26th Busan International Film Festival

The 26th Busan International Film Festival opened on October 6 at the Busan Cinema Center in Busan, South Korea with South Korean film Heaven: To the Land of Happiness by Im Sang-soo. Park So-dam and Song Joong-ki hosted the opening of the festival, which was streamed live on YouTube.

In 26th edition, 223 films from 70 countries were officially invited to the festival. 63 community service screenings were also part of the festival. In addition, this year BIFF opened two special programs, ‘New Voices, Chinese Films’ dedicated to emerging, talented Chinese directors, and the best Asian films by female directors, ‘Wonder Women Movies’, to highlight the contribution of female directors to the world of cinema. This edition of festival has constituted a new award 'Watcha Award' to be awarded to two selected films screened in the 'New Currents' section and the 'Korean Cinema Today-Vision' section. 22 short films official invited to the 'Wide Angle' competition section were screened online on YouTube and Naver.

'Vision Night' awards ceremony was held on October 14 in which winners of 'Korean Cinema Today - Vision Section' were announced. On October 15 in an online press conference the winners of 'New Currents' and other awards were announced and it was informed that 76,072 people visited the film festival in ten days. The festival closed on October 15 with closing ceremony hosted by Lee Joon-hyuk and Lee Joo-young and screening of film Anita by Longman Leung. South Korean film The Apartment with Two Women by Kim Se-in won five awards, including New Currents award.

Jury
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New Currents (competition section)

 * Deepa Mehta, Indian-Canadian, international master director, screenwriter, Head Juror
 * Christina Nord, section head of the Berlinale Forum
 * Jeong Jae-eun, South Korean film director

Kim Jiseok Award

 * Reza Mirkarimi, Iranian film writer and director. (Jury Chairman)
 * Gulnara Abikiyeva, Kazakhstan film critic and professor
 * Kim Haery, Member of the editorial board of the film magazine Cine21 and film critic

BIFF Mecenat Award

 * Nanfu Wang, Chinese-born American filmmaker
 * Park Kyung-geun, director
 * Mandy Marahimin, Indonesian film producer

Sonje Award

 * Bastian Mayraison, France, Asian film consultant at various film festivals around the world. (Executive Chairman, Terres d’Ici, Terres d’ailleurs)
 * Royston Tan, Singaporean filmmaker, director, screenwriter, producer and actor.
 * Danbi Yoon, South Korean filmmaker

Actor and Actress of the Year

 * Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer, actress and dancer
 * Cho Jin-woong, South Korean actor

FIPRESCI Award

 * Nada Azhari Gillon, France Film Critic
 * Wang Hsin, Taiwan Film Critic
 * Kim Nemo, Korea Film Critic

NETPAC Award

 * Freddy Olsson, Sweden Senior Programmer, Göteborg Film Festival
 * Mevlut Akkaya, Turkey/US Director
 * Yoo Sun-Hee, Korea Chairperson, Beautiful Hapcheon Independent Film Festival (BHIFF)

DGK MEGABOX Award

 * Kim Jae-han, Korea Director
 * Jang Cheol-soo, Korea Director

KBS Independent Film Award

 * Kim Mu-ryeong, Korea Producer
 * Darcy Paquet, US Film Critic, Translator
 * Lee Jong-pil, Korea Director

CGK Award

 * Kim Byeong-jeong, Korea Cinematographer
 * Back Yoon-seuk, Korea Cinematographer
 * Lee Seon-yeong, Korea Cinematographer

Critic b Award

 * Gim Jiye-on, Korea Film Critic
 * Park In-ho, Korea Film Critic
 * Hong Eun-mi, Korea Film Critic

Program sections
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The festival has following sections:
 * Gala Presentation
 * Icons
 * New Currents
 * A Window on Asian Cinema
 * Korean Cinema Today Panorama
 * Korean Cinema Today Vision Section
 * World Cinema
 * Flash Forward
 * Wide Angle
 * Open Cinema
 * Special Program in Focus
 * New Voices, Chinese Films
 * Wonder Women Movies
 * On Screen: It will showcase traditional theatrical releases and over the top media service (OTT) drama series as world premieres or Asia premieres.

Gala Presentation
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Icons
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New Currents
Main competition section at BIFF, showcases the works by emerging Asian directors.
 * Highlighted title indicates award winner

A Window on Asian Cinema
Seven films were selected to compete for the Kim Jiseok award:

Out of competition
These films were screened 'out of competition' as part of A Window on Asian Cinema:

Korean Cinema Today - Panorama Section
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Korean Cinema Today - Vision Section
In 2021 it was expanded to 12 selections and showcased as world premiere.
 * Highlighted title indicates award winner

World Cinema
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Flash Forward
From this edition, this section has the films that have already won awards or become hot topic at other film festivals.
 * Highlighted title indicates award winner

Wide Angle
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Nominees for Mecenat Award
10 nominations, consisting of 5 Korean and 5 Asian feature-length documentaries were announced.
 * Documentary Competition

Documentary Showcase

 * (Busan Cinephile Award Nominees)
 * Highlighted title indicates award winner


 * Out of competition

Wonder Women Movies
10 best Asian films by female directors selected on the basis of responses from 117 film professionals in a span of one year:

Awards and winners
The following awards will be presented at the 26th edition:
 * Awards


 * The Asian Filmmaker of the Year
 * Korean Cinema Award
 * New Currents Award
 * Kim Jiseok Award
 * BIFF Mecenat Award
 * Sonje Award
 * Actor & Actress of the Year Award
 * Actor of the Year:
 * Actress of the Year:
 * KB New Currents Audience Award
 * Flash Forward Audience Award
 * FIPRESCI Award
 * NETPAC Award
 * DGK MEGABOX Award
 * CGV Arthouse Award
 * KBS Independent Film Award
 * CGK Award (Cinematographers Guild of Korea)
 * Critic b Award
 * Watcha Award from 2021
 * Citizen Critics' Award
 * Busan Cinephile Award

Winners
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