Pusan Film Fest Gets Ready for 10th Year
Published on | Source
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
When Pusan planned to hold the nation's first international film festival in 1995, no one really expected the annual event to survive. But the festival, which takes place every October, is ready to celebrate a successful 10-year run and is preparing to fly higher than ever.
"We had difficulty even in inviting movies and film directors to the festival when we first started", said Kim Dong-ho, director of the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF). "But now 10 years on, the festival has become the most renowned international film festival in Asia".
When the festival started in the port city 10 years ago there was no international film festival in the nation and local movies were barely recognized in international markets.
But since the first event achieved moderate success, it has gradually increased its size and scope, focusing on Asian films. And many people now think that the city hosts Asia's most important cinematic event, as Time Magazine once wrote in its Asian edition.
"Now when I visit other international film festivals such as Cannes, Venice and Berlin, I can feel the growing reputation of the festival since many want to visit the event", said Kim, who has led the festival from the very beginning in 1995.
Last year the festival showed 262 works from 63 different countries and more than 40 works were world premieres, which successfully attracted over 166,000 people to the festival.
To mark the 10th year and celebrate its success, the festival plans to hold many interesting programs and events for visitors.
The festival will publish a book telling the festival's history as well as hold an exhibition with photos and video clips to show how the festival has evolved.
As one of the distinctive aspects about the festival is its emphasis on Asian films, it will also select the best 50 Asian movies as well as hold various other retrospectives for Korean films.
To help develop and promote Asian films, the festival will provide practical help for young filmmakers in Asia through various programs.
Like Filmmaker's Lab in Sundance and Talent Campus in Berlin, they will offer workshop programs for Asian directors from this year. The program is expected to help young directors learn about film production, produce their work and introduce them to audiences at Pusan.
"Successful film festivals have their own strengths but they need to keep trying to come up with new programs to compete with other festivals, not just merely try to maintain the status quo", Kim said.
Throughout the year Kim travels to many countries to participate in film festivals and meet festival directors to keep up with current trends and exchange ideas for PIFF. Kim has already been to eight international festivals this year.
"For example, Berlin is now increasing the size of its film market to compete with the American film market, and other Asian film festivals such as Tokyo and Hong Kong have increased their budgets or scopes to compete with Pusan", Kim said.
The Pusan festival also plans to gradually boost the film industry by strengthening the Pusan Promotional Plan, a project to open up the market more for filmmakers by helping them find sponsors to produce their work.
Kim believes that a guarantee from the city government that it will not interfere is one of the secrets of the festival's rapid success and how it maintains its own personalities.
"But most importantly, I don't think the success of the festival would be possible without the efforts and support of staff, programmers, volunteers, and most of all from Pusan citizens and movie fans all over the place", Kim said.
Staff Reporter
When Pusan planned to hold the nation's first international film festival in 1995, no one really expected the annual event to survive. But the festival, which takes place every October, is ready to celebrate a successful 10-year run and is preparing to fly higher than ever.
"We had difficulty even in inviting movies and film directors to the festival when we first started", said Kim Dong-ho, director of the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF). "But now 10 years on, the festival has become the most renowned international film festival in Asia".
When the festival started in the port city 10 years ago there was no international film festival in the nation and local movies were barely recognized in international markets.
But since the first event achieved moderate success, it has gradually increased its size and scope, focusing on Asian films. And many people now think that the city hosts Asia's most important cinematic event, as Time Magazine once wrote in its Asian edition.
"Now when I visit other international film festivals such as Cannes, Venice and Berlin, I can feel the growing reputation of the festival since many want to visit the event", said Kim, who has led the festival from the very beginning in 1995.
Last year the festival showed 262 works from 63 different countries and more than 40 works were world premieres, which successfully attracted over 166,000 people to the festival.
To mark the 10th year and celebrate its success, the festival plans to hold many interesting programs and events for visitors.
The festival will publish a book telling the festival's history as well as hold an exhibition with photos and video clips to show how the festival has evolved.
As one of the distinctive aspects about the festival is its emphasis on Asian films, it will also select the best 50 Asian movies as well as hold various other retrospectives for Korean films.
To help develop and promote Asian films, the festival will provide practical help for young filmmakers in Asia through various programs.
Like Filmmaker's Lab in Sundance and Talent Campus in Berlin, they will offer workshop programs for Asian directors from this year. The program is expected to help young directors learn about film production, produce their work and introduce them to audiences at Pusan.
"Successful film festivals have their own strengths but they need to keep trying to come up with new programs to compete with other festivals, not just merely try to maintain the status quo", Kim said.
Throughout the year Kim travels to many countries to participate in film festivals and meet festival directors to keep up with current trends and exchange ideas for PIFF. Kim has already been to eight international festivals this year.
"For example, Berlin is now increasing the size of its film market to compete with the American film market, and other Asian film festivals such as Tokyo and Hong Kong have increased their budgets or scopes to compete with Pusan", Kim said.
The Pusan festival also plans to gradually boost the film industry by strengthening the Pusan Promotional Plan, a project to open up the market more for filmmakers by helping them find sponsors to produce their work.
Kim believes that a guarantee from the city government that it will not interfere is one of the secrets of the festival's rapid success and how it maintains its own personalities.
"But most importantly, I don't think the success of the festival would be possible without the efforts and support of staff, programmers, volunteers, and most of all from Pusan citizens and movie fans all over the place", Kim said.
Advertisement
HanCinema needs your immediate support 🙏
• It's currently impossible to keep HanCinema running as it is with advertising only • Please subscribe and enjoy ad-free browsing
7 days free then US$1.99 a month (No streaming included)