Forgot password

“As the number of the festival days has gone up, so has the maturity level of the audience.” said LEE Yong-kwan, BIFF Festival Director, about this year's edition. At the closing press conference held on 13th October, LEE said “The Busan Cinema Center has now firmly been established as the main venue of the festival. We need to explore further how to make best use of the Nampo area.”

 

He added that the number of visitors breaking the 20 thousand mark for the first time in the festival's history does not matter greatly as it is due to adding an extra day, incorporating another weekend to the festival period. What is important, he added, is that the audience viewing culture has matured greatly thanks to a better cinema-viewing environment that's been created. 

 

The 17th Busan International Film Festival held from 4th October to 13th screened a total of 304 films from 75 countries. There were 93 world premieres and 39 international premieres. A total of 221,002 people viewed films at 37 screens at 7 theaters.

 

There were 96 booths set up by 181 companies from 32 countries at the Asian Film Market (AFM), including those taking part at BIFCOM. There were 80 market screenings of 70 films from 36 companies from 16 countries including 40 market premieres. There were a total of 900 online screenings of 281 films.

 

The achievements of this year's BIFF can be summarized in five points. Whereas in 2011, the Busan Cinema Center opened in a less-than-perfect state of readiness, this year, events were held at the venue without any problems. The Busan Cinema Center has now become a renowned cinematic land mark.

 

This year, the Asian Film Market witnessed stable growth in many aspects. There was a steady increase in market participants, buyers and Market & Online Screenings, and the successful launch of new initiatives such as Book to Film and the KOFIC Industry Forum.

 

At this year's BIFF, 14 projects were completed through the support of the ACF and were invited to BIFF subsequently, 5 projects won awards. This year was marked with an invigorating global partnership enabled through its extension and collaboration with Al Jazeera English (AJE). The number of audience attendees this year hit a record high of 221,002. Such a dramatic increase can be attributed to various and enhanced special services that BIFF offered this year such as the Kids Special Screening, Senior Citizens Discounts, and the Visual and Hearing Impaired Assistance. During the festival, BIFF audiences showed a mature sense of participation that greatly enhanced the image of BIFF.