On September 17, the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) kicks off with the Asian premiere of Park Chan-wook’s new film No Other Choice (2025). This year is significant because it celebrates its 30^th edition. As such, it has an impressive lineup of films from across Asia and beyond underscoring its reputation as one of the leading film festivals in the region. In the official selection this year, there are 241 films from 64 countries, an increase of 17 titles compared to 2024. There are 90 world premieres.

BIFF was launched in 1996 when the Korean film industry and wider cultural sector was entering a new era. The 1990s saw changes to the way Korean films were financed and produced, while a younger generation of directors led by the 386 generation (born in the 1960s, went to universities in the 1980s and were in their 30s when this term was coined) would approach genre in radically different ways. Park Chan-wook was part of this generation, his film JSA (2000) would give him his break. He then went on to make his so-called Vengeance trilogy beginning with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) turning him into one of Asia’s most revered filmmakers.

Busan has been well-positioned to play a prominent role in showcasing not just Korean cinema but films from across Asia and beyond. It’s an event that has replicated the glitz and glamour of Cannes but it’s also one of discovery, while it curates retrospectives and special programs dedicated to older films.

This week we take at look at this year’s Busan International Film Festival as we examine its place as a leading event for Asia’s film industry in what is now a complex ecosystem. We begin with the opening film and gala presentations before turning to the restructured competition and Vision sections, and this year’s Korean Cinema Today program. We will then conclude with a look at the On Screen section and the BIFF forum as the festival navigates the world of streaming.

Opening Film – No Other Choice

Some of the most high-profile events of any film festival are the opening and closing films. This year the festival has made several changes including the decision to not have a closing film and thus it puts a greater spotlight on the opening film, though there will be a closing event with filmmakers and actors presenting awards in what the festival has said is a “notable departure from previous editions.”

The opening night promises to be a memorable event for attendees treated to a screening of one of the most anticipated Asian films of the year on the giant outdoor screen at Busan’s Cinema Center. Further illustrating how Busan is able to secure films from the Cannes, Venice and Toronto lineups, it will screen No Other Choice that recently premiered to much critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival. It also received a rapturous response at the Toronto Film Festival where Lee Byung-hun became the first Korean actor to be selected for the Special Tribute Award. 

Park Chan-wook’s latest is a project that took him two decades to get it made owing to a lack of investment. Based on Donald E. Westlake’s novel The Ax, Lee Byung-hun stars in No Other Choice as an expert working in the paper industry with 25 years of experience. He’s happily married with two children but is suddenly laid off and seeks work at a rival company. He then turns to desperate measures to eliminate the competition. Son Ye-jin plays his wife, while the films also features Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min and Yeom Hye-ran.

The feature has drawn parallels to Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning film Parasite (2019) for its critique of capitalism and mix of tones. While it didn’t win an award in Venice, it’s already become a contender in the Award’s race and has been submitted as Korea’s entry to the Academy Awards.

Busan has screened an array of notable features from Asia as its opening film over the years. It premiered Lee Chang-dong’s Peppermint Candy in 1999, while it screened Wong Kar-wai’s 2046 as the opening in 2004 and Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Three Times in 2005. It also premiered the Hong Kong hit Cold War in 2012. In 2024, the festival made the decision to open with a Netflix film Uprising (2024) co-written and produced by Park Chan-wook in what signified how the industry was evolving in the era of streaming.

Gala Presentation

Other high-profile films in the program are the gala presentation screenings. This year, Guillermo del Toro will be in Busan with his new film Frankenstein (2025) joining a stellar list of guests for its 30^th edition that not only includes most of Korea’s auteurs (Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon Ho, Kim Jee-woon, Lee Chang-dong, Na Hong-jin) but also Hollywood directors Michael Mann, Sean Baker and KPop Demon Hunters (2025) co-director Maggie Kang.

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi will also be in town with his Palme d’Or winning title It was Just an Accident (2025) that is screening as a Gala Presentation and he is the recipient of Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award. Japanese Korean filmmaker Lee Sang-il will be in Korea’s port city to greet audiences with his box office smash hit Kokuho (2025) that surpassed 10 million yen in Japan’s box office. It also premiered in the Cannes sidebar Directors’ Fortnight and is one of four titles screening in Busan’s Gala Presentations section.

The one Korean film in this part of the program is Byun Sung-hyun’s Netflix original feature Good News (2025) that premiered in Toronto as a Special Presentation starring Sol Kyung-gu and Hong Kyung based on a hijacking incident in 1970.

Restructured Competition and Vision Sections

Some of the biggest changes to the program are evident in the festival’s main competition that had previously been called New Currents, which dates back to the festival’s first edition in 1996. With an emphasis on Asia’s next generation of filmmakers, it would showcase first or second feature films by Asian directors.

