BIFF presses on despite ongoing row with Busan

SEOUL: Actress Kang Sooyeon showed her strong determination towards the upcoming Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in which she has been newly appointed as the co-director last month.

“As you all know, this year has been particularly hard for the BIFF. The only solution to the hardships that the festival has been through is to finish it successfully,” said Kang during the press event on Thursday.

It was her first official appearance with the new name tag with fellow co-director Lee Yong-kwan.

“Screening quality films and excavating talented artists are the only way to resolve the issue. There is no other way,” she added.

The 49-year-old actress was first delegated to the position on July 6, after Lee suggested about sharing his position to the Busan Metropolitan City Government in order to ease the escalating tension between the two organisations.

The conflict arose when the city government which finances more than half of the festival’s budget asked Lee to resign from the executive committee in the sake of renewing the event.

However, the de facto reason behind the conflict dates back to its 19th edition when the festival forewent with the screening of a controversial documentary ‘Diving Bell’, ignoring the city government’s request to cancel the screening due to political reasons.

“I know exactly what you guys are concerned about, but that kind of problems have been happening since the first edition of the festival and it is still going to happen in the future as well. However, despite all that, the festival has been carefully choosing quality films which is one of the main reasons to why the festival has developed into the biggest film festival of Asia. This (agenda) is not going to change,” Kang said.

Lee, who has been directing the festival since 2010, known for his strong leadership, showed more tension-eased attitude towards the upcoming festival.

“We have been through a lot. But all-and-all it was a good experience. I consider it as a growing pain,” Lee said.

The upcoming 20th BIFF goes underway on Oct 1, starting its 10-day journey at the southern port city of Korea.