On Monday, the 26th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) announced that all of its 2021 films would be screened in theatres throughout the festival’s run from October 6-15. There will be several showing of each film, as contrast to last year’s single screenings in the festival’s inaugural pandemic edition.
This year’s festival will feature 223 films from 70 nations, 92 of which will make their debut at BIFF. It’s up from last year’s 87 world or international debuts.
Heaven: To the Land of Happiness, which was selected for the Cannes 2020 label last year, will be the BIFF opening film, as previously announced.
Longman Leung’s Anita, a much-anticipated biopic on Hong Kong film queen Anita Mui, who died in 2003, will cap the festival. As part of the 2012 Busan Film Festival, Leung co-directed Cold War with Sunny Luk. This is his debut solo album, and it’s called Anita.
“We believe it’s vital for viewers to be able to discuss films and their reactions to them during the festival time. However, it would be more important for the festival to use this as a tool to engage with people throughout the year rather than only during the festival,” said festival director Huh Moon-young.
For this year’s festival, only Naver and YouTube will stream short films, while the feature film lineup will remain completely offline. This year’s festival will feature three OTT shows including Yeon Sang-Netflix ho’s original Hell bound, as a homage to the shifting scene.
Huh anticipates “more than 1,200 individuals with around 400 film industry members” to attend BIFF’s socially-distanced opening event.
KW10bn ($8.56m) is the estimated budget for 2021, according to Lee Yong-kwan, the festival’s chairman. In addition, it covers the expense of introducing Covid-safe methods for the second time in 2018.
Some filmmakers will be able to attend despite the fact that travel from other Asian nations is “almost impossible”. He will be on hand to deliver his Berlinale Silver Bear-winning film Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Cannes Best Screenplay-winning film Drive My Car, both of which will be shown as BIFF gala presentations. As part of the event, Hamaguchi will speak with Parasite filmmaker Bong Joon Ho.
French filmmaker Leos Carax will also be in attendance for a workshop and the gala showing of his musical Annette, which opened the Cannes Film Festival.
In addition to Vortex, Red Rocket, The French Dispatch, and The Power of The Dog, a number of additional films have been selected for Cannes 2021 as part of the Icons segment of the festival. An earlier list of competitors for the New Currents competition was made available to the public earlier in the year.
About 20-30 filmmakers from outside Asia are expected, as are nearly all Korean directors, including Park Chan-wook, who will speak at the Asian Contents and Film Market.
“This year, we’re concentrating on the Korean content business as a whole,” he says. Oh Seok Geun, the market director, stated, “Representatives in each of their disciplines will discuss their vision and talents with industry professionals across the world.
