The Busan International Short Film Festival (BISFF) was launched in 1980 as the Korean Short Film Festival. It was the first short film festival to appear in Korea and will be celebrating its 29th year in May 2012, which will open with classic short film masterpieces including the Lumière brothers’ early works.


BISFF aims to explore the format of the short film by offering a wide selection of works from Korea and other countries regardless of genre or th...More

The Busan International Short Film Festival (BISFF) was launched in 1980 as the Korean Short Film Festival. It was the first short film festival to appear in Korea and will be celebrating its 29th year in May 2012, which will open with classic short film masterpieces including the Lumière brothers’ early works.


BISFF aims to explore the format of the short film by offering a wide selection of works from Korea and other countries regardless of genre or theme. In its early years, the festival screened only Korean films, providing a platform for young Korean filmmakers’ works to be introduced to wider audiences. Among the festival’s previous award winners are many of now-famous Korean directors such as KANG Je-kyu (My Way, 2010), KIM Tae-yong (Late Autumn, 2010) and RYU Seung-wan (The Unjust, 2010), to name only a few.



BISFF expanded its scope to include Asian short films in 2000, and in 2010 it became a truly international film festival, accepting films from all over the world. With its 30th anniversary just one year away, BISFF 2012 received more than 1,800 submissions from 74 countries for its international competition, from which it selected 60 finalists. To additionally further in-depth cultural exchange, the festival also recently launched an international partnership program that will highlight short films from a particular country every year -- their 'Guest of Honor’ -- starting with France in 2012.Less