BISFF News
The 39th Busan International Short Film Festival
focuses on the changing nature of cinema! It’s expanding!
The Festival unveils the program and the schedule with the theme of "Expanding Cinema"!
The Festival introduces 154 short films from 48 countries The official website containing detailed information on films
and the schedule opened on April 6th Busan, the UNESCO Creative City of Film, kicks off the film season! BISFF starts on April 27th
- BISFF became an OSCAR® Qualifying Film Festival → has won Busan Culture Awards, knuckling down to work!
- Four opening films, Quartet #1, Scams of Online Education, Winter Cicada, and The Divers, will be introduced.
- Tickets will go on sale online at 10 a.m. on April 20th! Booking is available using the BNK Busan Bank mobile banking application.
The 39th Busan International Film Festival has unveiled the colors of this year's festival by announcing the program and details for 154 short films, as well as the screening schedule.
The 39th Busan International Short
Film Festival (BISFF) released the details of the short films that will be
screened, as well as the special events and schedule for this year's festival,
on its official website on April 6th. The festival, which is organized into six
sections, will screen 154 films from 48 countries, including four opening
films. BISFF, which kicks off the start of the film festival season in Busan,
the city of film, is the oldest short film festival in Korea, and has qualified
for the most international film festivals, including the Oscars. BISFF was
awarded the Busan Culture Awards in the category of culture and arts for its
efforts in promoting short films and bringing local filmmakers to the global
market.
◆ The 39th BISFF’s Characteristics
This year’s BISFF is organized into six sections; Main Competition, Guest
Country, the Hub of Asia, Korean Shorts, Beyond Shorts, and the Special
Screening section. The theme of the festival is “Expanding Cinema,” which
focuses on the changing nature of cinema. One of the main programs of this
year’s festival, the ‘Prism,’ is prepared in honor of the 100th anniversary of
the birth of director Jonas Mekas. A collection of films from Lithuania, the
birthplace of the director, will be shown in the 'Guest Country' section.
Furthermore, the 'Korean Shorts' section,
on which the BISFF is now concentrating, will feature creative and
well-structured Korean short films, allowing the audience to see the bright
future of Korean cinema. In the ‘Hub of Asia’ section, a variety of interesting
short films have been prepared including ‘S-Dramas From Viddsee Originals’,
which is available with the cooperation of the global short film streaming
platform ‘Viddsee,’ and ‘Buddha’s Matinee,’ which is a series of short films
about Buddhism. For the ‘Interactive Shorts’ program, there will be three films
available for free on the website during the festival, so the audience can
directly engage with the films. This is the result of the festival's efforts to
cover a wide range of subjects and filmmaking techniques in keeping with the
festival's theme.
◆ Opening Films
The
39th BISFF will open with four films that depict the festival's journey from
Korea to Asia and the rest of the world. First of all, ‘Quartet #1’ is an autobiographical film by Jonas
Mekas from Lithuania, which is the festival’s guest country this year. In addition, ‘Scams of Online
Education’ which is featured in the ‘Hub of Asia’ section, ‘Winter Cicada,’ a selection from the BISFF Short Film
Project, and ‘The Divers’ from
the ‘Korean Shorts’ section, will be showcased as the opening films. These films are from varying genres,
including experimental, documentary, and drama, as well as covering a range of
subjects, such as a person's private life and the disparities of a capitalist
society.
◆ Closer to the Audience, BISFF Together
BISFF has attempted to come up
with a variety of innovative ideas in order to revive the festival, which has
been restricted in the recent past due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. As a result,
BISFF will host ‘BISFF With You,’ a program in which short films are brought to
areas where there are no cinemas, and films will be shown for free to those who
are unable to typically see any films. Hyundai Motors Busan will provide
vehicles for the event, and the Welfare Center for the Disabled in Seogu, Busan
on April 11th, and Solvit School in Busan on April 20th will be transformed
into cinemas.
Moreover, ‘BISFF Talk’ will provide an opportunity for filmmakers
and the audience to discuss films together. This year, Šarūnas Bartas, a world-class cineaste from Lithuania, will join the
event and organize a masterclass for the audience. This year's 'BISFF Talk'
will be hosted online, and film enthusiasts from all around the world who are
unable to attend the festival will be able to participate. At the
festival site, a variety of events are planned. There will be 'Roundtable'
sessions in which local and foreign film professionals can discuss the current
status and prospects for the globalization of Korean short films, as well as
the current status and future prospects of online streaming platforms for
short-form content.
◆ Tickets Open at 10AM on April 20th!
The 39th Busan
International Short Film Festival will take place from April 27th to May 2nd,
and tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. on April 20th through the official
website of Busan Cinema Center (www.dureraum.org),
BNK Busan Bank Mobile Banking, and the ticket booth on the 6th floor of
Cinemountain at Busan Cinema Center. The online purchase will be open until
1:30 p.m. on May 2nd, and tickets for the Closing Ceremony, where the winners
of the Competition Section will be announced, will be given out for free by
order of arrival on May 2nd. The
festival's official website will have extensive information about the films,
the schedule, and how to purchase tickets (www.bisff.org).
[attachment 1] <Quartet #1>Still Image
[attachment 2] <Scams of Online Education>Still Image
[attachment 3] <Winter Cicada>Still Image
[attachment 4] <The Diver>Still Image
[attachment 5]
39th BISFF main poster