By Yun Suh-young
Politicians are putting new spins on the conflict between the organizing committee of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and city officials.
While the preparations for the annual event, slated for Oct. 6 to 15 this year, are stalemated due to an unresolved conflict between the festival's organizing committee and the Busan Metropolitan Government (BMG), even politicians are intervening in the dispute.
The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) began pressuring the BMG to resolve the issue promptly and announced that it will meet with the festival's organizing committee Thursday to seek a resolution.
"With the film festival only five months away, we cannot leave this situation as it is. The city government should resolve the issue as it triggered the conflict," said the MPK's Busan branch in a statement Wednesday.
It also requested a general meeting to appoint BIFF founder and former Chairman Kim Dong-ho as temporary head of the committee until the case is resolved. The party also attempted to arbitrate between both the city and the committee by suggesting changes to the latter’s rules to guarantee strict independence and autonomy from the BMG.
A task force consisting of nine film-related associations, including filmmakers, producers and actors, vowed April 18 to boycott the film festival to protest the city's interference with the festival's autonomy and independence. The task force, including the Korean Film Producers' Association, the Directors' Guild of Korea and the Federation of Korea Movie Workers' Union, said more than 90 percent of their members had voted in favor of the boycott according to a poll they conducted from April 1 to 8.
"This is the first time in 10 years that the film industry is speaking out in such numbers on an issue, since opposing the reduction of the screen quota on local films in 2006," the task force announced.
In response, the BMG held a press conference on April 20 in Seoul with Busan's Vice Mayor Kim Kyu-ok attending.
"We plan to appoint someone approved by the film industry as the new chairman of the festival's committee," Kim said during the conference.
The film industry demanded that the chairman of the committee be elected through a general meeting while the city continues to adhere to the appointment of the position upon the committee's consent. Currently, Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo holds the chairman position due to delays in changing committee rules. Changing of the rules requires consent from two-thirds of its members, but the BMG filed a court injunction to annul the appointment of 68 advisers by Lee Yong-kwan, the former head of the executive committee. Lee stepped down from the position in February after being accused of fraud.
"The chairman should be someone who represents Busan. It would be inappropriate to hold an election. Although autonomy should be guaranteed, the chairman has administrative responsibilities as the committee receives funding from the city government," said Kim.
The dispute between the city and festival organizers began after the city attempted to suspend the screening of a 2014 documentary depicting the Sewol ferry disaster, "The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol," during the film festival that year.