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A press conference for the 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) was held on the 1st at the Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae-gu, Busan. The photo shows BIFF Chairperson Park Kwang-su (second from left), who attended the press conference that day, speaking. / Yonhap

Asia's premier cinema event, the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), takes its first step into a new 30-year chapter next month.

The executive committee of the 31st BIFF held successive press conferences on the morning and afternoon of the 1st at the Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae-gu, Busan, and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul, unveiling key details of this year's festival. The press conferences were attended by BIFF Chairperson Park Kwang-su, Festival Director Jeong Han-seok, Asian Contents & Film Market Director Kim Young-deok, and Deputy Festival Director Park Ga-eon.

This year's festival will feature 315 films, with the official selection comprising 246 films from 59 countries, the highest tally since 2019. Among these, world premieres—signifying global debuts—total 95 films.

Director Kim Jong-kwan's Day and Night to Each Other has been selected as the opening film to grace the opening ceremony on the 6th of next month at the Busan Cinema Center. In the competition section established last year, 14 films from across Asia will vie for the festival's highest honor, the Busan Award Grand Prix, including Bread and Books by Iran's national cinema maestro Majid Majidi, Between Two Rivers by director Nanako Hirose, Satoko Is Always by director Shuichi Okita, and To Be Ordinary by Taiwanese director Li Yun-chan.

In addition, films such as Cristian Mungiu's Fjord and Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Sudden Turn for the Worse, which won the Palme d'Or and Best Actress award respectively at this year's Cannes Film Festival, alongside Nanni Moretti's What Happens Tonight, an official competition selection at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival opening on the 2nd, will meet audiences through the Icons section showcasing new works by world-renowned masters.

Special programming will include Japanese Animation Special Exhibition: Masterpieces of Madness, Thrilling Anticipations 12+1, capturing the wave of Asian animation sweeping global cinemas, as well as Beautiful Times, Ahn Sung-ki, commemorating the late iconic South Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki.

Top global cinematic luminaries will also converge on Busan. Hollywood character actor and director Maggie Gyllenhaal, widely recognized for The Dark Knight and Secretary and serving as jury president for the main competition at this year's Venice Film Festival, will make her first visit to the festival with Flash Impact, created to mark the centennial of Marilyn Monroe's birth. Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, will take the opening ceremony stage as recipient of the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award, while leading Asian auteurs such as directors Hirokazu Kore-eda, Ann Hui, and Japanese animation master Rintaro will also visit Busan.

Meanwhile, unlike previous editions, this year's festival will open on Tuesday rather than Wednesday. Festival Director Jeong stated, "Considering that the vast majority of audiences flock during the opening week, this measure was taken to enhance convenience and expand viewing opportunities. From Thursday through Sunday, when theaters are most crowded, we will expand our daily screening schedule from four to five sessions."

The 31st BIFF will run from the 6th to the 15th of next month in and around the Busan Cinema Center.

                                                                                                           Cho Seong-jun