Spectre of political interference looms large as Busan International Film Festival opens
The event has been embroiled in a bitter dispute with the municipal government of the host city since the screening in 2014 of a controversial documentary about the Sewol ferry disaster
The 21st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) kicks off on Thursday, with an extended row over artistic freedom and a boycott by high-profile local cineastes threatening to undermine its reputation as Asia’s premier movie showcase.
This year’s event will screen some 300 films from nearly 70 countries, including 66 features that will be receiving their world premieres.
The World Cinema section will include a number of top award winners from the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, including Ken Loach’s Palme D’Or recipient I, Daniel Blake and It’s Only the End of the World which won the Grand Prix for director Xavier Dolan.
The new rules are a compromised version which did not reflect many of the demands from our members and will hardly be enough to ensure artistic freedom
The main focus will, as usual, be on Asian films, with the Korean drama A Quiet Dream by Korean-Chinese director Lu Zhang opening the festival, and The Dark Wind by Iraqi director Hussein Hassan bringing down the curtain.
The prestigious annual event has been embroiled in a bitter dispute with the municipal government of the host city Busan since the screening in 2014 of a controversial documentary about the Sewol ferry disaster.
The screening went ahead despite the fierce opposition of the Busan city mayor, and then chairman of the festival organising committee, Suh Byung-soo.
A subsequent flurry of official probes targeting organising committee members and an unprecedented cut in state funding last year were seen as exacting political revenge and an assault on the festival’s creative independence.