BIFF ends dispute with host city
Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo, right, chief organizer of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), shakes hands with actress and BIFF executive committee director Kang Soo-youn at Busan City Hall, Monday, after agreeing to appoint Kim Dong-ho, an honorary executive director of the festival, as the new organizing committee chairman, ending a feud over the fest’s “artistic independence.” / Yonhap
Kim Dong-ho named to head organizing committee
By Park Jin-hai
The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and its host city Busan Metropolitan Government (BMG) agreed Monday to end a two-year conflict over “artistic independence.”
As the festival slated for Oct. 6 to 15 is just five months away, the two decided to appoint Kim Dong-ho, an honorary executive director of the festival, as the event's organizing committee chairman.
The 78-year-old Kim, a founding member of BIFF, has been credited for turning the event into one of Asia's largest film festivals.
Kim will replace Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo, who recently offered to resign as the festival's chief amid the growing dispute.
“We have continued discussions with BMG for a long time to ensure freedom of expression and the festival’s independence. We will remove the clause that automatically institutes the city mayor as the BIFF organizing committee chairman, opening the post to the private sector,” said the BIFF organizers in a press release. “Within this month, we will hold an emergency general meeting and revise rules to appoint Kim as new chief.”
The dispute between the city and festival organizers dates back to 2014 when the city tried to suspend the screening of a documentary depicting the Sewol ferry disaster, “The Truth Shall Not Sink with Sewol,” during the film festival that year.
The film criticizes the government’s failed rescue efforts during the 2014 disaster, which resulted in over 300 deaths.
After former BIFF executive director Lee Yong-kwan, who pushed for the film’s screening, stepped down amid fraud allegations raised by the BMG, the festival's organizing committee demanded that the current system of appointing the mayor as BIFF chairman be revised to an electoral system. The city refused, claiming that the BMG holds the right to appoint the chairman.
The BMG is the festival's largest stockholder and sponsors the majority of its annual budget.
Mayor Suh, who offered to resign in February, has been continuously exercising his power.
In April, a group of moviemakers, including the Korean Film Producers Association and the Directors Guild of Korea, vowed to boycott this year's festival in protest, citing the city government's interference in the organizing committee's operations.
A full-scale revision of the rules will be completed before the festival's regular meeting in February, in order to ensure balance between the festival's independence and responsibilities, and to enhance participation of regional figures in its decision-making process.
Increasing transparency in the executive committee's management of the fund will also be on the agenda during the pre-festival meeting.