The revamped competition section will now also feature established Asian auteurs as it seeks to further cement itself as not only a festival for discovering new talent but also one showcasing the latest work from Asia’s most prominent filmmakers. Previously these titles were usually invited to other parts of the program. 

Films screening in the competition will vie for awards in five categories – Best Film, Best Director, Special Jury, Best Actor, and Artistic Contribution. Heading the jury is Na Hong-jin and the competition lineup this year includes Gloaming in Luomo (2025) by Korean Chinese filmmaker Zhang Lu as well as Spying Stars (2025) by the award-winning Sri-Lankan director Vimukthi Jayasundara.

But in keeping with tradition in seeking out emerging filmmakers, it’s also invited feature debuts by Shigaya Daisuke (Leave the Cat Alone (2025)), Isabelle Kalandar (Another Birth (2025)) Hang Chang-lok (Funky Freaky Freaks (2025)), Yoo Jae-in (En Route To (2025)) and Taiwanese actor Shu Qi (Girl (2025)). It will also screen Left-Handed Girl (2025) by Taiwanese American director, producer and actor Tsou Shih-ching. Produced, co-written and edited by her frequent collaborator Sean Baker, this is her first solo feature.

In other changes, the vision section has now been expanded to include titles from across Asia. It was originally part of Korean Cinema Today that has premiered Korean independent films, some of which have then traveled widely on the festival circuit including Han Gong Ju (2013), A Matter of Interpretation (2015) and Jane (2017).

This year’s Vision selection consists of 12 Korean films and 11 Asian films. Almost of the Korean films are from directors who have helmed features before such as Shin Su-won’s The Mutation (2025) and Lee Kwang-kuk’s Beautiful Dreamer (2025). There is one feature debut with Son Kyeong-su’s The Accordion Door (2025) produced by the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA).

There are, however, four first features among the non-Korean Vision titles as the festival seeks to showcase new voices from across Asia. These include Reza Rahadian’s On Your Lap (2025), Maharshi Tuhin Kashyap’s Kok Kok Kokooook (2025) and Natalia Uvarova’s Malika (2025). The festival also supports Asian films as demonstrated with Sanju Surendran’s On a Winter’s Night (2025) that received the ACF (Asian Cinema Fund) Post Production fund and has its world premiere in Vision – Asia.

Korean Cinema Today and On Screen

The Korean Cinema Today program has long been a prominent part of the festival given its roots in the local film industry. It now encompasses two sub-sections Special Premiere and Panorama having expanded Vision. Special Premiere includes four world premieres: Jung Woo and Oh Seong-ho’s AUDITION 109 (2025), Ra Hee-chan’s Boss (2025), Kim Byung-woo’s Netflix film The Great Flood (2025) and Ha Jung-woo’s The people Upstairs (2025). Lee Hwan’s neo-noir Project Y (2025) starring Han So-hee and Jeon Jong-seo that premiered in Toronto is also screening here.

In Panorama that has tended to feature more commercial and genre driven titles, there are five films: Yoo Jong-seok’s thriller Be My Baby (2025), Jeong Yong-ki’s horror title My Home (2025) , Min Kyu-dong’s action film The Old Woman with the Knife: International Cut (2025), Yang Jong-hyun’s drama People and Meat (2024) that was invited to Tribeca Film Festival, and the omnibus film Time of Cinema (2025) by Lee Jong-pil and Yoon Ga-eun.

On Screen is a relatively recent addition to the festival having launched in 2021 following the rise of streaming platforms that have upended Korea’s studio system. Netflix again features widely in this section with four series echoing its presence in the wider program. The streaming platform has one Korean series (As you Stood By (2025) along with The Resurrected (2025) from Taiwan, Last Samurai Standing (2025) from Japan, as well as the Japan, Korea and Indonesia co-production Romantics Anonymous (2025) starring Shun Oguri and Han Hyo-joo.

Korean historical series The Murky Stream (2025) to stream on Disney + directed by Choo Changmin (Masquerade) (2012)) is also part of the program as is Dear X based on the webtoon of the same name streaming on local OTT platform Tving in November.

The future of Asian cinema amidst the complexities of OTT platforms will be the subject of much discussion at the BIFF forum under the catchphrase “Revisiting the Path of Asian Cinema.” Taking place between September 18 and 21 at the Conference Hall on the 11^th Floor of the Busan Film & Audiovisual Center, it will include four sections and a total of nine sessions co-presented by the K’ARTS School of Film, TV & Multimedia, Dongseo University, the Korean Film Archive (KOFA), the Film Festival Policy Network and the Korean Filmmakers’ Solidarity.

The Busan International Film Festival runs between September 17 and September 26.

Written by Jason Bechervaise

Edited by kofic