Kwang-su, a former director who was appointed as the festival’s chairperson in February, reassured Busan enthusiasts in a press conference Tuesday that this year’s event will bring back some of the noted traditions from the old festival.
“When we looked at last year’s event, we realized that several things were missing that should have been there,” Park said. “We decided to bring back offline dailies, which were only published online. We’re also going to reinstate the shuttle bus and a festival lounge where guests and visitors could relax and mingle.”
These small changes mean a lot to the festival organizers who, despite the government subsidy that was nearly halved this year, increased screenings by 8 percent compared to last year with the official selection of 224 films from 63 countries, thanks to the rise of corporate sponsors. This year’s Busan showcases 279 films, including 13 international premieres and 86 world premieres.
As a highlight of this year’s BIFF, the festival will spotlight the films of Kurosawa Kiyoshi, the recipient of the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award and the Japanese writer-director who is known for psychological horrors such as Cure (1997). Busan will screen two of his latest films — Serpent’s Path and Cloud, which recently premiered at the Venice Film Fest.
Other Asian auteurs highlighted in the festival include director Jia Zhanke’s Caught by the Tides, an epic tale of contemporary China, and Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of Sacred Fig, a stark reflection of Iran’s political landscape and suppression of women.
The festival will also provide a platform for titles from a number of legendary European filmmakers, including Bruno Dumont’s The Empire, which won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, and Sean Baker’s Anora, the Palme d’Or winner at Cannes. It also shines a spotlight on the films of Miguel Gomes, who won the best director award at Cannes this year for Grand Tour.
Busan has also expanded the screenings of Korean commercial films this year, including Bogota: City of the Lost, a crime drama starring Song Joong-ki about immigrants to Colombia, and Hear Me: Our Summer, a Korean remake of the legendary Taiwanese romance. The festival is also devoting a special section to commemorate Lee Sun-kyun, the late Parasite actor who died last year, including his earlier Paju (2009), Our Sunhi (2013) and a TV series My Mister (2018), in addition to a screening of Parasite.
Director Lee Ran-hee is making a comeback with her second feature film The Final Semester after her debut film Leave (2020) screened in Busan’s New Currents section. Another Busan regular, Park Songyeol, will return with Kike Will Hit a Home Run.
The film adaptation of the famed Japanese TV series Solitary Gourmet will have its premiere in Busan in an outdoor theater. The French thriller Night Call will also be presented at Midnight Passion, devoted to thrillers, horror and action films to keep diehard genre fans awake through the night.
On the market front, more than 2,500 film and industry professionals from more than 50 countries are expected to participate this year for dealmaking, content promotion and coproduction opportunities.
This year’s Asia Contents and Film Market (ACFM), which begins on Oct. 5, presents a series of industry forums with participants from major studios including Amazon, Netflix and DMP Studios.
Forums will feature sessions covering a wide range of topics including the integration of AI technologies into content production and how Asia’s IP and film industries can utilize the latest technology.
Stability AI, known for providing open-source AI services, will deliver a keynote discussion on widespread influence of generative AI, including tools like Stable Diffusion. Gioo S. Gainor, who leads production of Amazon Original Movies from Amazon Studios, and TJ Falls, vice president of Visual Effects at Lucasfilm, will participate in the discussions.
This year’s market is also launching a Producer Hub, a networking program for producers aiming for international coproductions and financing.