For the past two years, humanity has struggled to find a way out of the maze that is the COVID-19 pandemic. We chose to cut off rather than communicate, to scale down rather than expand, and to shout post-corona like a spell that had lost its power while trapped in a cave with no light of salvation. The crisis, however, lingered in our daily lives like a thick fog, and people's despair and incomprehensible anger engulfed the entire world like characters in a post-apocalyptic film. However, we have now reached the end of the pandemic's long, dark tunnel.

Cinema has evolved and changed at a dizzying pace since its birth in 1895 in Paris, France. Cinema, the first art form which had a clearly recorded moment of birth, has undergone numerous transformations throughout the years in an attempt to find a unique image that distinguishes it from other mediums such as literature, dance, theater, and painting. Through its distinctive narratives, original images, and sounds, cinema recreated individuals and society, as well as the world and the universe, on the screen. Through numerous changes, cinema has achieved remarkable accomplishments and achievements in a short time span of over 100 years. And even at this moment, cinema is changing.

This year's theme for the 39th Busan International Short Film Festival (BISFF) is "Expanding Film," which concentrates on the changing nature of cinema. The BISFF would like to capture and show the current change in cinema's infinite possibilities. The audience will be able to see a variety of creative, social, and aesthetic short films that expand on their themes without a taboo or limitation, that explore and embrace various techniques to produce film art, as well as capture different aspects of the contemporary period that are replicated in their natural state without inertial filtering.

The main programs of the 39th Busan International Short Film Festival are as follows. At the ‘Prism’, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lithuania-born American director Jonas Mekas, Mekas’ films, which are considered to be the representatives of avant-garde films, as well as those influenced by him, will be screened. A selection of films from Lithuania, an underappreciated film superpower, will be presented in the 'Guest Country’ section. The 'Korean Shorts,' on which BISFF has recently concentrated, will feature a variety of Korean short films that demonstrate film's expandability. The audience will experience numerous significant programs and films at other programs such as the 'Hub of Asia,' '3D Shorts,' and 'Interactive Shorts.'

The 39th Busan International Short Film Festival has been prepared in the midst of circumstances in which a state of exception does not vanish but becomes a part of our life, and it is finally and miraculously going to be seen by the audience. At this year's BISFF, I want to meet all of you who have finally made it out of this long tunnel together.

Senior Programmer
Lee Sanghoon