Busan Film Festival Names Park Kwang-su As Chair

Park Kwang-su has been appointed chair of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which runs from October 2-11 this year. 

His appointment at the general meeting comes after a tumultuous 2023 for the festival, which saw four managers resign. 

An acclaimed filmmaker from the Korean New Wave, Park was a founding member of BIFF and the festival’s Deputy Director for three consecutive years from its first edition. His four-year term will start on February 2 and can be extended for one additional term. 

Park is well known in Korea for directing films like Chilsu and Mansu (1988), Black Republic (1990), To the Starry Island (1993) and A Single Spark (1995). 

In his previous roles with the film festival, Park inaugurated the co-production platform Pusan Promotion Plan and the Asian Film Market. Both industry events are predecessors of the festival’s current Asian Project Market and the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), respectively.

Park was also a founding director of the Busan Film Commission and a professor of the School of Film, TV & Multimedia at the Korea National University of Arts. 

Busan is still looking for a Festival Director, ACFM director, board members and auditors. Selection of all executives is expected to be completed by March.