The 30th edition of Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) delivered what it promised in terms of being a celebration of Asian cinema past and present, packed with stars and leading auteurs, as well as a growing platform for bringing cinema from other parts of the world to Korean audiences.
Stars attending the festival included Lisa from Blackpink, who starred in Season 3 of The White Lotus; Lee Byung-hung, star of Park Chan-wook’s opening night film No Other Choice; actress-director Sylvia Chang, who was presented with the Camellia award; Indonesian actress Dian Sastrowardoyo, who stars in and produced Ho Wi Ding’s Mothernet; and Hong Kong’s Tony Leung Ka-fai, serving on the jury, and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, in town to support Ildikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend.
Directing and producing talent included Guillermo del Toro, Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi, who was awarded Asian Filmmaker of the Year, KPop Demon Hunters creator Maggie Kang, and Korea’s Na Hong-jin, who served as president of the jury for the rebooted competition section, as well as Hollywood’s Michael Mann, Paul W. S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich.
BIFF’s industry platform Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM, September 20-23), which was celebrating its 20th edition, drew record numbers of visitors. While the festival runs until the closing ceremony and awards on September 26, below are five talking points that have been occupying guests up until this point.
Oscars Submissions
BIFF got off to a thought-provoking start on its first full day, following its starry opening night, with the press conference for Asian Filmmaker of the Year Jafar Panahi, who launched straight into a hot button issue – the selection process for the Best International Feature Oscar. As the selection committees in several countries are compliant with repressive regimes, it’s often the case that they’re not putting forward the films with the strongest chance of being nominated. Panahi’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner It Was Just An Accident was selected as France’s submission the day before the press conference, while Iran put forward a much more regime-friendly film. Panahi called on the Academy to break ties with national governments and urged independent filmmakers to find other ways to get their films selected.
Meanwhile, Korea, which has a transparent selection process despite recent political turmoil, has a strong submission this year in No Other Choice, but it’s an insanely competitive year, even just looking at Asia, with titles including Kokuho (Japan), Left-Handed Girl (Taiwan), Magellan (Philippines) and A Useful Ghost (Thailand), which were all screening at BIFF.
Korean Film Industry Crisis
Despite the global popularity of Korean culture, the nation’s film industry is facing its biggest downturn in almost two decades, excluding the pandemic years, with revenue down 33% to $293m (KRW407.9bn) in the first half of 2025. Admissions decreased 32.5% to 42.5 million over the same period. While last year had a few early hits, including The Roundup: Punishment and Exhuma, there was nothing noteworthy this year until zom-com My Daughter Is A Zombie, released on July 30, which benefitted from a government-backed ticket discount program. Chatter in the market revolved around the reasons for the downturn – rising competition from streaming platforms, consumer belt-tightening and hesitance on the part of investors and studios – as well as possible solutions. The upcoming Chuseok holiday (October 5-8) does not appear to have many big releases, although No Other Choice opens today and may bring some cheer.
‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Dilemma
“Both pride and reflection” was the common response to the global success of Netflix all-time hit animated feature KPop Demon Hunters. Maggie Kang, the film’s Canadian-Korean creator, was in Busan as part of the Netflix Creative Asia event, during which she explained the meticulous research that went into the film to ensure it was authentic to Korean culture. But while Korea’s soft power has never been higher, there wasn’t a drop of Korean investment in the Sony Animation and Netflix production, and technically not a penny of revenue will flow back to Korea. This irony is not lost on Korea’s local studios, which still rely on box office and have all been cutting back on production output since the pandemic. But it also speaks to a similar downturn for Hollywood blockbusters in the global market. With the appeal of traditional American content waning in Asia and other parts of the world, could cultural appropriation become a future strategy for U.S. studios and streamers?
ACFM Continues To Grow
BIFF’s industry platform, Asian Contents and Film Market (September 20-23), was noticeably busier, despite the struggles of the Korean film industry, with the event ramping up its tech industry, IP and co-production initiatives as the traditional sales business continues to decline. New programs, including tech-related InnoAsia, documentary screenings and ‘The A Summit’ conference, were well received and kept traffic flowing through the BEXCO exhibition hall. Canada, Latin America and the Middle East all had a greater presence, and India and Indonesia hosted national pavilions for the first time. The market said it was expecting to hit a record 30,000 visitors when the final numbers are crunched.
Co-Production & Cooperation
As in other markets over the past few years, nearly everyone was talking about regional and international co-production. Traditionally self-sufficient film industries, including Korea, Japan and China, are all trying to figure out how to pool financial resources and expand distribution networks, while Southeast Asia’s busiest markets – Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia – have long been working with each other and with Europe. Added to the mix this year, Telefilm Canada and Canada’s Racial Equality Screen Office (RESO) both brought delegations of producers to Busan to explore co-production opportunities in the region. The concept of co-production in Asia is very different to the treaty and subsidy driven systems of Europe and Canada, but the number of meetings, panels and booth-side casual chats that were happening suggested that there’s a genuine intention to make it work.