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Jan. 25, 2024
New Chairman for Busan Film Festival
The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has nominated long-time filmmaker Park Kwang-su as their next chairperson, following a series of high-profile resignations. By: Dylan Low
The new chairman will take the reins from Lee Yong-kwan, who had a poor start due to “political interference” and resigned after a sequence of events last year. He is accompanied by the departure of festival director Huh Moonyoung and market chief Oh Seok-geun.
Park, an early ambassador of the Korean New Wave Cinema in the 1990s as producer and director, before transitioning into more academic and industry administrative roles, was picked as the sole candidate for the chairman position by a sub-committee of the Busan festival’s Innovation Committee.
He was an integral member in the Busan festival’s earlier years and joined the festival’s establishment indie film financing platform previously known as the Pusan Promotion Plan and now known as the Asian Project Market. He was also part of the establishment of the festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market.
Park is
also the founding director of the Busan Film Commission and professor of the
School of Film, TV & Multimedia at the Korea National University of Arts.
“The
qualifications provided by the committee for the next chairperson include the
ability to manage the organization and its administration, present the future
vision and direction of the film festival, willingness to innovate the
organization, political neutrality, and affection for Busan. The committee has
concluded that candidate Park Kwang-su possesses such qualifications, and made
a unanimous decision for his nomination,” the committee mentioned in a
statement. His appointment is expected to be confirmed in a meeting on February
1st.
With a new
chairman decided, Busan will be able to look towards bringing in names for two
other crucial positions, festival director and market director.
On Monday,
the festival stated that it would file applications for festival director, ACFM
director, board directors and auditors over three weeks until February 13th.
Appointments will most likely take place in a March board meeting.
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