Kim Rahn is the managing editor of The Korea Times. Since joining the company in 2003, she has covered various beats including the presidential office, Seoul city government, the Bank of Korea and the tourism industry. In 2014, she won the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for her coverage of the ordeals of migrant women in Korea.
Busan International Film Festival reappoints Chairman Lee
By Kim Rahn
Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) Chairman Lee Yong-kwan speaks in an online press conference, Oct. 30, 2020, the last day of the 25th edition. Courtesy of BIFF
By Kim Rahn
The organizing body of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) said, Jan. 27, it has reappointed its Chairman Lee Yong-kwan to lead the organization and the festival for four more years, during its general assembly at the BIFF Hall in Busan Cinema Center.
Lee was the founding member of the festival that kicked off in 1996, and served as deputy programmer, deputy festival director and festival director. After being named the chairman in 2018, he has established BIFF as Asia's most acclaimed film festival by successfully holding the annual event in 2020 and 2021 amid COVID-19 pandemic through tight quarantine measures.
“I'll make efforts to meet the expectations of Busan citizens and filmmakers,” Lee said in a press release, adding he would set up a mid-term vision for the festival's leap forward in the next 10 years, together with festival director Huh Moon-yung and the Asian Contents & Film Market director Oh Seok-geun.
In 2016, Lee was dismissed from the festival director position following feuds with Busan Metropolitan Government, which is the film festival's largest stockholder and sponsors the majority of its budget, after defying the local government's attempt to stop the 2014 screening of “The Truth Shall Not Sink with the Sewol,” a film depicting the Sewol ferry sinking and the government's poor response to the tragedy.
Along with the reappointment of Lee, BIFF also announced its expanded, mid-term vision to become the “Hometown of Asian Films,” with a goal to be a hub film festival for Asia.
The 27th festival this year will be held from Oct. 5 to 14, and the film market, from Oct. 8 to 11.