When visiting Busan, South Korea for the first time, the panorama of skyscrapers and colorful
casinos might immediately remind one of the cityscapes of Hong Kong or Shanghai. Since the
Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) was established in 1996, the southern industrial port
city has been transformed into an entertainment and cultural center: multiplexes, an aquarium,
mega-sized shopping malls, and soaring high-rise apartments constructed in Haeundae, the
district where the BIFF headquarters are located. Amidst this futuristic cityscape, the Busan
Cinema Center, the purpose-built headquarters of the BIFF, is perhaps the most spectacular.
“Designed by the Austrian architecture firm Coop Himmelb(l)au,” the building “cuts an impos-
ing figure on the city’s skyline, not least due to its 85-meter cantilever roof, said to be the world’s
largest, which lights up at night in a multicolored LED wash” (Foundas 2013). Clearly, the BIFF
demonstrates that, perhaps uniquely, a film festival can play a central role in building a city’s
reputation as a cinematic metropolis.
Since its inception, the BIFF has rapidly emerged as the single most significant showcase of
Asian cinema. Inaugurated on September 13, 1996, with a focus on Asian films, the initial BIFF
was held over nine days, screened 171 films from 31 countries, and attracted 180,000 visitors
(Krich 2000, 6).^2 In a relatively short period of time the BIFF has gone on to become the lead-
ing international film festival in the Asian region, surpassing the Hong Kong International Film
Festival (HKIFF), which for twenty years dominated the Asian festival scene. Its rapid growth
has also overshadowed the Tokyo International Film Festival, which has been categorized as an
A-level festival in the region.^3 It is noticeable that the BIFF strategically developed an Asian
identity to compete with its regional counterparts in a way that enables a more global reach.
In this chapter, I discuss recent trends in film festivals in East Asia by focusing on the case
of the BIFF in South Korea. By making “Asian identity” a key concept to promote the festival,
rick simeone
(Rick Simeone)
#1