Busan International Film Festival to screen 315 films and set sail for the sea of movies, opening on Tuesday one day earlier than usual [Star Scene] [Comprehensive]

*This content was translated by AI.

The 31st Busan International Film Festival will set sail with filmmakers from around the world on Tuesday next month.

A press conference for the 31st Busan International Film Festival was held in the afternoon of the 1st at the International Conference Room of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul. Park Kwang-soo Lee (President), Executive Director Jeong Han-seok, Deputy Executive Director Park Ga-eun, and Kim Young-deok Ma Ket-wi (Director) attended the conference to share an overview of this year's film festival.

This year's official selections include 246 films from 59 countries, comprising 95 world premieres, for a total of 105 world and international premiere titles.

The Busan International Film Festival has been officially designated as an "A-list film festival" this year, recognizing its international stature alongside major global festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, and Venice. Since last year, when the competition section was newly established, the winner of the top prize in the competition category, the "Busan Award - Grand Prize," will be eligible for submission to the Academy Awards' International Feature Film category. The film festivals recognized by the Academy as eligible for the International Feature Film award include Busan, Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sundance, and Toronto.

The Busan International Film Festival, which traditionally opened on Wednesdays, will now open one day earlier on Tuesdays starting this year. Jeong Han-seok, Executive Director, explained, "Moving the opening day of the ten-day film festival from Wednesday to Tuesday was a significant decision. We recognized that audiences visiting the festival prefer to enjoy it from the opening through the weekend, so we made this adjustment."

The 14 films selected for the newly established competition section last year were produced in South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, and other countries. Among them, four are debut works by new directors, and four were directed by women. Titles include "Taizhou on That Day" directed by Im Ha-yeon, "Between Two Lovers" by Nana Hirose, "The Day After Sunday" by Takuya Gato, "Descendant" by Cheon Ji-won, "Loneliness We Met for the First Time" by Gu Yu, "Hillol" by Botir Abdurakhmanov, the animated film "Long Long Night" by Yeom Gyu-bok, "Bread and Books" by Majid Majidi, "My Mother" by Eddie Cahyono, "Sachiko is Always" by Shuichi Okita, "Names Carved in the Sea" by Joseph Angi Noen, "Shaving" by Kim Jung-hoon, "Silver Express" by Miki Tanaka, and "For the Sake of Being Ordinary" by Li Yunchan.

World-renowned filmmakers are coming to Busan. Actress and director Maggie Gyllenhaal will visit Korea, and Yang Ja-kyung, who became the first Asian actress to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, will attend Busan to receive this year's "Asian Filmmaker of the Year" award. French actress Isabelle Huppert is also among those visiting Busan.

Stars representing various countries in Asia are also flocking to Busan. Director and actor Seo Ki, along with Chinese actors Zhou Xun and Fan Bingbing, will be joined by Japanese stars including Masami Nagasawa, Tasuku Emoto, Haru Kuroki, Ryuhei Yokohama, Kento Yamazaki, Kohei Matsushita, Erika Sawajiri, Ryuhei Maruyama, and Aita Nagayama to meet with Busan audiences.

Meanwhile, the 31st Busan International Film Festival will be held for ten days from October 6 to October 15 at the Busan Cinema Center in U-dong, Haeundae-gu, Busan.

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*This content was translated by AI.